Finally, the NFL offseason is reaching its merciful conclusion. The Seattle Seahawks (or the football players head coach Pete Carroll has hand-selected to dress up and pretend to be the Seahawks) will open their season on Sunday. The regular season debut against the San Francisco 49ers comes after a rocky Labor Day weekend, which saw roster cuts, a coach quitting, a new coach hired, contract renegotiations, a few minor signings and a relatively major re-signing. All told, more than half of Seattle's opening-day roster will be players brought in by Carroll and new general manager John Schneider.
Game week opens with, what else, news of more cuts and some Seahawk veterans expressing surprise at all of the roster turnover.
First, defensive tackle Craig Terrill thanked the organization on Twitter because he had been released to make room for Jordan Babineaux, according to Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times.
Thanks to the Seahawks for 6 great years.
Craig Terrill
TerrillMusic
Shortly thereafter, starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck weighed in on Twitter, confirming that Terrill had been let go and calling the organization's roster reorganization an "avalanche".
My roommate got caught in the avalanche. RT @TerrillMusic: Thanks to the Seahawks for 6 great years.
Matthew Hasselbeck
Hasselbeck
Hasselbeck wasn't the first big-name Seahawk to express surprise or trepidation regarding the team's flurry of moves. On Sunday, linebacker Aaron Curry said the organization was getting "alil shaky" and "crazy" with its moves.
Things are gettin alil shaky wit the Seahawks!!! What'll happen next?
Aaron Curry
SeaHawk59
WOW never thought it could get as crazy as its gettin for the Hawks!! Interesting stuff goin onAaron Curry
SeaHawk59
While all the back and forth between releasing players, re-working contracts and re-signing players has made for a difficult-to-follow couple of days, Greg Johns of the Seattle P-I argues that today's Babineaux for Terrill swap is logical from a roster balance perspective.
From a numbers standpoint, those moves make sense given that the Seahawks don't have a backup free safety after releasing Babineaux, Jamar Adams and Kevin Ellison over the weekend, while the defensive line was over its normal limit with the signing of Junior Siavii and the return to health of Kentwan Balmer.
It remains to be seen whether the players are able to see the logic and, ultimately, whether the group that Carroll and Schneider have assembled can compete on the field. Unfortunately for the new-look Seahawks, those questions are put to the test in just five days, not much time for new players to get acclimated and for returning guys to find the stability they might have been used to.
At this point, it's fair to say that no one -- not Carroll, not Schneider and definitely not the players -- knows exactly how everyone will respond on Sunday.