Seattle Seahawks Lose Anthony McCoy, Now Need To Add Another TE

Dec 23, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks tight end Anthony McCoy (85) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the 2nd quarter at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

By now you’ve heard that the Seahawks have lost backup TE Anthony McCoy for most of the season with a torn Achilles tendon. He had surgery this week, and it’s going to be a long 8 months of recovery for McCoy.

For the Seahawks, exactly how big of a blow this is seems to be up for debate. My take on McCoy, and one shared by the metrics on site’s like Pro Football Focus, is that he’s an overrated player who’s performance doesn’t match his playing time. After talking with both Brian from Hawkblogger.com and Danny from FieldGulls, it seem that I am in the minority though. Both of them see McCoy as a decent blocker, so clearly opinions on McCoy are divided.

Either way, the loss of McCoy opens up a roster spot that needs to be filled. After thinking about it for all of 2 seconds, I had 2 thoughts on the idea:

• Don’t be surprised to see the Seahawks sign a veteran free agent TE in the coming days.
• Don’t be surprised if that veteran doesn’t end up making the roster at the completion of training camp.

Both Darren Fells and Sean McGrath are guys that I think could make the roster, especially if Luke Willson can claim the #2 spot in training camp. Luke Willson is going to be make the roster; that’s seemed pretty clear as soon as everyone got to see him at rookie minicamp. He looks like he’s going to be a special talent, even if it takes him a year before he’s productive as he adjusts to the to NFL.

Possible free agents the Seahawks could look at: Dallas Clark, Kevin Boss, and Chris Cooley. We might also see an Evan Moore return, though I think that makes the scenario of the newly signed vet not making the team even more likely.

Another name to keep on eye on is Jake Ballard. He’s an exclusive rights free agent with the Patriots, but if he’s not signed and can get his release so he can become unrestricted, he’d be a great addition to the roster. Just don’t count on it; it’s hard to see that actually happening.