Friday 19 February 2010

A quick thought about the Davis leak

By Kip Earlywine
One of my favorite things about the offseason is leaks like Chris Steuber's. We don't know if Steuber was fed these details to drum up hype or act as information warfare, or if Steuber legitimately uncovered it because the Hawks org was careless, or unaware, or unabashed. Either way, it definitely puts both Clausen and Davis officially on the radar.

I think by now everyone knows about Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian trying to recruit Jimmy Clausen when he came out of high school. USC also plays ND every year, so Carroll got to face Clausen first hand numerous times. Then of course you have the WCO pro-style offense. Whether you like Clausen or not, his appeal to Carroll is completely obvious. So when Steuber leaked Clausen's name, this shouldn't have shocked anyone.

With Davis, that was a little more surprising. For one, Davis is much better utilized in man scheme, and secondly, Alex Gibbs teams have only rarely drafted a 1st round tackle and when his teams have, they've never done it as high as #14 (nevermind 6th). So why did Davis' name come up?

If you think about it, it could still be a smokescreen. There may not be a better way to pass false information than to pair it with true information (Clausen). Adding to that is the fact that the Seahawks need a tackle and tackles are frequently top 10 picks who due to the value of the position are less likely to kill you with their rookie contracts. Pairing his name with Clausen's makes it seem very legitimate.

Davis may not fit zone, but he could still play the position for us. Last year, our two best OL (Sims, Spencer) were both guys with man-scheme talents. Davis is definitely a talented guy (albeit much, much more so in man).

In the end, the Seahawks sent out a pretty good smokescreen with Davis. They are either telling the truth, or its a pretty clever trick.

9 comments:

jrod2012 said...

Why does it matter what O-linemen Alex Gibbs has drafted in the past. Is it really his say? How much input does he ultimately have? It would seem that he has some influence on the position he coaches, but definitely not the final say. If Carrol and Schneider feel that OL is a priority then it doesn't matter Gibbs' so called drafting history.

A-R-N-F said...

If Gibbs pegs someone as a stud, I don't think Carrol will hesitate to take him, unless it's at the 6 spot and Clausen is on the board. I don't think you could find someone more qualified to find you a probowl LT in the draft.

jrod2012 said...

How many pro bowl LT's has Gibbs "drafted"? I truly do not know. Not many I would guess, he can coach up players, but talent supersedes potential in my opinion. If the value is there you have to take that player wether it is Bulaga or Spriller. By the way how do you proclaim someone as qualified to find a Probowl LT?

Ben said...

@jrod2012,

At his most recent coaching jobs, Alex Gibbs has had co-Head Coach title. He's the godfather of the ZBS in the NFL and is a highly sought-after coach/consultant. He was hired to implement the ZBS in Seattle. Most position coaches have some say in evaluating and drafting players; Gibbs has much more clout with the Seahawks than the average position coach. There is absolutely no chance that the Seahawks will draft an OL without Gibbs' explicit approval.

Anonymous said...

If one guy can evaluate OL talent, I'm sure it's Gibbs, but how much evaluating will the team ask him to do? Do assist coaches normally take part in player evaluations?

I can only imagine each coach hyping up "his guy" in order to make himself look that much better the next year. Either way, with Carrol winning the coin-flip, he better be on top of his draft game this year.

Unknown said...

I agree with some of the previous comments and would like to go one further.
All the analysis of how "Gibbs teams" have drafted or "Schneider teams" have drafted are only going to give us a vague thumbnail of how things could go in this draft because we don't know what Carroll's masterplan is for this team. Good or bad you know he's got a clear idea of how he wants to fix this team.

I'm sure whatever Offensive Linemen are taken will come from a list that comes from Gibbs but where and when those picks happen aren't up to him.

Anonymous said...

Davis is a RT, right? Has he played the left side before?

Rob Staton said...

Davis played left tackle for Rutgers in 2009.

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