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12th Man Rising
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Seattle Seahawks: Derrick Coleman suspended, what it means

By Keith Myers

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Seattle Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman was arrested on Thursday for a hit and run incident. Now he’s been suspended indefinitely by the team. His future in the NFL is suddenly uncertain.

Full details of the incident are currently unknown. What we do know is that Coleman was arrested at 1:20 am and charged with vehicular assault and felony hit-and-run. That he is being held without bail is also telling.

Bellevue police chief Steve Mylett is scheduled to address the media at 2:pm. We should have more details on what Coleman is being accused of at that time.

Coleman will be replaced in the offense by Will Tukuafu. Seattle’s inexplicable desire to keep two fullbacks on the roster has finally paid off.

Tukuafu is the bigger and better blocker between the tackles, but he struggles in the other aspects of the job. He isn’t a good receiver or pass blocker. He also isn’t good at locating and engaging defenders in space.

This means that Seattle’s offense will be more limited in what they can do on Sunday. It shouldn’t matter though, since the team hasn’t used a FB much this season anyways. Suspending Coleman also opens up a roster spot that the team can use elsewhere.

The Seahawks are in desperate need of short-term help at DT. Brandon Mebane is still dealing with groin injury. Jordan Hill will be out for at least a couple weeks as well. That leaves Ahtyba Rubin as the only true DT that is healthy at the moment.

The bigger issue for the Seahawks is the timing of this suspension. The game plan is installed at this point. Any alterations that have to be made now take away preparation time for the offense.

There is also the distraction issue. Coleman is a liked and respected member of the locker room. His battles as the NFL’s first deaf player are well documented. Now his teammates will be dealing with questions about Coleman’s status instead of preparing for their game.

This year’s Seahawks team, which has blown three forth quarter leads in five games, hasn’t shown to be particularly resilient. This is a problem that they didn’t need.

Next: Is the Seattle game on in your area this week?

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