Almost never do the Seahawks throw multiple draft choices to get a player, then name him a starter from Day One. They did with returner/receiver Tyler Loclkett. Pay close attention to this guy.
Author: Art Thiel
Art Thiel
Never having met a metaphor he could not twist beyond recognition, Art has been illuminating, agitating, amusing and annoying Puget Sound sports readers for a long time. Along with Steve Rudman, he co-founded Sports Press Northwest because it didnt seem right that the Google monster should aggregate daily journalism into oblivion without at least a flesh wound from somebody. Thiel and Rudman labored under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe until the print edition died an undeserved death in March, 2009. Art continued on at its online successor seattlepi.com while working on SPNWs creation. His radio commentaries can be heard Friday and Saturday mornings and Friday afternoon on KPLU-FM 88.9. In 2003 he wrote the definitive book about the Seattle Mariners, Out of Left Field, which became a regional bestseller. In 2009, along with Rudman and KJR 950 afternoon host Mike Gastineau, Thiel authored The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists, a cross between historylink.org and Mad Magazine that has become mandatory reading for any sports fan who has an indoor bathroom. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University as well as two dead papers and a live one, the News Tribune of Tacoma, he has become a fan of entrepreneurial online journalism because it allows him to continue a lifelong passion to take the English language to places it rarely visits willingly, and does not involve the cleaning of kennels or stables.
After the Seahawks signed QB Russell Wilson and LB Bobby Wagner to deals worth $130 million combined, something had to give under the NFL’s salary cap. Turned out to be DT Tony McDaniel, 30, a two-year starter who counted $3.6 million against the cap.
Bobby Wagner, who said Friday his deadline for a contract extension was “now,” got his wish when the Seahawks gave him a four-year deal for the most money for a linebacker.
Michael Bennett threatened a holdout, but showed up. Soon, so will Kam Chancellor. The extensions they signed don’t look as good now, but it’s part of the price of success with the Seahawks.
With its hard salary cap, the NFL is set up to make the strong fall. Now that they will pay one player $87.6M, Seahawks have their biggest challenge yet to sustaining excellence.
With epic failure following epic success, plus all the edgy characters, led by a coach Michael Bennett called Willy Wonka, the Seahawks are The World’s Most Interesting Team.
Sweep by Arizona again showed the feebleness of Mariners’ roster, seven years into “the plan” by Jack Zduriencik. At 46-56, the season is nearly done, as should be the GM’s tenure.
Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Tom Brady’s suspension in part because the Pats QB destroyed his cell phone and didn’t tell the NFL until June 18. For a change, Goodell is right.
With few tradeable players, either vets or prospects, the Mariners are best to stay away from deadline trades. Since a win-now team can’t surrender, the goal is to avoid further damage.
Beset by physical problems over the past two-plus seasons, Franklin Gutierrez delivered a walk-off home run Sunday that provided joy in an otherwise bleak season.