Remember when Jerramy Stevens was arrested… like six times – including suspicion of rape, reckless driving, and suspicion of second-degree armed assault with a weapon? Yeah, he played for the Seahawks for five years after being drafted 28th overall in 2002.
Remember the free agent acquisition of Marcus Pollard in 2007 and how he dropped that one wide open touchdown pass during the playoff game in Green Bay? He had good character but not the greatest hands.
Come to think of it, Stevens didn’t have good hands either.
The point is, the Seahawks haven’t had a good character and sure-handed tight end in a long time, but now we have the positioned locked in for years to come. So how much better is Carlson and can he maintain the staggering pace he set his first year in the NFL?
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Well if we look at receptions yards over the last two years then he’s better than both tight ends combined plus an extra 123 yards. As a rookie he was 8th in the league in reception yards and he led a receiving corps decimated by injuries in touchdowns (5), reception yards (627) and receptions (55). Those are all franchise tight end records. That just doesn’t happen. In fact, it’s never happened in the history of the NFL.
But can he keep up the pace?
2008 was a unique year in that the Seahawks top five receivers were all injured at some point. This left a rag-tag group of free agent castoffs and practice squad players. No players stepped it up (except Koren Robinson).
Carlson quickly established himself as a skilled receiver and route runner early on in the season against the Bills after no Seahawk could catch the ball. But, it was clear there was room for improvement, after a couple of drops when he was about to take hits.
This was Carlson’s biggest improvement throughout the season in terms of catching the ball. The best example of this is his diving catch against the Jets for a touchdown when he was being covered heavily. As a tight end, Carlson is going to take many hits from big LBs immediately after touching the ball, that's just the nature of the tight end. Before, he would catch the ball, take a huge hit and it would pop out, but he seems to have lost that case of the drops he had during the first half of the season.
As for blocking, he improved drastically throughout the season especially in run-blocking situations, accounting for a lot of the late success the unit had with an offensive line made up of back-ups (the Seahawks used a lot of two-tight end sets in those situations).
But, there is room for improvement; it’s only his first season. His blocking, despite the arc of improvement, can still go further, especially in pass blocking situations. He was a bruiser in run blocking, but in passing situations he wasn’t always on point, letting guys run around him on occasion. But, he will improve his technique, and is essentially a dream-come-true for the Seahawks because he will become a complete tight end.
The outlook is good for him to improve in all three categories is positive. One of Carlson’s best attributes is his work ethic, so look for him to continue to improve, even if his 2009 numbers aren’t as impressive as 2008’s.
