Tag: Seattle Seahawks (Page 22 of 30)

Seahawks trade Julian Peterson to Lions for Cory Redding

The Seahawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson to the Lions for defensive tackle Cory Redding and a fifth round pick according to FOX Sports.com.

The deal raises questions about Detroit’s draft-day plans. The Lions hold the top overall pick and Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry had been suggested as a candidate for that spot.

The Seahawks gave Peterson a $54 million, seven-year contract three years ago after their Super Bowl appearance in Detroit. Peterson became an expensive asset because linebacker Leroy Hill got $8.4 million guaranteed this year with a franchise tag and Lofa Tatupu signed a $42 million contract a year ago.

Peterson will team up with Ernie Sims and give the Lions a solid outside linebacker duo. They still need to find a middle linebacker, however, and now address the hole they’ve created on their defensive line after trading Redding.

As the article suggests, this move probably means that Curry won’t be the top pick. Unless there’s a sleeper candidate out there (B.J. Raji?), the Lions will probably choose between Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford and Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith.

Don Banks Mock Draft 3.0

SI.com’s Don Banks has the Lions taking Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith with the first overall pick in April’s draft.

1. Lions – Jason Smith, Baylor
With six weeks and two days remaining before the draft, I’m still not buying that the Lions are going to take their $30 million-plus gamble on Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, a junior who looks like anything but a sure thing. I reserve the right to read the tea leaves differently at some point, but the Lions’ smart play to me would be to play it safe at No. 1 with either Smith or linebacker Aaron Curry, and then explore getting a quarterback like Kansas State’s Josh Freeman with a slight trade down from No. 20, or with their second-rounder at 33.

2. Rams – Eugene Monroe, Virginia
No Orlando Pace in Rams horns any more should make this the biggest no-brainer of the top five. St. Louis badly needs an offensive tackle, and it picked the right year to be in that position.

3. Chiefs – Aaron Curry, Wake Forest
The Chiefs can’t possibly miss in this slot. If the Lions go quarterback at the top, K.C. will have their pick between Curry, the draft’s cleanest prospect, and one of the top two offensive tackles. If Detroit goes for Curry, the Chiefs still get the tackle they need in either Smith or Monroe. And if the Lions and Rams both go offensive tackle, Kansas City winds up with the defensive play-maker it lacks in Curry.

4. Seahawks – B.J. Raji, Boston College
This is how free agency and the draft are supposed to work in tandem. The Seahawks signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh this month, so they don’t have to take Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree any more. And they added ex-Packers defensive tackle Colin Cole to replace the departed Rocky Bernard, so Raji isn’t a must-have either. But quality defensive tackles are always prized and much tougher to find than starting receivers.

5. Browns – Everette Brown, Florida State
This is much higher than I had Brown going in my last mock (to Miami at No. 25), but Cleveland’s need is for an edge pass-rusher at outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense, and there just aren’t that many choices to be had in that department. Plenty of mocks have the Browns going for Texas defensive end Brian Orakpo, but I hear the Browns don’t like him all that much.

That’s a pretty solid top 5, although Brown is a major reach at No. 5. Still, as Banks notes, the Browns are in desperate need of a pass rusher and need one, if not two starting linebackers for next season.

Banks has Michael Crabtree falling to the Raiders at No. 7, which certainly makes sense given Al Davis’s desire to land the flashy pick. Banks also has Mark Sanchez (No. 8 to Jacksonville) being selected before Matthew Stafford (No. 10 to San Francisco), which is sure a trend that other mock drafts will surely to follow if they haven’t already. (If you’re looking for my two cents, I don’t think there’s any way Sanchez goes ahead of Stafford, but crazier things have happened.)


Click here to check out the rest of Banks’ mock
.

Houshmandzadeh signs with Seahawks

According to the National Football Post, free agent wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh signed a five-year, $40 million contract with the Seahawks. The deal also includes $15 million in guarantees.

Barring any last-second problems, free agent wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh will sign a multi-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks, according to sources close to the situation.

According to the source, the Seahawks have offered close to $2 million more than the closest competitor in the race for Houshmandzadeh’s services.

An eight-year veteran out of Oregon State, Houshmandzadeh caught 92 passes for 904 yards and 4 touchdowns in 15 starts for the Bengals last season.

In addition to the Seahawks, the Vikings and Bengals were pursing Houshmandzadeh.

Well…slap…me…hard. I thought Housh would wind up in Minnesota after the Vikes made a decent push this weekend and if not there, surely back in Cincinnati where the Bengals seemed to be offering the most money. Out of the top three choices, I would have ranked Seattle third as Housh’s likely destination. Yikes.

The Seahawks landed the best receiver on the market, although they probably overpaid considering he’ll be 32 in September. He’s highly dependable, an excellent target and he’s not afraid to go over the middle if he has to. Hopefully he doesn’t mind blocking either, because he’ll be doing plenty of it in Greg Knapp’s West Coast Offense because the Seahawks will definitely run the ball next year.

