From indistinguishable to indispensable

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From indistinguishable to indispensable

Jeff Chadiha of ESPN.com offers his now-annual list of the 10 most indispensable players in the NFL, and look who checks in at No. 9.

It's Matt Hasselbeck.

Here's what Chadiha has to say about the Seahawks quarterback:

"Yes, every quarterback is important to his team but Hasselbeck was extraordinary in 2007. The Seahawks couldn't rely on former Pro Bowl running back Shaun Alexander and they also faced multiple injuries to their receiving corps. How did Hasselbeck respond? By putting the Seahawks' offense on his shoulders and leading that team to the postseason. A performance like that deserves to be rewarded with a spot on this list."

Also on the list:
No. 1 Tom Brady, QB, New England
No. 2 Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis
No. 3 Terrell Owens, WR, Dallas
No. 4 Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota
No. 5 Antonio Gates, TE, San Diego
No. 6 Albert Haynesworth, DT, Tennessee
No. 7 Brian Westbrook, RB, Philadelphia
No. 8 Joe Thomas, LT, Cleveland
No. 10 Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants

Pretty good company for a player who was not invited to the NFL scouting combine, ended up being drafted in the sixth round in 1998, spent his first season in Green Bay on the practice squad and was then Brett Favre's backup for two seasons before being traded to the Seahawks in 2001.

Posted by at July 22, 2008 12:27 p.m.

Comments

#153848

Posted by IDHawkman at 7/22/08 1:34 p.m.

Gates but not Ladanian? Hmmmm......

I wonder if LT can bounce back from his knee injury or if he is now an after thought.

And I'm not buying T.O. at 3.

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#154200

Posted by unregistered user at 7/23/08 12:55 a.m.

Despite his playoff woes I'd put Romo over TO.

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#154201

Posted by jonsmith at 7/23/08 12:55 a.m.

Just close your eyes and imagine Tony Romo dropping back with no TO to throw to....there's Jason Witten and Patrick Crayton who's the Dallas version of Koren Robinson.

A young QB with a great tight end but no proven wide outs...you're pretty much Brody Croyle at that point.

If Owens went down: cancel christmas, kitchens closed. If Romo went down they could probably scrape into the playoffs with Brad Johnson throwing to TO and Witten.

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#154304

Posted by SEAHAWK NATION at 7/23/08 9:02 a.m.

T.O. is a good WR, but when he was in SF, remember how every other season he'd get broke-up? Plenty of good players out there, just don't get the pub like a loud-mouth does. Speaking of WRs, what our Status? Sure hands Bobby is upset, Branch is what? 60-75% recovered?? We got some good young guys coming on, but what is Nate trying to do??? Sorry, i had to ask while it was fresh on my mind....

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#154518

Posted by hawk9680 at 7/23/08 2:45 p.m.

Jeff knows what he's talking about too. Great honor for Matt coming from such a knowledgeable NFL mind guru. Let's show the rest of the world this year! O8 is our year!

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#154855

Posted by unregistered user at 7/24/08 9:30 a.m.

Clare,

That's one view through the "wrong-end" of the telescope. The other is that the Seahawks offensive "team" was so inept last year (see WRs, OL and RBs) that it increased Matt's value disproportionately.

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#154857

Posted by unregistered user at 7/24/08 9:34 a.m.

As a counterpoint to my above point would be the playoff
"team" which got the farthest with the lowest ranked player on a similar list. Remember football used to be the ultimate team game. (Used to be before the NFL decided to treat QBs and to a lesser extent WRs as special and deserving of special protection.)

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