SB Nation - LeCharles Bentley

Prospective Seahawks General Managers: Randy Mueller

John Morgan — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:13:53 -0000

by Don Wright - AP

Randy Mueller traded Chris Chambers to San Diego for a second round pick. Chambers was recently released by the Chargers.

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I am saving Sunday's tape analysis for the offseason. Just like last offseason and the two that preceded it, I will scout every important player on the Seahawks roster, cite specific plays from the season that exemplified that player's strengths and weaknesses and project their future within the organization.

Yesterday was filled with so much defeat, complete, non-competitive, Brett Favre benched in the second half, defeat, Seahawks fans deserve a respite. Let us escape from our escape through our escape.

The Tim Ruskell-Mike Holmgren dichotomy is media created foolishness. Holmgren wants back in football. A smaller team, a team that needs the recycled hype and distraction, that is mired in failure and needs anyone, anything to steal the headline from griping and finger pointing, will hire Holmgren.

Paul Allen is a progressive and invested owner. That doesn't put him beyond hiring a general manager he is comfortable with. That is why I start this series with a former Seahawk, Randy Mueller.

Randy Mueller

Mueller cut his teeth with Seattle, working his way up from pro personnel assistant, 1983, to player personnel director, 1990, and finally Vice President of Football Operation in 1995. The signing of Holmgren signaled the departure of Mueller. The two worked together on the disastrous 1999 draft before Mueller became the general manager of the New Orleans Saints.

Mueller drafted Joey Galloway, Shawn Springs, Pete Kendall, Phillip Daniels, Walter Jones, Anthony Simmons and Ahman Green for the Seahawks. He was integral in Seattle escaping Rick Mirer. Mueller traded Mirer to Chicago for a first round pick in 1997.

He went on to work for the Saints starting in 2000. There he helped clean up another coach-executed disaster, flipping Ricky Williams to the Miami Dolphins for two first round picks in 2002. In three season with the Saints, Mueller drafted Marc Bulger, Darren Howard, Kevin Houser, Deuce McAllister, Moran Norris, Donte Stallworth, Charles Grant and LeCharles Bentley.

From 2002 to 2005, Mueller worked for ESPN as an analyst. He signed with the Dolphins in 2005, but then-coach Nick Saban was in charge of personnel decisions. Mueller was in charge for the short period between Saban's resignation January 3, 2007 and Bill Parcells appointment December 19, 2007. The 2007 Dolphins finished 1-15 and Mueller was fired December 31, 2007.

His larger record speaks better of him than his recent work. Mueller might best be described as a fixer. He helps teams escape bad situations and has succeeded at turning high round picks into successful players. He traded Chris Chambers for a second round pick, Wes Welker for a second and seventh round pick (when Welker was a return specialist and part time receiver) and, as mentioned, freed the Seahawks from Mirer and the Saints from Williams. Mueller does not have much experience picking quarterbacks. He did find Marc Bulger in the sixth, and acquired Trent Green for a fifth round pick. Before a brain scrambling hit essentially ended his career, Green was a serviceable quarterback in 2007.

If Seattle is looking to blow up the roster and exchange some of its more valuable players for picks, Mueller is the right guy to dismantle and liquidate. He isn't young, but he is connected. He isn't fresh or sexy, but his record is pretty strong. Mueller is a bridge, and I would think, appeals most to fans that think the Seahawks are not close, not rebuilding, but collapsing; years from contention.

CSC All-Time Saints Team Nominations: Guard No. 1

Saintsational — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:00:15 -0000

We are now halfway through the selection process of our CSC All-Time Saints Team. With training camp just a few weeks away now, we might not even finish before football starts getting played. But today we're moving back to the offensive side of the ball and talking about that always exciting position: Offensive guard. Below is a list of players I've researched and deemed worthy of inclusion in our discussion of great Saints guards. As usual I will leave it up to you guys, the readers, to nominate any other players you feel should be included.

The poll will open at 6am Central tomorrow morning and will be open for exactly 48 hours, ending on Tuesday, July 14th. Remember that there will be a separate election held for the second guard position.

I now open it up for any other nominations or players that you just can't believe I missed. There very well may be a glaring omission. Talk it out in the comment section. I would also love to hear some personal rumination from our readers who've actually watched these guys plays.

Jim Dombrowski

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 300

D.O.B.: 10/19/1963

College: Virginia

NFL Experience: 11 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1986-1996

Notables: Played entire career with Saints.

Steve Korte

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 265

D.O.B.: 1/15/1960

College: Arkansas

NFL Experience: 8 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1983-1990

Notables: Played entire career with Saints.

LeCharles Bentley

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 309

D.O.B.: 11/7/1979

College: Ohio State

NFL Experience: 6 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 2002-2005

Notables: Two-time Pro-Bowler (2003, 2005)

Joel Hilgenberg

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 250

D.O.B.: 7/10/1962

College: Iowa

NFL Experience: 10 Seasons

Seasons with Saints: 1984--1993

Notables: One-time Pro-Bowler (1992)

CSC All-Time Saints Team Election: Center

Saintsational — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:00:22 -0000

It's time now to vote for another member to be elected to our CSC All-Time Saints team. If you missed our center nomination post yesterday you can catch it right here. We got some other great nominations.

