The next time Seahawks fans see Seneca Wallace running out of bounds for a 5-15 yard loss, it will be in a Cleveland Browns jersey. Today, the Seahawks traded the veteran backup for an undisclosed pick in next year's draft.
How did the Seahawks come to this decision? This is the conversation I imagine occurred between Head Coach Pete Carrol and GM John Schneider after they watched all of Seneca's game film from last season.
Carroll: How many times did number 15 run out of bounds for a loss without throwing it away? It's ludicrous.
John: I've got the data on this spreadsheet. Note the bar graph on page two as well.
Carroll: Yowzer! I think that's more times then Brett Favre has done it in a career. And what's with the beard and the pouting? My God, that beard looks like it's drawn on his face in pencil. Let's cut him. I am so fired up to cut him!
Schneider: Now hold on. We can get something for this guy. Tim Ruskell might be getting the Chicago Bears front office job. I could probably ship him to Ruskell for at least a second rounder. That putz loves undersized guys with modest athletic ability. Can I try Pete? Can I try?
Carroll: No way. I am just too pumped up to cut him! I mean I'm just jazzed. He has a kitty cat tattooed on his arm. God that irks me. Let's cut him!
Schneider: Now hold on Petey, let me call Holmgren up about a trade. I know he wanted to coach last year's Seahawks. Perhaps he'll be content to coach just one Seahawk next year when he fires Mangini.
What else can we take away from this trade (besides a possible mid-round pick)?
1. With their backup quarterback gone, Matt Hasselbeck aging, and former 6th round draft pick Mike Teel waiting in the wings, you can bet your season tickets the Seahawks will be drafting a quarterback this year. Maybe the Seahawks aim to pick up Derek Anderson when the Browns--who now have a cheaper backup for Brady Quinn--inevitably cut Anderson before his roster bonus is due.
2. Another thought is that perhaps the Seahawks were better off not hiring Mike Holmgren as their General Manager. Wallace is a serviceable backup, but probably not someone you really want to trade a mid-round pick for. Holmgren isn't showing a whole lot of creativity in such a trade. Perhaps he picked up Tim Ruskell's bad habit of giving up too much for too little or maybe he didn't watch Seneca regress last year.
On the other hand, Cleveland doesn't want to pay both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn, nor does it want to endure another year of Eric Mangini shuttling between the two as starters. At least with Seneca, nobody will be assuming he will become the starter. There's always the theory that you can use him in the wildcat package, not that he gained much running the ball in Seattle.
3. Maybe the Seahawks are making room for their own wildcat specialist? With Tim Tebow visiting soon, perhaps the Seahawks envision the Heisman-winner as the backup to Matt Hasselbeck. And this one knows how to throw the damn ball away before reaching the sideline.
No comments:
Post a Comment