Max Unger is playing left guard and Ray Willis is at right tackle, which means currently nothing is in the way of Rob Sims continuing his starting role at right guard this season.
If this TNT article is of any merit, that may not be such a bad thing.
Sims, a 6-foot-3, 312-pound guard, has been racing around minicamps and off-season training sessions like a rookie. “I’m 100 percent committed ... playing every play like it could be my last,” he said. “I know I won’t ever take (football) for granted. This is what I want to do with my life.”
To continue...
After struggling along with the rest of the line in 2007, Sims missed all but one game in 2008. Willis filled in and excelled.
But LT Walter Jones is still recovering from injury, and Willis needs to backup right tackle in case Sean Locklear has to shift over to left. Meanwhile, Unger is needed to backup injury-prone Mike Wahle, and the team doesn't seem prepared to move him around yet.
In his first power rankings of the 2009 season, SI's Peter King has Seattle ranked 19. Here's what he had to say:
19. Seattle
Hard not to like what the Seahawks have done in the offseason, replacing the declining Julian Peterson and Rocky Bernard with Aaron Curry at linebacker and defensive-line-rotation pieces Colin Cole and Cory Redding. T.J. Houshmandzadeh's a very good addition, but he's not really much different than Bobby Engram, other than he should be able to stay healthier than Engram. But this team will sink or swim on the back of Matt Hasselbeck. Jim Mora told me in about 16 different ways that Hasselbeck's back is fine. Hasselbeck has echoed that repeatedly, but let's see how he holds up when the real games start.
His main concern is the health of QB Matt Hasselbeck, and by ranking Seattle 19th, he obviously has little faith Hasselbeck can stay healthy for 16 games.
For the rest of the division, he has Arizona at 12 ("Just an unsettling offseason, so far."), San Fransisco at 25 ("I still don't think this offense can score enough to make San Francisco a threat to win its division.") and St. Louis at 30 ("It'll be a big improvement if Marc Bulger is still standing by December.").
Michael Steffes at Seahawk Addicts as his take on the power rankings. Here's the meat of what he had to write:
It looks to be a two horse race in manys eyes. With both Seattle and AZ essentially betting thier seasons on aging QBs. In the end, if health doesn't play a factor, it may come down to who can defend the pass better. And if it comes down to defense, I will take Mora over Whisenhunt every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
Unfortunately, whether a head coach is defensive minded or offensive minded usually doesn't make a difference as far as how good the defense is.
In case you're curious, here's a writeup on the Cardinals new defense and all the changes. Bill Davis, the former linebackers coach, is their new defensive coordinator after Clancy Pendergast was fired in February.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
