Julian Peterson is out; Aaron Curry is in. Darryl Tapp is out; Cory Redding is in. Rocky Bernard is out; Colin Cole and Red Bryant are in. Leroy Hill is out?
The Seahawks head into training camp with more than half their starting front seven replaced, but not all replacements have been clear upgrades. So the question remains, are they any better?
Yes. Yes, they are. For two simple reasons, bulk and Aaron Curry.
To continue...
Size
GM Tim Ruskell has done a lot to add depth to the defensive line, depth with size.
First, the Seahawks plan to move Redding back to his more natural defensive end position on downs one and two. At 295 pounds, he would be the team's largest defensive end, even if he sheds some weight.
Cole is also the largest player at his position, weighing in at 330 pounds. He hasn't won the starting job yet, but if he does, Seattle will have size starting in the middle unlike anything since Marcus Tubbs.
At linebacker, Curry weighs in at 254 pounds. That's 14 more than Peterson's listed weight.
In fact, assuming all three of these players start, Seattle will have gained 76 pounds over their predecessors on the front seven. Now that's stopping power.
Aaron Curry
It remains to be seen whether Curry can be an upgrade at linebacker over Peterson. But one thing's for sure, he'll be much better at stopping the run.
For all of Peterson's athleticism, he had a tendency, as did all three of Seattle's linebackers, to get caught up in the trash. Once a lineman got his paws on Peterson, he was out of the play.
That won't be the case for Curry. This guy will shed blockers with the best of them and has the ability to make plays in the backfield even when he doesn't come through untouched.
Moreover, with Curry's great straight-line speed, Seattle isn't losing any sideline-to-sideline speed at linebacker.
Improved rush defense
In the last 10 years under head coach Mike Holmgren, the Seahawks have had a top 10 rush defense in yards per rush only twice and only once in the top five. Most of the time, they have been quite bad.
Here are the numbers:
Things should change in 2009. Seattle will be great at stopping the run. And it seems to me there's some old axiom about needing to stop the run first if you want to go far in the NFL.
Oh yeah, that one year Seattle finished in the top five? They went to the Super Bowl.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
