Defensive overhauls leave two teams with high hopes

Sporting News, The, May 21, 2001 by Gary Horton

Last season, they were the Sprint and MCI of the NFL. No team provided opponents with long-distance service as easy to use as the Seahawks and Broncos, who were rang up for 6.3 and 5.8 yards per play, respectively.

Instead of waiting for young talent to develop, both teams have sought the quick fix. Seattle G.M./coach Mike Holmgren and Denver coach Mike Shanahan dived into a shallow freeagent pool. It will be only a matter time before each realizes how refreshing the dip actually was. To date, the two teams have combined to sign 12 new defensive players, and more are likely to come after the June 1 leaguewide roster purge.

The following is a look into each organization's moves, how the new additions fit into the team's plans and what can be expected of each rebuilt defense.

Seahawks. When he took over the Seahawks, Holmgren insisted his new team would be built the old-fashioned way--through the draft. After two full seasons and watching hundreds of missed tackles, Holmgren has reversed field faster than his team's cutback specialist, Ricky Watters. Although Holmgren is hedging on an earlier promise, he had little choice in the win-or-else NFL.

Holmgren took the initiative to bring in capable leaders. Holmgren knows what he wants, and that's more people like Brett Favre and Reggie White--guys who lead by example, not just with their statistics. Desperate for better chemistry and catalysts, the Seahawks attacked free agency with more passion than they did any opponent last season.

The most substantial addition, at least in terms of leadership, is former Vikings defensive lineman John Randle. The secret hope inside the organization is that Randle's on-field energy will jump-start Michael Sinclair's stalled motor. On a defense loaded with headaches, Sinclair's lack of productivity at left end was especially painful for Holmgren. Last year in camp, when expectations tend to be overly ambitious, the Seahawks were hoping Sinclair would duplicate his dominant effort of 1998, when he had a league-best 16 1/2 sacks. Two years later, the Seahawks finished the season with just 27 sacks, including only 4 1/2 from Sinclair.

Recharging this three-time Pro Bowl selection won't be easy, but Randle plus former Patriots defensive tackle Chad Eaton, another tightly wound player, are the right men for the job. If Sinclair returns to his past level, the Seahawks will view him essentially as another offseason addition--and it also will make Randle's $5 million signing bonus more digestible.

After addressing the defensive line, the Seahawks turned their focus to the linebackers and secondary. Whether it was great scouting or just good luck, the addition of middle linebacker Levon Kirkland should have a trickle-down effect on many areas of the defense.

The former Steeler immediately upgrades the team's run defense. Last season, the inside triangle of tackles Cortez Kennedy and Riddick Parker and linebacker George Koonce was hardly a perilous place for running backs. Ideally, the defensive coaches want opposing running backs to vanish in that area, but Holmgren saw too many pass through safely into the Seahawks' secondary. Koonce was a washed-up warrior, too slow to the hole and too weak to shed lead blocks.

Kirkland will be different. He's not quite the dominating presence that stalked the middle for the Steelers in the late '90s, but most pro scouts still consider him among the top 10 at his position. His 275-pound frame and above-average range will make life a lot easier on incumbent outside linebackers Chad Brown and Anthony Simmons.

Speaking of Brown, he had a role in bringing Kirkland to Seattle. The two players traveled to one Super Bowl and one Pro Bowl together when they played with the Steelers. Their friendship was the main reason Kirkland picked the Seahawks over five or six other suitors. Kirkland, Brown and cornerback Willie Williams, who spent four seasons in Pittsburgh, know each other well, both on and off the field. Though they will be playing in a different system than the one used by the Steelers of the early 1990s, their chemistry should be a plus for this team.

The chemistry lesson doesn't end there. The addition of former Titans free safety Marcus Robertson reunites him with Brown; they played on the same high school team in Pasadena, Calif. Robertson doesn't have the range he once did in the deep secondary, but his intelligence and big-game experience should upgrade the unit.

The Seahawks have attempted overhauls twice in the previous six seasons, and both times they finished with an 8-8 record. In 1995 and 1997, they played with as many as nine new starters, and they might approach that figure this season. This time around, the Seahawks are hoping Holmgren makes the difference.

Broncos. Rather than tearing apart his defense, Shanahan did some tweaking. Instead of a complete face-lift, the Broncos simply removed some wrinkles from their old, sagging defense. The first to be eliminated were defensive tackle Keith Traylor and cornerback Ray Crockett. Linebacker Glenn Cadrez was next. Cornerback Terrell Buckley and defensive tackle Mike Lodish won't be re-signed, either.