T.J. Houshmandzadeh

I attended the Houshmandzadeh press conference today. Wow..what a great acquisition! An average of 98 catches a year over the last 3 years…a young 31…6 1 200…possession receiver..a guy who as Jim Mora put it ” can win the 50 50 balls.” He can beat up on corners the way others beat up on the Hawk’s. And because the Hawks have added T.J. they have total flexibility with the 4th pick in the draft. Adding Colin Cole the 300 plus DT, in my opinion, makes it more likely that they’ll take that big tackle. Jason Smith and Eugene Monroe seem to be the top two coming out of the combine. It’s possible to trade down but not likely since teams seem to run from a pick that high because of finances. You end up paying a young guy for potential while upsetting your veterans who make less. Matt now has a collection of Nate Burleson, Deion Branch and Houshmandzadeh and John Carlson. Tim Ruskell told us that the door to keeping Bobby Ingram has not been closed. Reports are that the 35 year old free agent is visiting the Chiefs.

Jim Mora told a quick story about T.J.’s watch which is the size of Flava Fla’s. Before TJ took off from Seattle to visit the Vikings, Mora told him he had to leave the watch as collateral. He did. And got it back from Mora today before the press conference.

Sounder note: HUGE NEWS coming tomorrow concerning an MLS announcement involving the city of Seattle. The opener is a sellout…season tickets are capped at 22 thousand. Expecting 27 thousand or more for the opener March 19. The club returns from Argentina next Monday.