Seattle Seahawks Lose Out on Aaron Kampman, Should Set Sights on OJ Atogwe

I was extremely disappointed to learn this morning that the Jacksonville Jaguars had locked up former Packers DE Aaron Kampman with a three year contract for around the same annual salary that Kyle Vanden Bosch received from the Detroit Lions.

You can view the ESPN report here .

Seattle, along with Philadelphia, were very interested in obtaining him, and echoing what ESPN AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky says; it will indeed be very interesting to see just what the sales pitch was.

Considering that the Eagles were a playoff team and the Seahawks eviscerated the Jaguars 41-0 last season, the Jaguars were clearly the inferior squad of the three.

Money isn't always everything so just because we have Paul Allen's checkbook does not necessarily mean he desired to play in Seattle in the first place.

The writing was on the wall though; GM John Schneider knew him very well from their time in Green Bay, the need for a pass rusher was clear, ( Jacksonville's need was greater though with only 14 sacks last season), and we definitely had the money to offer him more then the $7-8 million he probably got from the Jaguars.

The signing would not have come without risks, Kampman is an exact replica of Patrick Kerney when we signed him at 30-years-old and coming off an injury. It will be interesting to see just how productive he is and if we were really the smart ones for not obtaining him.

Regardless, the clear need to upgrade the pass rush remains, and it seems no one on the open market will be able to provide an upgrade. It is now more then likely that the Seahawks will look to draft a guy like Georgia Tech DE Derrick Morgan with the No. 14 pick.

Most of the guys available on the open market are more like run blockers then pass rushers. Already having hosted a capable starter in the Ravens Dwan Edwards, and with a future meeting scheduled with Panthers DE Tyler Brayton, it seems probable one will be signed in the coming days.

Other available names include Charles Grant, Marcus Spears, and guys in their twlight like Adewale Ogunleye, and Leonard Little.

The Seahawks still need to find a way to upgrade the defense before the draft to give them flexibility. They still have a chance to make a splash by adding to the woeful secondary.

According to ESPN , the Seahawks are in active talks with the agent of Leigh Bodden, who entered free agency as arguably the markets best CB. Adding him to the fold would certainly ease any need to address the position in the draft.

He is meeting with the Texans, who lost No. 1 CB Dunta Robinson to the Atlanta Falcons. No one can really blame the Texans for letting him go for the outrageous six year, $57 million contract the Falcons shelled out for him.

With Robinson bolting the Texans are certainly going to push hard to get a deal done. With the Steelers and Patriots in the mix it seems like Paul Allens' money is going to have to scream loud to obtain Bodden over sure playoff contenders.

Another idea that simply makes too much sense to not inquire is signing restricted Free Agent S OJ Atogwe of th St. Louis Rams. The Rams front office pulled a Tim Ruskell and got cheap and lowballed their best player, (ala Steve Hutchinson), signing him to "the right of first refusal" tender.

This means a team could swoop in and offer him the deal a top flight safety deserves, and if the Rams decline to match the offer, they get nothing in compensation.

What makes this possible scenario even more interesting is the Rams are bringing in S Brodney Pool for a visit on Monday. Pool is a restricted free agent, but Mike Holmgren and the Browns may have ended up doing us a favor by not placing a tender on him, making him free to sign anywhere.

Pool is a starting caliber S and he would not be visiting with a lowly team like the Rams unless they planned on having him do so. With James Sanders a rock to start, common sense tells us they are preparing to part with Atogwe.

This is just begging the Seahawks to sign him to an offer sheet, it is literally no different then signing an unrestricted free agent. They could virtually guarantee his acquisition by slipping a poison pill clause into a contract. There are no rules against it, and considering the Rams are a division rival...why are we obligated to play nice with a front office who just lowballed their best player?

Stealing Atogwe away and landing Bodden would completely revamp the secondary, allowing us to slide Josh Wilson into the nickel role and move Jordan Babinauex to the dime slot.

Assuming we deal our second round pick to the Denver Broncos if we end up landing WR Brandon Marshall, this leaves one of our two first round picks to address the pass rush.

Adding Marshal would also quell the crying need to draft a playmaker like RB CJ Spiller with the No. 14 pick. He isn't viewed as an every down back anyways and seems like more of a complement then a building block for the future.

A lot of roster turnover is going happen, with the team already having met with or scheduled to meet with: LG Ben Hamilton, RB Mike Bell, TE's Ben Watson/Chris Baker, CB William James, as well as the aforementioned Dwan Edwards, and Tyler Brayton.

All we can do is wait and see, a positive sign is that they are not rushing into anything prematurely, not even with Mr. Marshall.