Pre Draft Mini-camps
April 9th, 2009 | NFL
Jim Mora Jr. seting the tone
The Seattle Seahawks just finished their first mini-camp under new coach Jim Mora Jr. Even though Jim Mora has been with the team for two seasons, this is his first time as the head coach. He gets to get a look at the team through his eyes and he gets to set the tone for the rest of the off season. Replacing former coach Mike Holmgren will be tough, but Mora has had success as a head coach before, with the Atlanta Falcons. NFL teams are only allowed to have 14 days of practice during the off season, at least that ‘s what I remember. Teams with a new head coach can have extra time, I think its an extra three days. Teams with new coaches usually have practices before the draft so they can look at the current talent on the team and use that to help set their draft board. The Seahawks are rumored to be interested in USC QB Mark Sanchez, and their current starter QB Matt Hasselbeck is coming off of a season where he missed more games than he played due to a bad back. So it is pretty smart of them to have a few practices to see how his back responds to football movements. Maybe he is a little stiff and going after a QB is the right move? The 49ers had a mini-camp recently as well. They too are looking to add a QB and may go after one with the 10th pick. So getting one more look at QB Shaun Hill and QB Alex Smith can’t hurt before deciding on whether or not to go with a new QB at pick #10. I have always wondered why every team doesn’t do this. It gives you a chance to see how your young guys are progressing and what guys can step up and be productive players for you. Nothing is worse than waiting until after the draft to have a mini-camp and finding out that a player that played poorly the year before, still stinks. Too late. Giving players a chance to get in shape is one of the main reasons that teams don’t practice before the draft. Off season programs start in mid March so I think teams are worried about muscle pulls and things like that. I get that, but most guys are in decent shape when they report to these voluntary workouts. But if I were a coach or GM, I would still get my guys out of the field, just to see what I have, or don’t have.
4 Responses to Pre Draft Mini-camps
Jonathan Ivey
April 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Interesting about Hasselback since TJ said he was one of the reasons he signed with Seattle. Like you mentioned they are looking at possibly drafting a QB and Hasselback may no longer be the long term answer at QB. If they draft a QB at #4 they will have to get him on the field at some point. If Hasselback isn’t completely healthy or doesn’t look right TJ could be catching passes from a rookie next season. That would be a big adjustment from Carson. Although TJ didn’t do too bad catching passes from Fitzpatrick last year.
Patmo
April 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
NFL Access reports(guesses) that Seattle will take Stafford @ 4 . Detroit taking Jason Smith.For what it’s worth.
jmaats
April 9th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Sanchez fits the west coast system better than Stafford (short/intermediate accuracy is better, and IMO he is more polished despite only 16 starts at USC). I still think that LT and Crabtree are in the mix, but it will come down to whether Seattle wants immediate return in Crabtree or draft for the future and take a franchise QB/LT early in the draft (as they will most likely return to picking late in the draft).
JT
April 9th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Sanchez is a better fit there. They don’t need a LT that bad. If Hasslebeck back is really bad, QB may be right pick. But he would be eased in ala Carson