It would still be nice if the Seahawks tried to land a veteran if anyone worthwhile gets cut from another team. Tim Rattay will get cut in Tampa Bay if Jay Fiedler proves ready to go. There is also a decent chance either Kelly Holcomb or Craig Nall will be let go in Buffalo with J.P Losman looking like a lock to be the starter.
Craig Nall would have been the better option for the Seahawks if he could have been brought in at the start of camp, but he has very limited playing experience. He has more than Seneca Wallace and David Greene combined, but that is not hard to accomplish. Nall has been getting a decent amount of work in the preseason and the team made a big investment in him, so he will probably stick around. The majority of the money they spent on Nall is a sunk cost, and they would get a big salary cap hit next year if they had to pay off his signing bonus.
Kelly Holcomb's financial situation is a lot different. He is scheduled to make just under $4 million over the next three seasons. If Losman has really won the starting job, then that is way too much to be paying Holcomb to ride the bench, especially with Nall around. Holcomb is more of a known quantity, but he has only attempted 9 passes in the entire preseason, which suggests they could be trying to keep him healthy so they are not on the hook for his salary if he gets injured. Holcomb is a gamer and would be a perfect #3 for the Seahawks right now.
Holcomb is one of those guys that is always being looked past because he lacks the ideal physical tools. The Browns were always trying to keep Tim Couch ahead of him on the depth chart, even though Holcomb consistently outperformed him. Buffalo fans would not be too happy if they let Holcomb go, that is if they like winning games. Holcomb started 8 games last year, going 4-4. That is pretty impressive when you consider the team went 1-7 in their other 8 games. Three of Holcomb's wins came against winning teams (Miami, Kansas City, and Cincinnati) and two of his losses were to division winners Denver and New England.
And it was Holcomb that deserves the credit for those victories. Buffalo was horrible last year, but Holcomb managed to complete 67.4% of his passes, tossing 10 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He finished the year with an 85.6 passer rating. Last season was not an aberration either. For his career, he has a 64.6% completion percentage, 37 touchdowns, 37 interceptions and a passer rating of 79.9. Those numbers would look even better if you threw out the 1 touchdown and 8 interecptions he compiled in a spot duty role for the 3-13 Indianpolis Colts during his second season (1997). The rest of his production comes from what he did in the last four seasons.
Holcomb is nothing special, but he is capable of leading a team to wins. He does not have great arm strength, but he would not be asked to make long down-field throws in Mike Holmgren's offense. He also comes with 21 career starts, including 20 in the last four years. Someone like Holcomb or Rattay would provide what both Greene and Hamdan can't, namely experience and proven production as a starter in the NFL. Fans should be looking at players like this instead of someone like Marques Tuiasosopo.
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