Seattle Seahawks: How the Lockout Will Hinder Them

As the Packers celebrated their fourth Super Bowl triumph on the confetti covered Cowboy Stadium turf Sunday, the rest of the football world was starting to feel uneasy.  Now that the season is over, the black cloud of labor strife looms larger than ever.

Even the most optimistic fan can see that there will be a lock out of some sort at the end of February, and both sides seem to be digging in. 

For the Seattle Seahawks this lock out could not come at a worse time.

Seattle is coming off a season that brought back some momentum and some much needed hope.  But there are still many holes that need to be filled before the Seahawks can take a real step towards that confetti covered field at the end of the year.

The lock out will make that harder to do.

Historically the NFL free agency period begins at the end of February, and teams use that time to woo stud players into their fold.  Until there is a new collective bargaining agreement there will be no free agency period.

Most teams take care of needs in free agency and head into April's draft with a clear idea of what missing pieces they still need to build upon.  While the lock out will not keep the draft from happening on time, it will cause teams like Seattle to enter the draft a little blind as to what their priorities need to be.

For example, if they were able to use the free agency period to sign someone like Oakland corner back Nnamdi Asomugha, they would not need to use a high draft pick on a defensive back.  This April the Seahawks won't know if they are able to sign a corner, or some offensive linemen in free agency.

Will this cause them to reach for a player in the draft unnecessarily?

When the lock out does end, there most likely will be a truncated free agency period that could resemble a feeding frenzy.  Teams will be scrambling not only to sign players for need but also to simply fill their rosters. 

Will this shortened time mean less vetting of players? Will the Seahawks brass be able to bring guys in to evaluate them and get a good read of their compatibility with their system?  It would seem that less time will bring more guess work to fore.  This is not what they need as they rebuild.

Add to the chaos the fact that the Seahawks also have a large number of their own players who are going to be free agents if and when the lock out ends. Losing their own key players in the free agency frenzy will make it difficult to improve next year.

Then there is the quarterback situation.

Matt Hasselbeck is a free agent this year.  The Seahawks have to find a quarterback for the future and the lock out will make that difficult as well.

Right now they have the option of drafting a quarterback in April, re-signing Hasselbeck, trading for someone like Carson Palmer and Kevin Kolb or some combination of all three.

The lock out prevents teams from trading any players until the CBA is signed.  So you can rule out trading for a veteran quarterback for the moment.  Drafting a young quarterback is always a crap shoot, and the stakes seem higher if, again, the Seahawks haven't been able to shore up any other needs in free agency.

The lock out may mean that they have to re-sign Hasselbeck.  They can still draft a young QB, whether in the first round or later, but the lock out will shrink their margin for error and risks hamstringing them in the future.

If the lock out turns out to be lengthy, Seattle will be further hurt by not being able to conduct OTA's and mini-camps.  The Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates at the end of the season and replaced him with Darrel Bevell.  They also brought in former Raiders head coach Tom Cable to run their struggling offensive line.

The lack of mini-camps will mean these new coaches will have less time to influence their new players which could lead to a regression of an already troubled offense. Whatever players they are able to bring in will take longer to gel with limited practice time.

All NFL fans are holding their collective breaths, hoping the game we love won't be taken from us this fall over the bickerings of millionaires and billionaires.  Seahawks fans especially should hope that cooler heads prevail and they can keep the momentum Pete Carroll built in 2010 going in the right direction.