Lockout Hangover: Seattle's Offensive Free Agents

The long, dark lockout is extinguished at last.

To those of you who were enjoying the blog's initial run earlier this spring, I do apologize for my unannounced absence. I got discouraged from writing by a lot of factors, such as the pall cast by the lockout over any kind of real news or analysis for the offseason. When I started 17 Power, I'd regarded the offseason as an opportunity instead of an obstacle, a chance to fill the void with off-the-beaten-path opinion, but I hadn't envisioned trying to do so without the help of any actual football developments.

Plus, some genius back in April decided to over-click my Google Adsense advertisements (you might have noticed their disappearance back in April), prompting Google to assume that I was abusing them for the revenue and pull them. That sucked.

But...I'm back. Nothing keeping me down now. Our beloved Seahawks are going to get talked about again, and I'm gonna be part of it. I hope you'll be around to enjoy my bizarre blather and participate in the discussion, as we charge headfirst into the craziest NFL free agency likely to be witnessed in our lifetimes.

Adam Schefter is reporting that free agency will return Friday. Contrary to earlier reports, Seattle's free agents will hit the market at the same time as everyone else. Still, they're as good a re-entry point as any.


Matt Hasselbeck, QB

Let's just...save this one for later.


Chris Spencer, C

After years of dismissal from media and fans alike, Spencer steadied himself out in 2010 and became the team's most consistent lineman. That's not damning with faint praise, either. "Consistent" may not have made Rob Sims popular with fans after 2009, but I daresay a lot of people wish he'd stuck around after 2010. He's now doing well in Detroit.

More Than Just a QB Away: Offense

I don't blame national football pundits for not knowing much about the Seahawks. It's not as if they don't have time for anything but studying Seattle's roster. They've got 32 teams to cover, and believe me, researching and writing articles on pro football is a time-consuming job.

So when NFL.com's Steve Wyche slapped a pic of Matt Hasselbeck onto an article entitled "QB all that's missing from these teams", I didn't immediately spit out my Mountain Dew. Despite the fact that the Seahawks are hurting immoderately at almost every position and that a quarterback will not solve everything, I just decided to give the guy a break. I'm not insecure about my team; I don't need sportswriters to give the Seahawks their deserved diligence in order to feel good about them. Their defeat of New Orleans gave me two years' worth of punk-headed confidence to coast on. And besides, it's just too easy to mock sportswriters. Picking on easy targets makes you look the worse.

Nevertheless, I knew Wyche was wrong without even reading the article. For all my rants about the QB position and how its importance justifies no other draft pick at #25 if a top-four QB remains, the Seahawks have dire needs all over the roster.

So here's my shot at a position-by position assessment of Seattle's roster. Just to be different, I'll assess each position on a scale of one to ten - ten indicating a well-filled position, one meaning a bleeding hole.