No Brandon Marshall for Seattle Seahawks? That's a Relief

Well, that’s a big relief. After a month of speculation that the Seahawks would trade for Brandon Marshall, Denver shipped the mercurial receiver to Miami instead.

The Dolphins reportedly paid a high price: second-round picks this year and next year plus $50 million over five years.

Marshall’s a talented player, but he brings too many headaches to be worth more than a second and a fourth. The Seahawks were wise not to offer more than that, especially considering the dude wanted $10 million per year. (Sure hope the Dolphins protected that money with behavior clauses in the contract.)

Marshall signed his $2.52 million restricted tender Tuesday, and it was clear the Broncos were then going to find a trade partner.

Soon after Marshall had signed the tender, Seattle coach Pete Carroll told reporters “nothing much has happened” in trade talks with the Broncos.

“We’ve done our homework and our research on it, and it’s really kind of not in our hands right now,” Carroll said. “The Broncos have things to do, and they’ve got to figure it out on their end of it before really anything can happen. We’re just kind of waiting and seeing. We’re on alert, watching it. It’s an interesting situation, so we’ll just have to wait it out.”

Well, the wait is over.

Now the Hawks can find another use for their second-rounder. And, we can only hope the rumors are not true that they are thinking of trading it for Buffalo’s thug running back, Marshawn Lynch.

What is it with the new Hawks and thugs anyway? First the Marshall flirtation. Then they brought in Reggie Williams for a tryout this week. Now the Lynch rumor. What about Albert Haynesworth?

Yet, they reportedly have taken Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant off their draft board (which is fine with us).

It will be interesting to see how they deal with linebacker Leroy Hill, whom they told to stay away from this week’s minicamp after he was arrested for domestic assault last weekend.

As for the receiver position, now that Marshall is no longer an option the Hawks might be even more inclined to keep Deion Branch.

At the owners meetings last month, Carroll had great things to say about the oft-injured receiver.

“He’s a big-time player,” Carroll said then. “He’s gifted. He’s a natural player. He’s got terrific quickness. He’s got all the instincts. Terrific hands. With a good personality.

“The way he finished last year, the last four games of the year, he really looked good,” Carroll added. “He looked like a really good football player. It took him a little bit to get comfortable last year coming back from the stuff he dealt with. Once he got going, he looked like a very good player. Hopefully, we can utilize his talents and make sure he’s going to be a big factor for us.”

Branch is due to make over $5 million next season, which is far too much considering his injury history. He has already been paid $27.5 million for 47 games over four years. That’s over $585,000 per game. With 177 catches in that span, that’s $155,000 per reception.

The thought has been that the Hawks would try to trade him, perhaps to New England. But currently he is the second-most experience receiver on the roster, behind T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

It still would be wise to dump him―or at least make him cut his pay down to the veteran minimum. Deon Butler needs to get much more playing time in 2010 than he did as a rookie, and Ben Obomanu is a solid reserve. It’s not like the Hawks have no receivers.

If the Hawks still want to bring in a veteran, there are a few guys out there. Forget the 36-year-old Terrell Owens, whose production no longer justifies putting up with his antics. But they could look at Laveranues Coles or Kevin Curtis (if healthy).

Otherwise, they should look to the middle rounds of the draft.

WHY IS SPENCER BACK AT CENTER?

It’s a head scratcher to see that Alex Gibbs thinks Chris Spencer can play center. But maybe Gibbs can get something out of Spencer that no one else has in five seasons.

The first thing Gibbs needs to get out of him is health. Spencer has missed seven games over the last two years with multiple injuries (shoulder, back, quadriceps, thumb).

“It feels real good to be back out there being smooth and not worrying about if this hurts or that hurts,” Spencer told SeattlePI.com after the first minicamp practice Tuesday. “I'm feeling good. This has been a good offseason for me, where I can actually train and prevent some of these freakin’ injuries that have been happening to me.”

Yeah, well, the games haven’t started yet, Chris.

Injuries are one thing; poor performance is another. Spencer has simply not shown the mental acuity to play center.

Profootballfocus.com graded him as the league’s 20th-best center last season.

If anyone can get him to play well, it’s Gibbs. But we’ve seen too many failures by Spencer to think this one will work out. 

The Hawks don’t have a lot of choices along the line right now, but the bet here is that Max Unger will be back at center at some point this year.