The Seattle Seahawks have released 31-year old TE Chris Baker.  Baker played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last season and he caught 9 passes for 116 yards (12.9 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The Seahawks will likely be looking to upgrade behind John Carlson at TE.  It will be interesting to see how the Seahawks decide to do that…..by trade, signing a free agent or drafting at TE.  They shouldn’t miss Baker too much, if at all in 2011.

The Seattle Seahawks have placed TE Chris Baker, OG Chester Pitts and RB Chris Henry on I.R. ending their seasons.  31-year old Chris Baker has a hip injury that will cause him to miss the playoffs.  He played in all 16 games for the Seahawks this year and he has caught 9 passes for 116 yards (12.9 avg) with 1 TD grab.  31-year old Chester Pitts will miss the playoffs due to a concussion.  Pitts played in 7 games (5 starts) for the Seahawks this year.  25-year old RB Chris Henry will miss the playoffs due to a leg injury.  He played in 1 game and he didn’t touch the ball while making 1 tackle.  None of these guys are key players so the Seahawks should be o.k. without them.

35-year old starting QB Matt Hasselbeck is going for a MRI today on his hip.  Hasselbeck has not played well this season but at least he’s a battle tested veteran.  He has played in 14 games for the Seahawks so far this year and he has completed 266 of 444 passes (59.9%) for 3,001 yards with 12 TD passes and 17 INTs (73.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 23 times for 60 yards (2.6 ypc) with 3 TD runs so far this year.  The Seahawks better hope that Hasselbeck can give it a go or they are going to have to start Charlie Whitehurst in the biggest game of the season.  28-year old Charlie Whitehurst has played in 5 games for the Seahawks so far this year and he has completed 35 of 63 passes for 315 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 INTs (54.7 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 12 times for 13 yards (1.1 ypc) with 1 TD run so far this year.  The Seahawks have everything on the line this weekend as it’s win or go home so they need Hasselbeck or Whitehurst to step up.

The Seahawks have lost 25-year old safety Roy Lewis for the rest of the season due to a knee injury.  Lewis played in 14 games for the Seahawks so far this year and he had 26 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, he defensed 4 passes, forced 1 fumble and he recovered 1 fumble.  Lewis has now played in 22 games in his first two years with the Seahawks and he has 29 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble.

The Seattle Seahawks have placed 32-year old DT Junior Siavii on the Injured Reserve List with a neck injury.  Siavii played in 14 games for the Seahawks this year and he had 30 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and 2 passes defensed.  The Seahawks won’t miss Siavii too much as the D-Line has been awful this year.

The Seahawks have lost 24-year old WR Deon Butler who broke his leg on a TD catch last weekend.  Butler has played in 13 games for the Seahawks this year and he caught 36 passes for 385 yards (10.7 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Butler has now played in 29 games in his first two years with the Seahawks and he has caught 51 passes for 560 yards (11.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He really showed improvement this year so his role might get expanded in 2012 as long as he can stay healthy.

35-year old QB Matt Hasselbeck actually left the game with the Cardinals yesterday with a broken bone in his left wrist before returning to finish out a very impressive win for the Seahawks.  He will try to play through the injury for the first place Seahawks.  Hasselbeck has played in 8 games for the Seahawks this year and he has completed 157 of 270 passes (58.1%) for 1,744 yards with 7 TD passes and 7 INTs (75.3 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 15 times for 41 yards (2.7 ypc) with 2 TD carries so far this year.  The Seahawks better hope that Hasselbeck is ready to play this week if they want to make the playoffs.  That’s because 28-year old Charlie Whitehurst has been awful so far this year for the Seahawks.  He has played in 3 games for the Seahawks so far this year and he has completed 16 of 29 passes (55.2%) for 166 yards with 1 TD pass and 3 INTs (43.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 6 times for -2 yards (-0.3 ypc) so far this year.  The Seahawks were planning on Whitehurst being their QB of the near future when they dealt for him over the summer but it appears that plans have changed.

The Seahawks have placed 26-year old DT Red Bryant on the Injured Reserve List due to a knee injury, ending his season.  Bryant played in 7 games for the Seahawks this year and he had 18 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble and 2 fumble recoveries.  Bryant has now played in 17 games for the Seahawks in his first three years with them and he has 34 tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble.  This injury comes at a bad time for Bryant as he was finally starting to show something.

The Seahawks have placed 33-year old offensive guard Ben Hamilton on the Injured Reserve List due to a nasty concussion which ends this season.  Hamilton played in 7 games (6 starts) for the Seahawks this year.  He has now played in 118 games (110 starts) in his first 10 years in the NFL.  This is going to hurt the Seahawks as blocking has been a huge issue for this team this year.

The Seahawks have placed 28-year old linebacker Leroy Hill on the Injured Reserve List ending his season due to a Achilles injury.  Hill has played in 11 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 46 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and a sack.  He has played in 67 games in his five years with the Seahawks and he has 375 tackles, 11 passes defensed, 14.5 sacks and 6 forced fumbles.  The Seahawks will miss Hill because of the depth he would have provided in the linebacking corps in 2010.