I have decided to include Jerry Sturm, John Hill, LeCharles Bentley and Steve Korte in the voting. The polls will be open for exactly 48 hours which means they will close at 6am on Friday, June 19th. You only get one vote so make it count. You can make a difference. If you've never voted in a CSC poll to date, now is the perfect time to start. Be sure to tell everyone you know to come on over and vote as well.

As always, the comment section is open for more discussion about these great players and the way things used to be.

Poll

Who should be selected as the center for the CSC All-Time Saints Team?

Jerry Fontenot

114 votes

Joel Hilgenberg

75 votes

John Hill

14 votes

Steve Korte

9 votes

LeCharles Bentley

39 votes

Jerry Sturm

1 votes

252 votes | Poll has closed

Forgotten Man: Jurevicius as Browns' Second Receiver

Chris Pokorny — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:05:38 -0000

The other day, the options for the Browns to consider at the receiver position after Braylon Edwards were addressed. With 265 votes tallied at the time of this posting, the results are as follows:

(1st -TIE) Big-Name Free Agent, Like Houshmandzadeh (29%)
(1st - TIE) Lower Level Free Agent (29%)
(3rd) Late in the Draft (26%)
(4th) We're Fine With What We've Got (10%)
(5th) Early in the Draft (4%)

The dispersal of the votes among fans is alarming in the sense that no matter what Eric Mangini and George Kokinis decide to do, it's going to be difficult to please the majority. Here's a new question though: would the 4th place finishing statement have been ranked higher if Joe Jurevicius' name was considered a little bit more?

It's easy to forget about the man who missed all of last season, thanks to Cleveland's curse of the staph infection. Many people questioned whether or not Jurevicius would return to football; he may only want to play one more year, and what would be his chances of winning a Super Bowl with the Browns?

If Jurevicius planned on calling it a career, I think he would've done so already. When healthy, nobody can doubt the stability he brings to an offense. Just look at how stable the Seahawks and Browns were at the position with Jurevicius compared to how they were without him.

In Tony Grossi's notes Saturday, Mangini stated that Jurevicius [along with offensive tackle Ryan Tucker] should be ready to return in some capacity to the team's offseason conditioning programs on March 16.

"I like both those guys. . . . I like their toughness and competitiveness."

In a year where the Browns will need to save money after some of the lucrative contracts Phil Savage worked out over the past several years, crossing the receiver position off the "list of needs" could be beneficial, depending on the actual amount of faith the team has in Jurevicius. Although they were very much different circumstances, we all saw what happened to Gary Baxter and LeCharles Bentley under the old regime.

Poll

Let's say Joe Jurevicius is healthy and projected to be productive this year. Does your decision change [what should we do to address the WR position]?

Big-Name free agent like Houshmandzadeh

101 votes

Lower level free agent

129 votes

Early in the draft

45 votes

Late in the draft

156 votes

We're fine with what we've got

233 votes

664 votes | Poll has closed

No quick fix at QB for the Rams

VanRam — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:31:26 -0000

Bulger's name is lighting up the message boards today, as expected. Some calling for the Rams to bench him, some defending him and some just plaing calling for his head.

In all honesty, Bulger's no worse than the rest of the Rams' options at QB. Bringing in Green or Berlin might have a temporary effect, lifting QB play for a drive or two before going south in a hurry with no umph in the running game and playing behind a paper thin offensive line. Like I said, at this point putting a QB back there might be considered manslaughter. Bulger still is the best QB on the roster. Despite not reflecting that fact on possession after possession this week, he did throw for 300+ yards a week ago against the Pats and the week before that he completed 72% of his passes for a 118.5 passer rating against Dallas.

Here's ESPN's Mike Sando on the situation:

He'll struggle when the running game isn't there, but bailing on him would do more harm than good. Bulger can still be an accurate passer. He needs better protection and a better supporting cast overall. Bulger might need a full season with solid protection to recapture what he once had.

And here's his take on C Nick Leckey:

Brett Romberg gives the Rams another option, but changes at center can throw off timing and coordination. Is Romberg that much better than Leckey? Training camp failed to provide much evidence. Long-term help needed here.

While Bulger deserves some share of the blame for the offense's failures this weekend (can't blame that Rolle INT on anyone else), plenty of mitigating factors conspired against the QB. Switching from Romberg to Leckey, though, may not be that big of a deal. Bulger's worked with Romberg before, and I can't imagine timing, etc. to be a hurdle that can't be fairly easily overcome. Whether or not Romberg's better than Leckey is a good point though. Romberg played well down the stretch in 2006.

Too bad LeCharles Bentley wasn't healthy.