THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, March 16, 2016
At this point in the last NFL offseason, the Seattle Seahawks made quite the splash by acquiring tight end Jimmy Graham from the New Orleans Saints.
This year, well, it’s a different story.
Not that a team needs to make a splash every year, but at some point, you’d like to think they at least take a dip into the pool.
UNLIKE PREVIOUS years, when the Seahawks somehow, some way, kept the players they needed to in order to make a run at the Super Bowl, those same impact players are not cashing in elsewhere.
Bruce Irvin to the Oakland Raiders, Brandon Mebane to the San Diego Chargers, Alvin Bailey to the Cleveland Browns. All three started at some point last year with Irvin and Mebane starting most of their games last season. Bailey started off and on when needed along the offensive line, including a few games at left tackle protecting franchise quarterback Russell Wilson.
They’ve added a few pieces in the last week to replace the loss of Bailey and Mebane, but those guys were pretty key members of the team.
Granted, re-signing cornerback Jeremy Lane and wide receiver Jermaine Kearse were big moves. Bringing back punter Jon Ryan might not seem like as big of a deal, but considering how field position has been a big reason for the team’s success, it was well worth it.
Lane, once healthy last season after breaking his arm in the Super Bowl against New England, eventually worked his way back to a starting spot.
Kearse has made so many big plays for the Seahawks — the winning catch in overtime against Green Bay in the NFC Championship game in 2015, as well as another momentum-shifting touchdown against San Francisco to put them in the Super Bowl in 2014 — that it might be difficult to see him playing somewhere else.
It is still to be determined if Seattle left tackle Russell Okung will return or not after visiting Detroit, Pittsburgh and the New York Giants.
At a certain point, somebody will decide to stay with the Seahawks.
Even if it might not seem that way right now.
AFTER 12 years of trying to determine the best of the best senior high school basketball players between the North and South, North Idaho College opted to change things up a little bit this year with its annual All-Star Game, which unfolded on Saturday at Rolly Williams Court.
The games were entertaining — for the most part — with the Region, which includes players from around the state, rallied to beat the Metro girls team, made up of players from around the Boise area. The Metro boys ran past the North 131-111, which played a little shorthanded with only 10 players, nine following an injury to one of its players.
At least for this year, it was a little more competitive as the game was a five-point difference (Metro led 93-88) after the third quarter.
The only place that it lacked was in the annual slam dunk contest, with nobody from the North participating in the event.
Granted, there wasn’t a ton of dunking, and it could be expected since the majority of the guys that represented District 1 aren’t quite the dunking type.
As far as keeping things interesting, it was nothing but net.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.