I just wonder how Knapp and Housh will get along. Knapp seems like a good guy, but he’s been known to frustrate receivers in the past (i.e. Terrell Owens and Peerless Price), and Housh isn’t afraid to voice his frustration when he feels that what the offense is doing isn’t working.

I also wonder what this signing means for Michael Crabtree, who some predicted would go fourth to the Seahawks in the April. With Seattle needing to address other holes, I doubt Crabtree will be their pick in round one now that Housh has been signed. (Or is expected to sign, that is.)

Teams would be wise not to pass on Crabtree

One of the bigger stories surrounding the NFL scouting combine this week (besides the ongoing antics of Alabama’s Andre Smith, that is) is the foot injury that has caused Texas Tech wideout Michael Crabtree to skip workouts. He’ll need to have surgery to repair the slight fracture in his foot and therefore won’t be able to run the 40-yard dash at his Pro Day in March.

When players require surgery before the draft, the notion among some pundits is that their stock will fall. Hopefully teams aren’t that stupid in the case of Crabtree because anyone that has seen him in game action knows how dynamic he can be.

We live in a time where the 40-yard dash seems to rule all. A couple pundits were sporting wood last week when Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith ran a 5.22 forty, which blew away every O-linemen at the combine. Besides displaying great athleticism, I don’t know why anyone would get overly excited about an offensive tackle running a fast forty. Unless a team plans on him being a combo left tackle/tight end, nobody should flip their lid over Smith (or any offensive tackle for that matter) running a 5.22 forty.

That said, Crabtree not being able to run the forty means very little. He wasn’t even supposed to run a fast time anyway, so nothing changes. He’s still a top 10 pick, he’s still one of the best overall prospects in the draft and he’ll still be the best wideout available come April. Darrius Heyward-Bey, Percy Harvin and Jeremy Maclin are all fantastic receiving prospects. But Crabtree beats them all – good 40-time or not.

Top 10 active NFL touchdown leaders

Sometimes when deciding who you’re going to pick at your fantasy football draft, it’s easy to be infatuated with yardage and not with touchdowns, but TDs are really where the points are at. With the 2008 season now over, here is a look at the all-time active NFL leaders are in touchdowns, either rushing or receiving. Some names will not surprise you, but a few others might, but either way, you fantasy geeks can file this article away for when you start your preseason research:

1. Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys (141)—T.O. causes trouble everywhere he goes, but on the field he has a knack for finding the end zone, usually after he’s blown past a defender. And the best part for fantasy GMs is that you don’t have to actually interact with the guy like Jerry Jones does.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (141)—The scary thing about LT is he’s only 29. The really scary thing, though, is that he’s gone from a league-record 28 rushing scores in 2006 to 15 in 2007 to 11 in 2008. He probably won’t be drafted first overall again in 2009, but LT is still a first rounder.

3. Randy Moss, New England Patriots (136)—Moss has had an up and down career, but the one number you can never ignore is 23—the NFL single-season receiving TD mark he set in 2007 when he and Tom Brady were lighting up scoreboards. And Brady should be back in ’09.

4. Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts (128)—A knee injury ended Harrison’s 2007 season prematurey, and he was not as effective in 2008 usual, scoring only 5 times. Throw in some off the field issues, and while Marvin has put up huge career numbers catching passes from Peyton Manning, you have to believe the end of that career is in sight.

5. Shaun Alexander, free agent (112)—Has anyone seen a running back’s career decline so sharply? Dude broke the NFL record with 27 rushing TDs in 2005, but an injury limited Alexander to only 20 starts since then with two different teams. 112 might stay at 112.

6. Edgerrin James, Arizona Cardinals (91)—James reached double digits in touchdowns four times while playing in Indianapolis. And he’s reached double digits in Arizona too—16 scores, but over three seasons. He showed in the playoffs that he still has some juice left, but on a Cardinals’ team focused on the pass, don’t expect James to reach 100 before 2010.

6. Isaac Bruce, San Francisco 49ers (91)—Fifteen years in the league will give you a chance to put up close to 100 touchdowns, but it’s not like Isaac Bruce doesn’t have skills, even at the ripe old football age of 36.

8. Joey Galloway, Tampa Bay Bucs (83)—Galloway is another guy who has sipped from the fountain of youth, but he missed most of the 2008 season.

9. Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City Chiefs (76)—Gonzalez caught 96 passes for 1058 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2008, one of his best seasons yet, to earn first team All Pro at the age of 32. He may not be back in KC in 2009, but no matter where he lands, he’s always a good fantasy tight end.

10. Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins (76)—With 76 career rushing and receiving touchdowns, Portis is a solid fantasy player, but no LT. Then again, LT is no LT anymore either.

Source: Pro Football Reference

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