The Seahawks have signed 26-year old safety Quinton Teal.  Teal played in all 16 games for the Panthers last season and he made 20 tackles.  He has played in 44 games in his three years in the NFL and he has 45 tackles.  Teal will provide depth in the secondary and help out on special teams if he makes the Seahawks’ roster this fall.

The Seahawks have acquired RB Leon Washington and a 7th round pick from the Jets for a 5th round pick.  So the Seahawks essentially traded down two rounds to get 27-year old RB Leon Washington and I love this trade for them.  Leon Washington broke his leg during last season and he is still recovering but the prognosis is good.  Washington played in 7 games for the Jets last season and he had 72 carries for 331 yards (4.6 ypc).  He also caught 15 passes for 131 yards (8.7 avg) out of the backfield last year.  Washington also returned 2 punts for 16 yards (8.0 avg) and he also returned 16 punts for 385 yards (24.1 avg) last season.  Washington has now played in 55 games in his NFL career in which he has carried the ball 370 times for 1,782 yards (4.8 avg) with 13 TD carries and he has also caught 123 passes for 969 yards (7.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Washington has returned 64 punts for 599 yards (9.4 avg) and he has also returned 117 punts for 2,986 yards (25.5 avg) with 4 TD returns in his NFL career.  This was a outstanding move for the Seahawks as Washington is a big time playmaker both on offense and special teams.

The Seahawks acquired 25-year old RB LenDale White and 27-year old DT Kevin Vickerson from the Titans to move down in both the 4th and 6th rounds.  White played under Pete Carroll at USC so he should fit right in with the Seahawks.  White played in 13 games for the Titans last season and he carried the ball 64 times for 222 yards (3.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 3 passes for 14 yards (4.7 avg) last season.  In his four years in the NFL, White has played in 58 games in which he has carried the ball 628 times for 2,349 yards (3.7 ypc) with 24 TD runs and he also caught 42 passes for 204 yards (4.9 avg).  White will give the Seahawks a power runner which is something they have not had since Shaun Alexander left town.  Kevin Vickerson is a big guy at 6’5″, 305 pounds and he will give the Seahawks another big body for the D-Line rotation.  Vickerson played in 13 games for the Titans last season and he had 28 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he defensed 3 passes.  He played in 24 games in his three years with the Titans and he finished up with 45 tackles, 4 passes defensed and he has 1.5 sacks.  This was a outstanding trade for the Seahawks who only traded down so they added two players without giving up any.

The Seattle Seahawks have drafted WR Golden Tate with the 60th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  Tate was projected by many of the experts to be a first round pick so look for him to be motivated to try to show a lot of teams that they made a big mistake.  Tate is 5’10″, 195 pounds but he is a tough guy who has little issue with going over the middle to make a catch.  He played in a pro-style offense at Notre Dame so look for him to adjust really quickly to the NFL.  Tate played in 12 games (all starts) at Notre Dame last season and he caught 93 passes for 1,496 yards (16.1 avg) with 15 TD grabs.  He played in 37 games (22 starts) in his three years at Notre Dame and he caught 157 passes for 2,707 yards (17.2 avg) with 26 TD grabs.  Tate has a good upside and the Seahawks got outstanding value getting him in the second round of the NFL Draft.

The Seattle Seahawks have selected free safety Earl Thomas out of Texas with the 14th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Thomas is on the small side at 5’11″, 185 pounds but he plays much bigger as he is a hitter.  He runs a 4.4 40 and he is a playmaker.  Thomas played in 14 games (all starts) for the Longhorns last season and he made 77 tackles, broke up 16 passes, he had 8 interceptions (149 return yards) and he forced 1 fumble.  The Seahawks would be smart to bulk Thomas up a little bit in the weight room as his size is the only thing to be concerned with about him.  He hits ballcarriers/receivers so hard that he could wind up getting hurt quite a bit in the NFL.  Still, besides Eric Berry no rookie safety has near the upside that Thomas has.  He played in 27 games (all starts) in his two years with Texas and he made 149 tackles, broke up 33 passes, he had 10 interceptions (149 return yards) and he forced 5 fumbles.  I absolutely love what the Seahawks have done in the first round of the NFL Draft as they got an anchor for both sides of the football.

The Seahawks have selected 6’6″, 300 pound OT Russell Okung out of Oklahoma State with the 6th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.  The Seahawks were pleasantly surprised to see Okung slip to them at #6.  Okung played in 13 games (all starts) for Oklahoma State last season.  He is solid at both pass and run blocking and he could be the starting left tackle for a long time for the Seahawks.  He has no real weaknesses and was a very safe pick for the Seahawks as he will likely start from day #1.  Okung played in 49 games (47 starts) in his four years at Oklahoma State proving that he is very durable.  I love this pick for the Seahawks and I’m sure Matt Hasselbeck does the pick too.

The Seattle Seahawks have a lot of needs heading into the NFL Draft and lucky for them they have a lot of picks.  The Seahawks have 3 of the top 60 picks this weekend and they have 9 overall picks in the draft.  That means they have the ammo to move up if they so desire.  The Seahawks have needs at OT, DE, RB, QB and S and I think they will fill a lot of them this weekend.  The Seahawks will likely be looking at RB C.J. Spiller, S Taylor Mays, DE Brandon  Graham, DE Derrick Morgan, OT Anthony Davis and OT Bruce Campbell in the first round.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICKS:  DE, Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech and OT Bruce Campbell, Maryland

The Seahawks have brought in 13 new players already this off-season but only two of them (Charlie Whitehurst and Ben Hamilton) are likely to win starting jobs in 2010.  QB Charlie Whitehurst cost the Seahawks a couple of nice draft picks and then they signed him to a big contract.  He will likely get a chance to push Matt Hasselbeck into a backup job if he isn’t traded this weekend.  OG Ben Hamilton will likely slide into one of the guard spots this season for the Seahawks.  OG Mitch Erickson, TE Chris Baker, WR Ruvell Martin, RB Quinton Ganther, WR Sean Morey, WR Reggie Williams and WR Mike Williams all have been signed by the Seahawks this off season but none of them look like starting players in 2010.  Defensively the Seahawks have signed OLB Matt McCoy, OLB/DE Chris Clemons and CB/S Kennard Cox but none of them look like starters either.  The Seahawks acquired DE Robert Henderson in a trade with the Lions but he doesn’t have much of an upside either.  Despite bringing in all of these new players the Seahawks still have a lot of work to do before 2010 starts.

The Seahawks have signed 32-year old OG Ben Hamilton.  Hamilton played in 15 games (8 starts) for the Broncos last season.  He has now played in 111 games (104 starts) in his 9 years in the NFL.  I think the Seahawks have finally acquired a player this off season that will be a starter for them in Hamilton.

The Seahawks have signed 24-year old CB Kennard Cox and 24-year old OG Mitch Erickson.  Cox played in 4 games with the Jaguars as a rookie last season and he had 1 tackle.  Erickson didn’t get into any games with the Broncos last season.  He is 6’6″, 290 pounds.  I don’t think either of these guys will make a impact with the Seahawks next year.