Seahawks Position Battle: Wide Receiver

The Seahawks were ravaged by injuries in 2008, no group was hit harder then the WR corps.

The Seahawks tallied seven injuries at the WR Position. WR’s Nate Burleson, Logan Payne, Ben Obamanu, all finished the season on IR. The plague got so bad that the Seahawks traded a fifth-round pick to the Denver broncos for WR Keary Colbert. He caught seven passes, and finished the season on the Detroit Lions roster.

They re-signed controversial WR Koren Robinson, whom GM Tim Ruskell had cut after the 2004 because of his poor conduct off the field. WR Billy McMullen was signed was signed during the second week of the season.

An injury to Logan Payne thrust him into the starting lineup just four days later against the San Francisco 49ers. He hauled in three catches for 48 yards, but yielded a costly fumble in the 33-30 point OT loss. Deion Branch missed eight games, 2007 receptions leader (94) Bobby Engram missed three games. 

The top four WR set would appear to be: marquee FA signing WR TJ Houshmandzadeh, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, and  third round draft pick WR Deon Butler out of Penn. State. Bobby Engram signed with the Kansas City Chiefs during the FA period.

TJ houshmandzadeh will headline this revamped WR corps. He is a perfect fit in the dink and dunk West Coast Offense. He is a proven commodity who will draw double teams, and still produce Pro Bowl numbers. He is the type of WR that an opposing team has to specifically game plan against.

He does not have top end speed but runs precision routes and is a psychical guy who can take all the hits over the middle. He will be the Seahawks starting flanker and could move to the slot position in three WR sets. He has more catches the past three seasons then any WR in the NFL (294).

Newcomer Deon Butler has been featured strictly at split end during the duration of the off-season mini camps. He is the teams fasted WR, posting times as fast as 4:28 in pre-draft workouts. He officially clocked in at 4.32 at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Nate Burleson and Deion Branch will figure to edge each other for more playing time. They will battle it out for the No. 2 and No. 3 depth chart slots. Burleson has proven he can produce for the Seahawks, scoring nine TD’s in 2007. Branch has been injury prone and disappointing to Seahawks fans. He has never shown the team his Super Bowl MVP caliber play.

Ben Obamanu appears to be the only one with the potential to challenge for the No. 4 slot. Courtney Taylor has been very ineffective during his chances as a starter. Jordan Kent, and Logan Payne have shown nothing to warrant a regular starting position.

The top four appear to be set, the order in which the names appear on the depth chart, with the exception of Houshmandzadeh are undetermined. With a 30th ranked 2008 passing attack, everyone in this unit should be fighting for their playing lives.

With the expected lift from the ground game, look for this revamped aerial assault to  shine in 2009.