Seahawks’ Ruskell rolls the dice

By Chris Cluff  |   Monday, April 16, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

Seattle Seahawks
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Tim Ruskell's stellar, stars-aligned first year as team president of the Seattle Seahawks was a little misleading. He made a lot of savvy, inexpensive moves, with few true gambles in 2005, and people got the idea he was a play-it-safe kind of guy.

But over the past two offseasons, he has shown himself to be quite the gambler. He lost a very high-stakes game last year when All-Pro guard Steve Hutchinson called his bluff and signed elsewhere, an unexpected loss that was part of the reason the Seahawks' line folded during the 2006 season.

Ruskell also decided to put money on Shaun Alexander, betting the ace running back would be able to put up great numbers for a few more years even after he got a big payday. Of course, that wager didn't work out so well in the first year as Alexander missed six games with a broken foot. But Ruskell should be rewarded this year as long as Alexander is healthy.

Ruskell also made a couple of gambles last year that should pay off this season and beyond. He smartly bet a third-round pick on Nate Burleson, who didn't give much of a return on investment until inserted on special teams in the second half of last season but who should become a bigger factor in 2007. Ruskell followed that by rolling the dice on Deion Branch, staking this year's first-round pick that Branch will carry the passing game for the next few years. That was a double-or-nothing bet that carries the risk of alienating top receiver Darrell Jackson, and the results won't be known until people see where or when Jackson ends up playing and how well Branch performs in 2007.

Ruskell has put his rep on the line again this offseason. He swallowed his pride and admitted his error in the Hutchinson deal by trying to buy a replacement guard for essentially the same money he refused to pay the best in the game in 2006. Fortunately that failed. It would have been a bad bet.

But then Ruskell made his biggest -- and what may prove to be his worst -- gamble yet, choosing to put his money on an aging defensive end (30-year-old Patrick Kerney) coming off a chest injury. As he was doing that, Ruskell was trumped in his bid for an arguably more important player, tight end Daniel Graham.

Apparently, Ruskell is also content to gamble that defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs, the linchpin to Seattle's run defense, comes back from the ever-tricky microfracture knee surgery. The Seahawks have not shown interest in any of the defensive tackles on the market, meaning it's probably Tubbs or bust in 2007.

Ruskell has to be aware of the major negative effect Tubbs' absence had on the run defense last year. The Seahawks ranked 22nd in the league, giving up 126.8 rushing yards per game. In five games with the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Tubbs, they allowed just 82 yards per contest; in 13 games without Tubbs, including playoffs, opponents averaged 137.6 rushing yards. That's a difference of 55 yards per game, folks.

Granted, the free-agent market for defensive tackles was not that great, and perhaps Ruskell will focus on addressing the position in the draft. But that is a gamble Seattle could well lose, and if Tubbs' knee deals him out in 2007, the Hawks' run defense might once again fold against ace backs like Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Edgerrin James, Willie Parker and Brian Westbrook.

Ruskell might hedge that bet by drafting a big D-tackle, but there's no question the president has rolled the dice at several other positions over the last year, and the 2007 season will show whether the gambles pay off.

Original Seattle Seahawks commentary and more NFL coverage, only at RealFootball365.com
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding,...
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