Seahawks: Golden Tate– Meet EJ Wilson

Couldn't resist

A lot of speculation has been centering on the possibility that the Seattle Seahawks might part ways with last years second round draft choice Golden Tate.

It seems like a hasty move, wide receivers have more of a learning curve than most others positions to and it often takes several seasons to finally start geling.

As improbable as it is for a squad to completely cut bait with a high draft choice, I wouldn’t rule it out because Pete Carroll has already sort of done this before.

Remember EJ Wilson?

No he wasn’t a second round choice, but he was a fourth round selection, and those are still considered highly valuable. If you remember another Seahawk and another Wilson, Josh Wilson, got dealt for a fifth round selection recently and he parlayed that into a 3 year, $13.5 million deal. He’s by all means a good starting caliber player and he got had for a fifth round draft choice.

Wilson didn’t even make it through his entire rookie campaign and was cut during the regular season after a lone tackle. Seattle actually made a trade to acquire the pick they used to draft Wilson, if that adds anything to the equation. Actually, that trade is what brought Chris Clemons to Seattle, so that’s something to be thankful for.

The bottom line is that except at quarterback (you can scowl now), it’s open competition everywhere. James Carpenter might be getting benched, John Moffitt could be getting replaced by veteran Andre Gurode, Brandon Browner may be given the nod over Walter Thurmond.

And undrafted rookie free agent Doug Baldwin is currently outplaying Golden Tate. Roster spots are precious and when Carroll drafted Tate he wasn’t envisioning the corpse of Mike Williams becoming a legitimate starting receiver. When he went and drafted Kris Durham in the fourth round, it’s not like he knew it was a slam dunk he could acquire pro bowler Sidney Rice.

So in essence, the lockout helped create a logjam at receiver. Without the lockout Seattle may have never drafted Durham after they acquired Rice BEFORE the lockout (in a normal season). It’s well known that Carroll likes tall receivers and cornerbacks; they have the tallest cornerback in the league fittingly enough in the 6″4 Browner and four guys (healthy) who stand at 6″5 (Rice is 6″4.56543… something), at receiver and tight end.

Now with Durham in the fold and Baldwin performing very well this pre-season, it may push Tate out of a job. Instead of blasting Carroll for “failing” with a high draft choice if this does happen, just look at the above circumstances, he drafted and made decisions based on the current roster, not what he thought he might be able to go out and potentially get. It depends on how many receivers they decide to keep, if they only decide to keep five, I believe he may be the odd man out. If they decide to keep more, his roster spot is probably safe, for how long though, is up in the air.

Kind of like the oval shaped balls he can’t quite seem to get under yet.

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One Response to “Seahawks: Golden Tate– Meet EJ Wilson”

  1. Hawk_Eye says:

    I would rather see them keep Locket, “the rocket”. Have you seen this guy? Much more speed and potential. If we don’t keep him, some other club will snag him up. You’ll see.