Ripe for revamp

SEATTLE – Two things we know for certain.

Mike Holmgren won’t be back next season. Jim Mora will.

Other than that, the ingredients that will make up the 2009 Seattle Seahawks are still waiting to be diced, minced and added to the mix.

A season that has come desperately off the tracks – the 2-11 Seahawks visit lowly St. Louis today before closing out the season with back-to-back postseason contenders – has Seattle headed toward an off-season of the unknown. No one, it would seem, will be safe when the Seahawks’ brain trust starts building for the future.

“If you look around the league, when teams have these kinds of seasons, there are huge changes,” said defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, one of seven current starters eligible for free agency in 2009. “The coach, the players, everything.”

Even some of Seattle’s longtime cornerstones have somewhat uncertain futures.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones are aging (both are in their early 30s) and have high contract numbers (they’re scheduled to make a combined total of almost $11.5 million in 2009) but still seem likely to come back. Wide receiver Bobby Engram is eligible for free agency and has yet to get over the fact that the team did not offer him a long-term contract. And Maurice Morris, who has emerged as the best option among several midlevel running backs, is also due to become a free agent.

Perhaps the most attractive free agent-to-be is linebacker Leroy Hill, 26, who has spent most of his four years in Seattle playing in the shadows of Lofa Tatupu and Julian Peterson. Hill has youth on his side, but a neck stinger has kept him off the field recently.

And, as is the case for all of Seattle’s upcoming free agents, the 2-11 record of Hill’s current team might keep him under the radar.

Fullback Leonard Weaver, wide receiver Koren Robinson and valuable offensive linemen Ray Willis and Floyd Womack are among the other players eligible for free agency.

But the list of available players might not end there. Several high-priced Seahawks might be up for discussion in the coming months.

Underachievers such as center Chris Spencer, running back Julius Jones and safety Brian Russell are other possibilities when it comes to players who may be playing their final three games in Seahawks uniforms.

What we do know is that the Seattle sideline will sport a different look.

Holmgren is still in line to go on sabbatical shortly after the Dec. 28 season finale, and Mora will move from his position of defensive backs coach to take over Holmgren’s job shortly thereafter and put together his coaching staff.