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THE JORDAN KENT CONUNDRUM

From a purely athletic perspective, Jordan Kent just might be the best player in Seattle’s receiving corps. A 6’4” receiver with blazing speed is the kind of player that any coach would love on his roster. Unfortunately, since Kent had only played football for a few years, he was incredibly raw and spent his rookie season on the practice squad. Yet reports from this year’s minicamps indicate that Kent has made significant progress over the past year and could challenge for a roster spot. Therein lies the problem.

It’s a strange concept in a season that will see at least two inexperienced receivers holding down roster spots, but the Seahawks could very easily find themselves having to cut some talented wideouts, Kent possibly being one of them. Nate Burleson and Bobby Engram (assuming he attends training camp) are locks to make the final roster barring injury, Deion Branch is a good candidate for the Physically Unable to Perform list to start camp but would have to be activated before week seven of the regular season or Seattle would have to put him on Injured Reserve. Ben Obomanu will make the roster and could even earn a starting role. That’s three guaranteed roster spots to start the season and four by mid-October.

Fighting for the last spot or two—the Seahawks generally keep five receivers on the active roster but will occasionally have six—will be Courtney Taylor (who the team also appears to be high on at this point), Logan Payne, and the aforementioned Kent among others. As such, Seattle will have at least three receivers fighting for two spots at most, assuming that none of the other wideouts go down with an injury in preseason. Which means that Taylor, Payne, and Kent probably won’t all be on the active roster this September.

In terms of NFL-readiness, Taylor and Payne are probably more likely to make a significant contribution than Kent in 2008. Both have a bit of a head start having played football longer and Taylor actually has game experience, though very little. But Kent’s athleticism makes him an intriguing prospect, and continued development in the preseason might earn him a roster spot regardless of whether he truly deserves one more than Taylor and/or Payne.

In a perfect world, the Seahawks could just sit Kent on the practice squad for another year and be done with it. Unfortunately, even if Seattle puts Kent on the practice squad, any other team in the league could sign him away at any moment. There will certainly be teams in the league this year that will have a roster spot available for a 6’4” receiver with blazing speed and will be willing to continue his development. The same situation would apply for Taylor or Payne, though Kent’s athleticism would make him a bigger target if he shows anything this August.

Decisions like these give coaches migraines and the Seahawks will have no shortage of them this August. In addition to the fluid situation at wide receiver, Mike Holmgren and Tim Ruskell will also have to weigh the risks of keeping a player with a higher upside versus the more seasoned professional at the kicker position, as rookie Brandon Coutu tries to unseat veteran Olindo Mare. On the defensive line, the numbers game will probably claim either DT Larry Tripplett or DE/DT Chris Cooper. And if cornerback Kevin Hobbs can build off of a truly impressive minicamp performance, he could earn a roster spot at a position that looked relatively stable a couple of months ago. Decisions like these make coaches look like either geniuses or goofs, and they are a consequence of sustained success. Good teams generally have more good players than roster spots, and the Seahawks will be no exception this year.

Jordan Kent could make life easy on his employers by knocking their socks off in preseason this year. If he struggles again, placing him on the practice squad would not be much of a risk. Yet if Kent plays just well enough to tease coaches with his potential, he won’t be doing Seattle any favors. The wide receiver position is clearly the most unsettled going into training camp, and with Deion Branch’s knee injury and Jordan Kent’s too-good-to-risk-on-the-practice-squad potential, it’s anybody’s guess what will eventually happen.

Prediction: Jordan Kent will end up on an active roster in 2008. Whether he’ll end up on Seattle’s active roster remains to be seen.