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Tubbs Has More Surgery, Hawks Add Tripplett

The defensive line personnel of the Seahawks continues to shuffle. After adding a defensive end in Lawrence Jackson and a defensive tackle in Red Bryant through the draft, Tim Ruskell continued the makeover….

The first announcement which precluded the signing was that former first round pick Marcus Tubbs had another procedure on his troublesome knee. If you recall, Tubbs made it back from microfracture surgery only to tear the ACL in his other knee. The Hawks run defense has not been the same with out him, allowing backs to average over 1 yard per carry more than when a healthy Tubss mans the middle. It appeared as if he was ready to contribute again, even if only in a situational role. That is now in jeopardy. Coach Mike Holmgren is planning on Tubbs missing the entire preseason, and hopefully being ready for week 1. Anything he contributes at this point will be considered a bonus.

In response to this news, the Seahawks brass made a move that could turn out to be an underrated pick up. They signed former Washington Husky defensive linemen Larry Tripplett. Tripplett was originally a 2nd round pick by Indy where he preformed himself into a large free agent contract with Buffalo. After not quite living up to the large financial commitment bestowed upon him in Western NY, they team released him to help create room (both on the defense and the salary cap) for Marcus Stroud. Their loss is the Seahawks gain. Tripplett returns to a city he is familiar with and is sure to have a lot of fan support. He is a tall, and lean defensive tackle, who will most likely be asked to rush the passer. That is much more of what he did in Indy as opposed to his stint with the Bills. He is still only 29 and likely has some good years left.

Tim Ruskell has been hard at work this offseason, making sure that the Green Bay Playoff game never happens again. The remade defensive line has gone from a thin and undersized unit to a group of massive, guard eating tackles. By adding Tripplett, the team has ensured this position will not be troublesome. In pure Ruskell fashion, he has completely remade a weak spot, just like the running backs and the safeties last year. It is about time, the defensive line has been a problem for way too long.

Michael Steffes writes primarily for Seahawks fan site, Seahawkaddicts.com. If you are interested in up to the minute news and analysis please visit the site and read more of Michael’s work.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.