How Good (or Bad) is Charlie Whitehurst?

I’m not anything more than a fan of the Seattle Seahawks.

I don’t have professional coaching experience or access to heaps of reviewable film from games. I don’t attend Seahawks practices unless they’re open to the public; like any other fan, a majority of my Seahawks awareness is dependent on guys like Dave Boling, Danny O’Neil, or Clare Farnsworth.

But lately, a few reports from Seahawks camp have been contradictory: how good (or bad) is Charlie Whitehurst?

Earlier this week, Dave Boling posted an opinionated blurb that had even ESPN Insider double-checking their faith in Whitehurst:

"At quarterback, Whitehurst had a pretty nice series in a two-minute session, but he threw two picks in the Red Zone, too. For my money, and I think I’ve seen every OTA session that has been open to us, I think JP Losman is far closer to being a game-ready productive quarterback than Whitehurst. Losman really has a big-time arm on him, and an awful lot of experience."

That opinion is quite depressing; I was more of an optimist than a critic when it came to the acquisition of Charlie Whitehurst.

But I suppose Losman should be more of a game-ready quarterback than Whitehurst. Losman has thirty-four career starts in the National Football League; Whitehurst has yet to throw a regular-season pass.

The Seahawks acquired Whitehurst with the hope that he could develop into a starting quarterback at some point beyond 2010. His experience holding a clipboard under the tutelage of Norv Turner may be beneficial for the future, but most certainly not for his initial OTA sessions in Seattle.

Whitehurst probably shouldn’t impress anyone right away – think Matt Hasselbeck in 2001 – but it would be somewhat disappointing if he wasn’t able to secure a spot on the depth chart ahead of J.P. Losman.

Thanks to patience and optimism, however, it appears as if Whitehurst has potential after all. Danny O’Neil wrote this about Whitehurst and the Seahawks’ offseason finale:

"Charlie Whitehurst threw a high-arcing, perfectly placed deep ball that resulted in a few gasps but ultimately an incompletion after it glanced off the hands of Isaiah Stanback.Not too worry, though. Whitehurst threw an equally good looking ball to Kole Heckendorf for a touchdown.This final day of offseason work was as impressive as Whitehurst as I’ve seen him during the offseason workouts. He made a nice throw on the run that Deon Butler grabbed during seven-on-seven drills."

Without access to game film or practice sessions, homer optimism is all I’ve got for Charlie Whitehurst. Even with access, however, I’m not sure Whitehurst has enough work in the league to make an accurate judgment of his game.

The preseason and training camp can’t start soon enough.

Shaun Dolence: dolencesm@gmail.com
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