I do think that Simon is the guy that the front office was looking at as "next man up" when they let Browner and Thurmond walk.
We have other guys as well obviously, but judging by comments from both John and Pete, it is clearly Simon who made those Pete and John feel comfortable enough with our depth that we could let those two go.
Simon will most likely turn out to be yet another Pete Carroll "find", and someday, whether with us or another team, be a starter, and likely a very good one at that.
We fans should be high on this guys potential, Pete and john both are.
EntiatHawk wrote:I think we are going to see the next wave of players from this team this year. We had the luxury of redshirting several guys and it will be interesting to see how they develop. Win forever baby!!!!!
A very good point, and also a big part of why it is that John's plan for this off season included allowing some of our depth to go elsewhere.
As fans we are only able to see the players who are actually out on the field, so we see that we have good depth and worry when some of it leaves. What we cannot know, is that behind those guys we lost, were players who are potentially even better in some cases, or at least as good in others.
John and Pete are absolutely counting on several of the players we drafted and then got "redshirted" whether due to injury or for whatever reason, to take the places of those who left, without us missing a beat.
I would bet my last paycheck, they are right about those guys, (like Simon) and that they will provide the same level of consistency (or greater) off the bench as their predecessors did.
You may feel free to look at Percy Harvin as a red shirt last year as well, and count the loss of Golden Tate as part of that.
The part of Golden Tate will now be played by Percy Harvin.
Best part is, Percy Harvin is the player who Pete had in mind for the role we he made the blueprint in the first place. Harvin is the "archetype".