Ladies and gentlemen, the Seattle
Seahawks have officially established themselves as a serious Super Bowl
contender in 2013 and beyond.
Last week, Seahawks head coach and
executive vice president Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider
shocked the NFL landscape by brokering a trade with the Minnesota Vikings for
supremely talented wide receiver Percy Harvin.
In exchange for Harvin, Seattle
shipped their first-round pick (#25 overall) and a seventh-round selection in
2013 as well as a third-round pick in 2014 to the Vikings.
The 24-year-old then signed a
six-year, $67 million deal with the Seahawks to complete the trade.
While the Seahawks indeed paid a
high price for Harvin’s services, the potential rewards of having the dynamic
wideout on a roster already bursting at the seams with young talent cannot be
overstated.
In four seasons with the Vikings,
Harvin scored 29 touchdowns as a receiver, rusher, and returner.
Last season, Harvin made a strong
case for MVP candidacy as he led the league in total yards through nine games
before succumbing to injury.
Harvin’s rare, multi-faceted skill
set makes him one of the most dangerous players in the NFL with the ball in his
hands and a constant threat that opposing defenses will need to account for.
The other dimension to Harvin’s
game is that he can and has lined up all over the field.
He likely will be counted on in the
slot, at flanker, and even at times a ball carrier starting from behind the
line of scrimmage in shotgun formations.
Schneider said he looks at Harvin
as the Seahawks’ first-round draft pick and is a player that would have been
selected very high in this year’s draft if he were available.
Harvin, a first-round pick in 2007
out of Florida expressed his discontent with the Vikings organization and
requested a trade last summer.
This came after several spats with
former and current coaching staff.
Add in questions about his
durability on the field and some less than favorable comments about his
quarterback Christian Ponder and it becomes clear why the Vikings listened to
offers on Harvin despite his early success.
Despite the perceived risks
involved in the Harvin deal, Carroll and Schneider clearly determined that
adding a player of his caliber to a growing stable of playmakers on offense
would provide more boom than bust.
Seahawks offensive coordinator
Darrell Bevell held the same position with the Vikings during Harvin’s first
two years in the league and surely knows how to get Harvin the rock.
In addition to improving the
offense and getting Russell Wilson a new weapon to work with in Harvin, the
Seahawks utilized free agency as an avenue to improve the pass rush, last
season’s most glaring weakness.
The ’Hawks managed to sign two of the best
pass rushers on the open market in Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett to
inexpensive contracts.
Avril, 26, a former third-round
pick by the Lions in 2008, signed a two-year, $13 million contract with
Seattle, a steal for a player who notched 39.5 sacks in five seasons in Detroit.
Bennett, 27, signed with the
Seahawks at a bargain-bin price of $5 million for one year.
He began his career as an undrafted
free agent with the Seahawks in 2009 but was claimed off waivers by the
Buccaneers and spent four seasons in Tampa Bay.
Bennett posted a career best nine
sacks in 2012 but he ranked ninth among all defensive players in total
pressures.
A player with the ability to hurry
the quarterback is something the Seahawks coveted this offseason.
The lack of pressure on QB Matt
Ryan in the waning seconds of an NFC Divisional Playoff game last season
against the Falcons cost the Seahawks a trip to the NFC Championship.
After that game, Carroll said that
improving the pass rush would be the Seahawks’ primary goal during the
offseason.
Avril can rush off the edge and
drop back into pass coverage as an outside linebacker. Bennet will see time
both as an interior pass rusher at defensive tackle and on the edge.
The pair’s ability to create havoc
in opposing backfields should fill that need and their youth and versatility
fits the M.O. of a front office that has become heralded for crafty roster
construction.
The Seahawks certainly made drastic
improvements to an already championship caliber roster this off-season and
still have eight picks to toy with in next month’s draft.
The result is that many NFL pundits
are picking the Seahawks as an early favorite to represent the NFC in Super
Bowl XLVIII.
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