1
So long Matt Hasselbeck. After 10 seasons with the Seahawks, the quarterback will be playing somewhere else in 2011.
That became fact on Tuesday, when the Seahawks signed Tavaris Jackson and dropped out of the Hasselbeck sweepstakes.
Hasselbeck is 36, and certainly not a young 36 given the beating he’s taken in recent seasons. Still, Charlie Whitehurst or Jackson (or — gasp! — Matt Leinhart) will be a downgrade at the most important position in pro football.
The important question: Is it enough of a downgrade for the Seahawks to be bad enough to be in a position to draft Andrew Luck or Matt Barkley?
We doubt it. But maybe Seahawks brass can look across the street for ideas on how to work toward a No. 1 draft pick.
2
So, did Chip Kelly win the day on Tuesday?
Probably.
The Oregon Ducks football coach seemed to keep his cool and sense of humor as he fielded questions about Willie Lyles, the NCAA investigation, even a few about football during Pac-12 football media day.
Is anyone surprised? Not us. A coach who has dealt with controversy in each of his first two seasons at the helm in Eugene — and whose lawyers have told to keep mum — isn’t going to suddenly start talking just because he is in a room of reporters who keep asking the same question.
3
As the dust settles on the NFL labor agreement, we note that no longer will there be two-a-day practices in pads.
Given the year-round nature of the job, the days when players need daily doubles (or triples) to work into game shape are long gone.
Sure, two-a-days are a rite of passage for generations of football players. But if the NFL decides that two practices a day in pads is overkill, how long will it be before high school programs come to the same conclusion?
