The Seahawks new look roster has some big-time flash on both sides of the ball. Wide receivers TJ Houshmandzadeh (signed via free agency) and Deon Butler (acquired via 09 NFL draft-5^th round) bring a lot of speed and talent to a dead wide receiver corps.

Rookie linebacker Aaron Curry, defensive tackle/defensive end Cory Redding and defensive tackle Colin Cole bring a lot of talented and in Curry’s case the best NFL ready rookie talent wise to the Seahawks defense that ranked near the bottom in just about every single defensive category. The Seahawks allowed a total net yards amount of 6048.

Last season neither side of the ball was dominant or even good for that matter. However with a new attacking head coach in Jim Mora Jr and a great running offensive coordinator in Greg Knapp the Seahawks look to rebound from their worst season in over three decades.

Now looking at the Seahawks offense, there is no longer any excuses. Matt Hasselbeck is 100% healthy, and has one of the deepest wide receiving corps in the NFL with TJ Houshmandzadeh, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson and Deon Butler who all project in that order in terms of depth with TJ as the No 1 and Butler the No 4.

Along with a great aerial attack the Seahawks feature a good rushing attack that hasn’t and will continue to not get much attention around the NFL because of running backs like Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Chris Johnson and others the Seahawks don’t have their Shaun Alexander but what they do have is one of the best rushing offensive coordinators in the NFL in Greg Knapp.

Jim Mora brought in Knapp, who coached in Oakland with the Oakland Raiders last season, as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator.

The Seahawks feature running back Julius Jones who has been beaten out everywhere he’s played. In Dallas with Marion Barber and Seattle last season with Maurice Morris. Now the only reason why Morris took over as the starting running back was because former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren wanted to go with players that he liked and had a lot of previous experience with.

Now with Holmgren gone and Jim Mora in there is no reason why Julius won’t have his best season of his young career.

The bright side for Jones is not only is Holmgren gone but the man he lost his starting job to, Maurice Morris is now with the rebuilding Detroit Lions along with linebacker Julian Peterson.

With Jones betting 20-25 carries per game look for him to have a breakout season, added to the fact that offensive coordinator Greg Knapp has never finished less than 10^th overall in rushing in the NFL which includes having T.J Duckett in Atlanta and Justin Fargas/Darren McFadden in Oakland.

Now on the defensive side of the ball the Seahawks feature a talented and healthy defensive line led by defensive end Patrick Kerney, along with the best line backing trio in the NFL with Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill and rookie Aaron Curry.

The only question mark for the Seahawks will be their secondary yet again.

The Seahawks signed CB Ken Lucas and drafted safety Courtney Greene in the seventh round out of Rutgers who looks to have a great rookie season and could be the next Bob Sanders.

The Seahawks defensive line has always lacked a top, huge run stuffing defensive tackle next to Brandon Mebane. The Seahawks thought they had their man in last year’s draft with defensive tackle Red Bryant but he seemed to pull a muscle every time he got out of bed.

So the Seahawks went out and signed a defensive tackle by the name of Colin Cole from the Green Bay Packers to a five year $21 million dollar contract with five million being guaranteed.

Now the move did not make a huge splash around the NFL but a lot of people in the Green Bay Packers organization were extremely disappointed that they couldn’t resign him and the Seattle Seahawks believe he can be great and fill a huge hole on the defensive line.

The Seahawks biggest trade of the off season other than the Denver Broncos’ trade which to this day still shocks many NFL reps.

The Seahawks traded pro bowl linebacker Julian Peterson to the Detroit Lions for DE/DT Cory Redding and a fifth round pick in the 09 draft.

When people looked at this move they really were shocked that the Seahawks traded their best linebacker next to Lofa for an overpriced player on a 0-16 team and many people where trying to figure out how this could make the Seahawks better.

It was announced that the Seahawks wanted Peterson to restructure his contract and when he refused they decided to trade him to someone who would. Cory Redding signed a six year $57.5 million dollar contract last off season with the Detroit Lions after being slapped with the franchise tag.

The Seahawks restructured his contract down to a 1 year- $2 million dollar deal and just blew up the remaining five years of his contract along with the money that came with it.

This made it a little more interesting because Peterson had four years left on his contract and the Seahawks didn’t seem to be a team rebuilding. But when it was announced that Redding would be an unrestricted free agent after this season it but the question in peoples mind.

Are the Seattle Seahawks starting to rebuild?

As I referred to it in an article I wrote about a few months back it’s called a “moving rebuild” which basically means that the Seahawks are aiming to win now as well as long term.

Almost like the Seattle Mariners as quoted by GM Jack Zduriencik “we want to build a team that can compete right now as well as long term”. So far that has worked out great for the Seattle Mariners but the Seahawks are looking to be better than third place or second place.

The Seahawks are going back to their business atop the NFC West and go deep into the playoffs and some people have said if everything goes as planned the Seahawks can get to the super bowl and win.

The Seahawks have done exactly what the Mariners have done but even better and that’s make moves that better the team now and long term.

The signing of Houshmandzadeh and drafting of Max Unger, Aaron Curry and Deon Butler are all moves that can have the Seahawks win now and long term.

So now you have to look at the Seahawks defense. With the entire team healthy and on the field this could be a top five defense.

Patrick Kerney, Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry, Brandon Mebane, Marcus Trufant, Ken Lucas, Deon Grant and Courtney anchor the Seahawks defense and if they all play to their potential there is no reason why this defense can’t be better than the Seahawks defense of 05 which led them to the super bowl.

So the question which side of the ball will be more dominant this season for the Seahawks, offense or defense.

The answer is offense for the main face that Hasselbeck can possibly throw for 3500-4000 yards this season and really open up this offense with TJ, Deion, Nate, Deon and John Carlson.

Plus with the offensive line getting a shot in the arm with rookie LG Max Unger who has drawn a lot of comparisons to former Seahawks left guard Steve Hutchinson.

| Aaron Curry, Free Agency, NFL, NFL draft, Seahawks, TJ Houshmandzadeh