The Seahawks got themselves some players that will help out in the future last April.  OLB Aaron Curry (Wake Forest) was the first round pick (#4 overall) for the Seahawks and he showed a lot of potential in 2009.  He played in 14 games last season for the Seahawks and he made 61 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, he had 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and he defensed 6 passes.  Curry will likely improve as his career goes on.  6′5″, 309 pound Max Unger was a second round pick (#49 overall) for the Seahawks out of Oregon.  He played in 16 games (all starts) for the Seahawks last season and he looks like he will be a starter for a long time for them.  WR Deon Butler out of Penn State was the 3rd round pick (#91 overall) for the Seahawks last season.  He played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last season and he caught 15 passes for 175 yards (11.7 avg).  He also returned 1 kickoff for 16 yards and he also had 4 tackles on special teams.  QB Mike Teel was the #3 QB for the Seahawks last season and he will likely serve that role again in 2010.  He was a 6th round pick last April (#178 overall) out of Rutgers.  DE Nick Reed (Oregon) was a find in the 7th round (#247 overall) for the Seahawks last season.  He played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last season and he made 17 tackles, defensed 2 passes and he had 1 sack.  TE Ameron Morrah out of California was the Seahawks last pick in the draft last April (7th round, #248 overall).  He played in 3 games and he caught 1 pass for 3 yards.  Safety Courtney Greene (7th round, #245 overall) out of Rutgers didn’t make the team.

GRADE FOR 2009:  B

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B+

The Seahawks have signed Pete Carroll to a 5-year, $35 million dollar deal to serve as the new head coach.  He has a career record of 33-31 (51.6%) during the regular season and he is 1-2 in the post season.  The Seahawks are hoping the third time is a charm for Carroll.  Carroll was the head coach of the Jets in 1994 and he led them to a 6-10 record.  His second chance at being a NFL coach came with the Patriots from 1997-1999 when he was 27-21 (56.3%) with a 1-2 record in the playoffs.  The problem I have with this is that Carroll seems to be one of those college coaches that can excel that can’t adjust to not being able to make his own schedule in the NFL.  We’ll see if he can prove me wrong or not.

The Seahawks have fired head coach Jim Mora after only one year.  He led the Seahawks to a 5-11 record and a third place finish in the NFC West.  The Seahawks were outscored by an average of 26.0 to 17.5 this year and that is what really led to Mora’s firing.  He got the job because of Mike Holmgren and with him no longer in the picture the Seahawks have decided to go in a new direction for 2010 and beyond.

34-year old Matt Hasselbeck is starting to run out of gas plus there have been whispers that the Cleveland Browns are interested in trading for him to reunite him with Mike Holmgren.  Hasselbeck played in 14 games for the Seahawks this season and he completed 293 of 488 passes (60%) for 3,029 yards with 17 TD passes and 17 INTs (75.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 26 times for 119 yards (4.6 ypc) this year.  Hasselbeck has now played in 156 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2,306 of 3,835 passes (60.1%) for 26,578 yards with 164 TD passes and 111 INTs (83.3 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 283 times for 1,079 yards (3.8 ypc) with 5 TD runs in his career.  I’m thinking that Hasselbeck has played his last game for the Seahawks.

29-year old Seneca Wallace will likely hang on as the back-up QB in 2010 but the Seahawks shouldn’t go into the year with him the starter.  He played in 13 games for the Seahawks last season and he completed 78 of 120 passes (65%) for 700 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 INTs (81.9 QB Rating).  Wallace also carried the ball 16 times for 2 yards (0.1 ypc) with a TD run this year.  Wallace has now played in 48 games in his NFL career and he has completed 333 of 556 passes (59.9%) for 3,547 yards with 25 TD passes and 14 INTs (83.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 54 times for 214 yards (4.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Wallace is a solid back-up but the Seahawks would be in trouble letting him be the #1 guy in 2010.

The Seattle Seahawks (5-11) lost their final game of the 2009 season to the Tennessee Titans (8-8) on Sunday.  It wasn’t a very pretty game, and it was a pretty ugly season for the Seahawks this year.  They turned the ball over way too much this year, with Matt Hasselbeck leading the way in that category.  No surprise in this one, Hasselbeck threw an interception.  He finished with 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and 175 yards on 15/30 passes.  The running game was great in this one, with Justin Forsett and Julius Jones combining for 135 yards on 24 carries.  It wasn’t enough since the Titans could not hold a slight lead in the 4th quarter.

The Seahawks defense could not stop Chris Johnson, but they shouldn’t hang their heads too low since nobody could stop Johnson this year.  Johnson eclipsed the 2,000 yard mark for the season in this game, becoming only the sixth player in league history to achieve that feat.  He had 134 yards and 2 touchdown on 34 carries in this one, including a late game score that was enough for the Titans to win.  This was a characteristic way for the Seahawks to end their frustrating 2009 season.