Seahawks might let no-brainer free agent target sign with NFC failure
The Seattle Seahawks might be a good team, but 12s simply don't know for sure. Week 1 is a lie every season, but watching the San Francisco 49ers leave Lumen Field with a victory is tough. Seattle was competitive, but not quite good enough.
The defense wasn't a real issue, except for Riq Woolen, who played the 49ers' final drive as if he had money on San Francisco for the game, but all aspects of the Seahawks could have been more efficient. Seattle got a lot of pressure on quarterback Brock Purdy, but it could have been better.
One player who could improve Seattle is edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. He might be 32 years old, and possibly he has always had a talent level that his sack numbers never matched, but he proved to be a great fit in Mike Macdonald's system when both were with the Baltimore Ravens in 2023.
The Dallas Cowboys are visiting with former Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney
Clowney, however, might be on the verge of signing with the Dallas Cowboys, a franchise that gets talked about but hasn't been a true contender in three decades. That probably won't be as long as owner Jerry Jones keeps trying to make football decisions as the general manager.
After all, Jones was the owner/GM who couldn't quite remember the name of his best player, edge rusher Micah Parsons, and then traded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the season. Will that move prove to backfire? Of course, because Jones will then be in charge of making the draft picks the team received from the Parsons trade.
Dallas needs to add someone now to help partly replace Parsons' production, as much for stopping the run as pressuring opposing passers, and Clowney can do that. As inconsistent as he has been at QB pressures, he has always been fantastic against the run.
The free agent edge rusher is reportedly visiting the Cowboys on Wednesday, according to Josina Anderson, and if the Cowboys are smart, they will sign Jadeveon Clowney. He will make the Cowboys' defense better, and they were fairly close to stealing their Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Seattle Seahawks had all offseason to make a move for Clowney, but didn't. This is the case even though he played for Seattle in 2017, so he has a previous working relationship with general manager John Schneider. He knows he can produce in Mike Macdonald's system. Now, though. Seattle might not have any chance to sign Clowney, even if they still had any hopes to.
Why Russell Wilson is still Giants starting QB over Jaxson Dart
The New York Giants could've pivoted already.
Russell Wilson was horrible in Week 1 against the Washington Commanders. First-round pick Jaxson Dart is waiting in the wings after an impressive preseason. A QB change does feel like it's coming.
But not yet. The Giants decided to stick with Russ for this week, at least, against the Dallas Cowboys.
A couple of ESPN insiders, Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler, wrote a new article Wednesday that helped explain why.
Why is Russell Wilson still starting over Jaxson Dart?
The word that Fowler uses is that this is the "sensible" choice.
"Despite Wilson's struggles, money usually talks in these situations, and to bench Wilson after Week 1 means the Giants would have paid him more than $10 million for one game," Fowler writes. "Sensible teams don't typically do such things. And I believe the Giants are trying to be sensible here. This is a team that needs to stick to a plan, and having Dart sit and learn -- at least in the short term -- can help him."
The Giants also want to stick to a plan with Dart that they feel gives him the best chance to succeed.
"I do know that Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka have a very specific strategy for Jaxson Dart's development that includes specific benchmarks he must hit before they're convinced he's ready," Graziano writes. "They've crafted this plan based on previous experiences breaking in young quarterbacks, which include prominent success stories such as Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes."
It's hard to believe Wilson will start the entire season unless the Giants go on an unexpected hot streak.
But it's also fair that Russ is the Week 2 starter. Moving on after one game wouldn't have made a ton of sense, as these explanations spell out.
