Photo: Seahawks.com
- Troy BallardHow the tides turn.
Pre-draft, the Seattle Seahawks appeared to be set at quarterback. The team went out and threw money at Matt Flynn signing him to a big deal, all the while Tavaris Jackson was still under contract.
Pete Carroll played coy and said that Flynn would have to win the starting job, and just because the team spent big bucks to sign him, didn't mean he was guaranteed the starting role.
Yeah, sure. We've heard that plenty of times before, and we all know how it ends. Flynn would be the starter and Jackson would slide down the depth chart.
During the draft, Seattle raised some eyebrows by taking Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson in the third-round. Opinions varied on where Wilson was worthy of being drafted, with some yelling reach and others bolding sounding the steal alarm.
Again, Carroll played coy and plead the fifth on why the Seahawks really drafted Wilson -- really just giving the old excuse of needing more depth at the position. Still, it appeared that Flynn had the starting job all but sealed.
Then rookie OTA's kicked-off. Seattle was incredibly impressed with Wilson, and he was far and away the most impressive rookie at the camp. After observing the Wisconsin product carefully, Carroll finally stopped messing around with the media and officially announced that Wilson will be competing for the starting job with Flynn and Jackson.
Are Flynn and Jackson in any real danger yet? Probably not.
As impressive as Wilson was, and as much as Carroll liked him, there is more than a few barriers for Russ to jump through before being a serious contender for the starting quarterback job. The most obvious two being both Jackson and Flynn, who are veterans that automatically have the edge.
However, beyond his third spot on the depth chart, Wilson is going to have to prove scouts wrong that his size is a concern. He is going to have to be able to make plays from inside the pocket and complete tough throws from behind taller lineman and linebackers.
Wilson has been compared to Michael Vick (who is also very undersized), but being able to throw and complete passes with players seven-eight inches taller is easier said than done.
The next obstacle in Wilson's road to becoming the starter is continuing to excel past OTA's. This does seem fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is that training camp isn't even a small sampling of what it's like to play on the pro-level.
Once the pre-season begins, the Seahawks will be able to get a true sense of what Wilson is made of. He will be forced into game-time situations with third and longs, press coverage, frequent blitzing, and actual contact hits. Wilson is going to have to keep his composure, make the right reads, and hope that his teammates can deliver.
Lastly, Wilson is going to have to transition back to the West Coast offense. During his tenure at North Carolina State he ran the WCO to perfection, but it's been a very different Wisconsin offense and several years of not running it to back-track on.
Wilson has all the physical tools to run the WCO, as he is great in roll-outs, fakes and has excellent mobility inside and outside the pocket. But it's still going to be difficult to get back into that same groove at the NFL level with more speed and better overall talent on defense.
Luckily for Wilson, Carroll is widely known as a coach that doesn't give hand-outs and is generally totally unafraid to flip the roster. If Flynn and Jackson under perform and Wilson continues to shine into the pre-season -- anything is possible.
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