Seahawks: $100M in cap space for the 1st 10

IllegalContact said:

if they lost graham, their offense would go back to being what it was last year......lynch is even more important than wilson

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Graham seems to be a perfect candidate for a decline. Injuries, going from a team that he fit perfectly to one he doesn't fit at all and becoming more of the defenses focus. More teams are treating Graham like the Patriots did and taking him out of the game, sometimes literally. Nobody is going to be worried about stopping Baldwin and Kearse.

IllegalContact said:

Wagner is the highest paid ILB in the history of the game..........since Collins is already better than Wagner, The Pats would be wise to try to hit that early

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Love the optimism but calling Collins better than Wagner already is serious homerism.. It could end up being the case but he hasn't earned it by any means. Either way interesting thread

Joey007 said:

If there's any one that might be comparable to him it's Lavonte David. And Lavonte David is a very very good player.

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Love David, he was my draft binkie but Collins is a very different player IMO, Wagner is more like David, I'm not sure who Collins is yet but I'm hoping for Derrick Thomas. Not to much to ask for....................

I think the Hawks will be there with Green Bay at the NFCCG once again, this time I'm taking GB. After that it will be tough for them to sustain excellence a that kind of disparity.

Ivan said:

I think the Hawks will be there with Green Bay at the NFCCG once again, this time I'm taking GB. After that it will be tough for them to sustain excellence a that kind of disparity.

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I agree - GB has a real shot at going to the SB especially after the seahawks got lucky last year.

TommyBrady12 said:

I agree - GB has a real shot at going to the SB especially after the seahawks got lucky last year.

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It'll all come down to home field advantage. If GB hadn't lost to Buffalo they would've played at Lambeau

TommyBrady12 said:

I agree - GB has a real shot at going to the SB especially after the seahawks got lucky last year.

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Much as I hate to say it Dallas is going to be really dangerous. I'm a big believe in any team with a good QB and a great OL and this Dallas OL is outstanding. I will still take GB because of Rodgers but Romo should have a great year.

Ivan said:

Much as I hate to say it Dallas is going to be really dangerous. I'm a big believe in any team with a good QB and a great OL and this Dallas OL is outstanding. I will still take GB because of Rodgers but Romo should have a great year.

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Brady plays, Pats will hang 30+ on them.

Cap nerdy stuff coming up.

Peter King's article overstates the average cap hit of some players because he is using the new money APY metric. The article refers to the metric as salary. Example, Bobby Wagner received $43 million in new money for the 4 new years (2016 through 2019) in his contract. That averages out to $10.75 million which is the figure shown in King's article.But Wagner's average cap hit for the 5 years (2015-2019) is $8,874,133.

chasa said:

franchise tags are for teams incapable of planning ahead. having jamie collins on what will probably turn out to be a 12 million dollar one year deal is not good for the salary cap.

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I agree with what you're saying, though I expect that we'll be dealing with Jones and Hightower first, since they are the ones up for free agency next spring. Collins is not due to hit FA until 2017, so we'll have a longer period to negotiate with him.

It may simply come down to realizing that we can't keep all 3, and re-signing Collins + ONE of HT/Jones. At the moment, we'd all prefer HT. We'll have to see what Belichick thinks and what kind of season Chandler Jones has.

Wheelman said:

They're a good cover 3 defense but when QB and offense figures them out, they're screwed because their man coverage can't save them! The problem is very few offenses are patient enough to drive down the field against the Seahawks with 8-12 play drives. So Seahawks looks dominant until they face a capable offense.

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Exactly why I went against the grain and hoped like hell that SEA would come back and win in that NFCCG. I thought we played them very well last time, on their home turf--at least as far as our offense was concerned.

As a matter of fact, I'm still annoyed that they scored that last TD with the ref pick play, otherwise their offense didn't scare me at all. I liked our chances vs. SEA much more than GB for the reason that you listed.

Lynch runs hard and has earned the name Beast Mode but how long can that guy dish out that kind of punishment?

