Back For Seconds Contrary Indications Notwithstanding, Holmgren Remains A Man With A Plan

Considering all the roster jockeying, it’s difficult to determine if the Seattle Seahawks are reloading, rebuilding or retreating.

To you and me, perhaps. But not to the man who is reconstructing the Seahawks as they begin training camp workouts this morning at Eastern Washington University.

This is Mike Holmgren’s second season as Seattle’s head coach, general manager and executive vice president, and player roll call will be far different than his first year. Stretch the comparison back to Dennis Erickson’s final season in 1998 and the turnover is even more dramatic.

And all designed.

“Of the players no longer here, there were no big surprises there,” Holmgren said. “We planned for that. You could discuss it. You could even argue it, I suppose. But there were no surprises there.

“We made a conscious effort this year to get our finances back in line because I want this to be a good place for a lot of years.

And if we didn’t do it now, we were starting to get close to that cliff that we could fall off.

“So in doing that, people might look at that and not be as optimistic as I am. When I did those things and made those decisions, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice anything that we’ve built up so far.”

Spoken like a man with seven years left on an eight-year contract.

The question probably shouldn’t be, Why are the Seahawks making so many changes?, but, Why not?

In Erickson’s last few years, the team amassed high-profile, big-dollar players. The talented Seahawks became the trendy pick to win the AFC West and even the AFC title (well done, Joe Theismann). Instead, they remained stuck in an 8-8 rut and something obviously was amiss.

Enter Holmgren.

Despite limping through the final month of the regular season with five losses in six games, Seattle won the AFC West and advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 1988.

Still, the faltering finish, capped by a home playoff loss to a Miami team that lost 62-7 at Jacksonville the following week, showed the Seahawks aren’t exactly at the doorstep of the Super Bowl.

In the simplest terms, the 2000 Seahawks will be younger. Holmgren is building through the draft, all the while balancing the checkbook so he has the option of mining the free-agent market more aggressively down the road.

The key, Holmgren says, is not sacrificing the present. On paper, minus Joey Galloway, Sam Adams, Phillip Daniels, Darrin Smith and three-fifths of last year’s starting offensive line, that appears to be a formidable challenge.

Holmgren makes no predictions - or concessions.

“What kind of season is it going to be? We’re going to have a good season. Is this team as strong as last year’s team? Who knows? We’ll see,” he said. “But the only thing that really counts is our record at the end of the year.

“And I know this: I’m real excited about our young people, our draft choices. We’re going to have more young people have to play than maybe in years past, but that in itself is kind of an exciting thing.”

And a familiar thing to Ron Wolf, Green Bay’s general manager who collaborated with Holmgren to take the Packers to a Super Bowl title in January 1997.

“We were very active all the time,” Wolf said. “We constantly changed the roster over, changed players every day. I always thought that was one of the great things Mike did. He didn’t have any restrictions put on that. So many people don’t want to coach and teach. They want to try to win. He played a huge role in how quickly our team developed.

“We had player shuffling all the time, until we got halfway decent. Then it became difficult to make it here.”

Wolf said he’s too busy maneuvering Green Bay’s roster to judge Holmgren’s progress with Seattle. But he has no doubt that Holmgren’s plan is on course.

“He’s going to be very good and the Seahawks are going to be very good,” Wolf said. “Your fans just have to believe in that. You guys have a real gem - they have to realize that.”

The Seahawks, by now, surely realize that Holmgren won’t be shy about fixing what he perceives as broken.

“He’s very good at what he does, getting a team ready, implementing a system and getting the team to believe in itself,” Wolf said. “He has a track record to go with it. … “He’ll play the good players and he doesn’t care where the player came from - whether it’s a free agent or a first-rounder. Some guys have orders from the top that you can’t do it that way, but the object is to still win games.”

Veteran offensive linemen Kevin Glover, Brian Habib and ‘99 starting tackle Grant Williams likely will be replaced by a younger crew of Chris Gray, Floyd Wedderburn and Todd Weiner or Chris McIntosh.

Seattle signed Robbie Tobeck, but he’s sidelined, possibly for the season, with a knee injury.

Safety Darryl Williams is gone. His replacement is Reggie Tongue, who the Hawks consider a more athletic and physical force. The Seahawks all but held the exit door open for Adams, who wasn’t offered a contract. If Seattle fails to sign Gilbert Brown, the job could go to Riddick Parker, who has three career starts, and Antonio Cochran, a second-year player.

Daniels’ absence probably will be filled by ‘99 first-round draft pick Lamar King. The youth movement figures to be in full force at receiver. Expect second-year pro Karsten Bailey and third-round draft pick Darrell Jackson to push for playing time that went to Galloway and Mike Pritchard last season.

“You could compare (the Seahawks’ youth) with our early teams in Green Bay,” said Holmgren, whose first three Packers teams were 9-7 before becoming one of the NFL’s elite.

Younger players “make mistakes,” Holmgren said, “but they bring great enthusiasm to what you’re attempting to do. And after one year, I really have an idea of the type of players that we have here and the type of players that I want here.”

As evidenced by Seattle’s overhauled roster.

This sidebar appeared with the story: LOOKING BACK Changing faces

A glance at three seasons’ worth of Seahawks starters

1998

(Erickson’s last season)

Offense

WR - Galloway, Pritchard, Blades.

OL - Jones, Kendall, Glover, Habib, Ballard

TE - Fauria

QB - Moon

RB - Watters

FB - Strong

Defense

DL - Sinclair, Adams, Kennedy, Daniels

LB - Brown, Wells/Myles, Smith

CB - W. Williams, Springs

S - Bellamy, D. Williams

P - Feagles

PK - Peterson

1999

(Holmgren’s first season)

Offense

WR - Dawkins, Pritchard/Galloway, Mayes

OL - Jones, Kendall, Gray/Glover, Habib, G. Williams

TE - Fauria

QB - Kitna

RB - Watters

Defense

DL - Sinclair, Kennedy, Adams, Daniels

LB - Brown, Simmons, Smith

CB - W. Williams, Springs

S - D. Williams, Bellamy

P - Feagles

PK - Peterson

2000

(Projected)

Offense

WR - Dawkins, Mayes, D. Jackson/ Bailey

OL - Jones, Kendall, Gray, Wedderburn, Weiner

TE - Fauria

QB - Kitna

RB - Watters

Defense

DL - Sinclair, Kennedy, Cochran/Parker, King

LB - Brown, Myles, Simmons

CB - W. Williams, Springs

S - Bellamy, Tongue

P - Feagles

PK - Peterson

Graphic: Seahawks training camp