DT Larry Tripplett shouldn't have too much trouble making the roster, and if he does, he will give the Seahawks some needed stability and durability at the position. It seems crazy to me to think DT Marcus Tubbs is going to play this season unless he makes a mid-season appearance off the PUP list. Even without Tubbs, the Seahawks have a solid group up the middle with Rocky Bernard, Brandon Mebane, Red Bryant, Craig Terrill. The final spot will likely end up as a battle between Tripplett, DT Howard Green and DE/DT Chris Cooper. Howard and Cooper are both solid players, and are capable of contributing if someone else gets injured.
The lack of depth at LB is still somewhat alarming, or I just don't know enough about Mallards. An NFL roster can't survive with only 6 LBs - just look at what the Cincinnati Bengals went through last year. No offense to the rest of the guys trying to make the team, but there doesn't appear to be another NFL-ready LB on the team outside of the usual suspects: Lofa Tatupu , Julian Peterson, Leroy Hill, D.D. Lewis, Lance Laury, Will Herring. At this point, I would have to assume the options are: 1) Hope one of the unheralded players steps up, 2) Sign a salary cap casualty or 3) Keep Jason Babin to fill-in at OLB if needed. The smart money right now is probably on recently added Wesly Mallard, even though his first name is missing an "e" and his last name is waterfowl.
It wouldn't be too surprising if the Seahawks started the season with Jordan Kent and Logan Payne on the active roster, and Deion Branch on the PUP list. Kent needs to show a lot more than he did last summer if he wants to make the team. Last offseason, conspiracy theorists speculated Kent wasn't used much, so he would remain hidden and not get snatched off the practice squad. The truth is that he just wasn't ready for the NFL...not even the preseason-NFL. Logan Payne is much more NFL ready. Kent has huge potential, but I only see him making the opening day active oster if Deion Branch isn't on it.
The two minicamps probably won't help sort things out very much. Once training camp starts, things will start getting a lot clearer.
Best Guess Roster as of 5/2:
Offense (26)
QB (3) - Matt Hasselbeck, Seneca Wallace, Charlie Frye
HB/FB (5) - Julius Jones, T.J. Duckett, Maurice Morris, Leonard Weaver, Owen Schmitt
WR (6) - Nate Burleson, Bobby Engram, Ben Obomanu, Courtney Taylor, Logan Payne, Jordan Kent
TE (3) - John Carlson, Jeb Putzier, Will Heller
OL (9) - Walter Jones, Sean Locklear, Chris Spencer, Rob Sims, Mike Wahle, Chris Gray, Ray Willis, Mansfield Wrotto, Floyd Womack
Defense (24)
DE (4) - Patrick Kerney, Darryl Tapp, Lawrence Jackson, Baraka Atkins
DT (5) - Rocky Bernard, Brandon Mebane, Red Bryant, Craig Terrill, Larry Tripplett
LB (7) - Lofa Tatupu , Julian Peterson, Leroy Hill, D.D. Lewis, Lance Laury, Will Herring, Wesley Mallard
S (4) - Deon Grant, Brian Russell, Mike Green, C.J. Wallace
CB (4) - Marcus Trufant, Kelly Jennings, Josh Wilson, Jordan Babineaux
Special Teams (3)
K - Brandon Coutu
P - Ryan Plackemeier
LS - Tyler Schmitt
PUP List
WR - Deion Branch
DT - Marcus Tubbs
Tomorrow: Key Battles to Watch
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