Wilson is a good QB but if Lynch is out how effective is he going to be? If Lynch is out how is the read option going to work for them? Not very well. IMO

I reckon that from our point of view, this is how we figure out Lynch's value (as a threat.) Bear in mind that his best game against us is still in a Bills uniform:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/L/LyncMa00/gamelog/?opp_id=nwe

In terms of players on the field, there are few constants, but in terms of whether Lynch brings something "unique" from a Pats perspective, it doesn't seem like he's anything special or scary. (Yes, his snap count against the Pats was low in Buffalo b/c he split carries... but the first time he played us in fluorescent green gear, he was under 3 YPC. It took a 24-carry game to break 100 yards in the SB, and just barely at that. We've given up 2 TDs to this guy in 6 games.)

D0wnside: If there's any value to the "how we play Lynch" metric, that means that if Lynch makes it to the big game against us again, the drop-off to his backup isn't so steep, and even has the potential to go the other direction.

I know you guys are thinking about the Seahawks' ability to even climb that mountain again... I'm thinking, let 'em make it back. If we're there, I'm just not feeling the fear. They're locking up guys who didn't give us that much trouble.

JMC00 said:

Brady plays, Pats will hang 30+ on them.

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(And win?)

Ivan said:

Love the optimism but calling Collins better than Wagner already is serious homerism.. It could end up being the case but he hasn't earned it by any means. Either way interesting thread

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please elaborate........Collins was more productive in every regard in 2014....more sacks, more INT's, more forced fumbles, more passes defensed.......physically, outside of a marginal advantage in the 40, collins is the better athlete, and collins is 3" taller and 10 lbs heavier. Collins can play any LB position.......because of his height (or lack of), Wagner is stuck in the middle.

Ivan said:

Much as I hate to say it Dallas is going to be really dangerous. I'm a big believe in any team with a good QB and a great OL and this Dallas OL is outstanding. I will still take GB because of Rodgers but Romo should have a great year.

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Yeah, people dismiss Tony Romo without any good reason other than a dominant and totally incorrect ESPN narrative about lack of "clutchness." They also lament the loss of Murray. However, Murray is a pretty mediocre player who, shockingly, saw his production spike in a year when the Dallas offensive line was utterly dominant. It doesn't matter who their running back is, he'll be a top 10 guy anyways. Dallas is a good team with a solid defense and a great offense. They should definitely be looked at as one of the top NFC contenders, along with Green Bay and Seattle.

IllegalContact said:

please elaborate........Collins was more productive in every regard in 2014....more sacks, more INT's, more forced fumbles, more passes defensed.......physically, outside of a marginal advantage in the 40, collins is the better athlete, and collins is 3" taller and 10 lbs heavier. Collins can play any LB position.......because of his height (or lack of), Wagner is stuck in the middle.

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Imo Wagner has had the better career to date. I think Collins has big upside but his first two seasons were only marginally productive. He could end up being the better player when all is said and done but when you look at career to date Wagner gets the nod imo.

primetime said:

Yeah, people dismiss Tony Romo without any good reason other than a dominant and totally incorrect ESPN narrative about lack of "clutchness." They also lament the loss of Murray. However, Murray is a pretty mediocre player who, shockingly, saw his production spike in a year when the Dallas offensive line was utterly dominant. It doesn't matter who their running back is, he'll be a top 10 guy anyways. Dallas is a good team with a solid defense and a great offense. They should definitely be looked at as one of the top NFC contenders, along with Green Bay and Seattle.

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My wife is a DAL fan, so I'm forced to watch a lot of the games, as we have the Sunday Ticket.

My concern with them would be their defense, particularly their secondary where guys like Brandon Carr are counting for 11-12m dollars against the cap. There's also the fact that PHI is right in the thick of things, and even the NYG could be an 8-8 team. I think the NFCE is just one of those divisions where you can rotate the winner almost every year.

I definitely agree with your assessment of Romo though. He's definitely a top 10 QB who has the same (or very similar) career QB rating as Brady, excels in the month of December contrary to public opinion, and often carries the team on his shoulders. Yes, he has made some poor decisions at times, but the good play gets overlooked just the same.

I just can't get on board with the idea that DAL will be a dominant team this year. I see something in the 10-6 range, myself.

TommyBrady12 said:

I agree - GB has a real shot at going to the SB especially after the seahawks got lucky last year.

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Setting aside my homer ism in the hopes of repeating, GB would clearly be my pick to win the whole damn thing.

It would also fit the NFL's agenda to see a "good guy" fan base/team win it all, happily focusing on the legacy and tradition of the mighty Packers.