Rice is gone, what's next?

The Seahawks have finally done the smart thing and cut loose the ancient, over the hill Jerry Rice. Now good ole number 80 can go back to rest where it belongs.

The question now is, what's next? The Seahawks have made astounding strides in the last week, to eliminate many of the problems which seemed to linger and linger during Whittsit's tenure as President. Now we suddenly have a new Pres./G.M., and we have perrenial training camp holdout Walter Jones locked up for what will likely be the vast majority of his career. We have also locked up perhaps our most important cog in the team by signing Matt Hasselbeck to a long term deal. On top of which, Alexander recieved the franchise tag, which allows us a great deal of flexibility in what we want to do with him. Now should some team come calling for his services, at least the Seahawks will be compensated for his loss. If, on the other hand, we don't find any suitors or trading partners for his sevices, we still have a top five back in our fold, in a contract year. It seems as if everything is truly beginning to sort itself out. This team has finally, apparently, found it's moorings and is beginning to take shape. So again, that leaves us with the question of what's next.

According to several sources, Coach Holmgren seems intent on trying to keep nearly every one of his players who are still unrestricted. The list of players he wants to see back next year, includes nearly everyone. The problem is, money only goes so far.

So here is what I would like to see happen, and in response I would like to hear what all of you would like to see happen. Tell me what you think of my plan, and what you would do yourself if it were up to you.

The very first thing I would do is resign Ken Lucas. We play in the NFC west, a division that features a Rams team with an incredibly potent passing attack, as well as the Cardinals, who suddenly have a trio of extremely dangerous recievers. In my opinion, there should be a premium placed on conerbacks, especially young talented cornerbacks such as Ken Lucas.

The second thing I would do is resign Robbie Tobeck. The key to winning in the NFL has always been, and will always be, effective line play. Teams that win, are teams that can field an offensive line that is cohesive as well as talented. It is absolutely vital, that an offensive line stays together for a long enough period of time to develop cohesion. Having said that, you might think I would also feel that it's fairly important to keep Pork Chop, and Chris Gray as well. After all Pork Chop has been the fill in guy, whenever anyone becomes injured or otherwise cannot play and Gray is our starting right guard. Surprise, I don't. I would prefer to keep Pork Chop, at least at a decent price, but I do not think that his level of talent is worth overpaying one dime for him. As far as Chris Gray, I would have gotten rid of him three years ago had it been up to me. Nearly all the sacks that the offensive line has given up in the last several years has come from the weak right side, and far too often from Gray's spot at right guard. Of course, a large part of the problem with the right side of our O line last year, also came from the right tackle spot, from Chris Terry's area. My solution to fixing this problem ties into my third priority, which is whether or not to resign Chike Okeafor.

The thing I would look at there, is whether or not there is enough money left to resign Chike Okeafor, and still pursue some other free agents. If we have the money to do both, then fine, great, by all means resign Okeafor. If not, well then let him walk.

Losing Okeafor is a hit that we could easily absorb, because of the number of very good pass rushing defensive ends coming through the draft this season. It has been a long time since the NFL has seen this many fast, athletic and talented DE's coming through the draft, and we could surely land one of them with our 23rd pick.
Also, (getting back to how this all ties in with the right side of our offensive line), there is one player in free agency, who would not only help us tremendously on the right side of our O line, but also hurt our main division rival in the process. Kyle Turley. I want this guy! Turley is the kind of player who never takes downs off, who takes it personally when he gives up a sack, and who looks at the job of protecting the QB, much as America's Secret service thinks about protecting the President. This was clearly evidenced, by the now somewhat infamous incident where Turley tore off the Helmet of a Jets player and threw it towards the stands. He just will not stand for allowing his quaterback taking any flack, he takes it personally. exactly, the type of attitude and player who would ignite our talented O line into a raging inferno. Trouble is, we already have a right tackle, and we would like to, if at all possible, resign our team sack leader, Chike Okeafor. My solution? Cut Chris Terry, who would be familiar with getting cut, since he was let go from the Panthers, for his history of being a locker room problem and a drug abuser. Let Chris Gray walk, just because he stinks, and sign Kyle Turley. Then if we still have money left over, resign Okeafor, then after, Pork Chop, with whatever is left. We can have Pork Chop fill in for Gray, if we are able to resign him, or we can use one of our many "project" picks from the previous year's drafts to replace him. This solution would give us a revamped right side of the O line, with Turley and either Pork Chop or one of our other "project guys", and would either leave us with Okeafor, or a brand new fresh shiny DE out of the draft, who I personally think would be an immediate upgrade over Okeafor anyway.

After all that, we could possibly still have money left over with which to sign free agents, especially if we cut loose Chris Terry and don't resign Okeafor. With any money left over, I would pursue a WR, there are several available this year who would be of help to us, but perhaps the one who would give us the most bang for the buck so to speak is T.J. Houshmandzadeh. He is somewhat undersized and perhaps somewhat slow, but he is an excellent route runner and an excellent hands guy. He had a very nice season last year for the Bengals and showed that the knocks on his speed and size may be very overexaggerated.
The other free agent who I think would provide alot of bang for the buck is, Rod Smart, or as he is better known, He Hate Me. He Hate Me is a special teams stud whose price would be relatively cheap for what he could bring to this team, which is a true kickoff/punt return threat. We have not had a scary return man in so long I have almost forgotten what it is like to have one.
Both of those two guys would be cheap enough for us to get and both would bring immediate value to this team.

As far as the draft is concerned, I would take the best available DE with our first pick if we weren't able to resign Okeafor, otherwise I would use our first pick on a LB, if a good one falls to us.

Seems smart to me, and very doable, let me know what you guys think.