Upside - by John Norton

Boulware moved into the starting lineup for the final 5 games of the '04 season and all he did was average better than 6 solo stops, intercept a pass and force a fumble. In fact, despite playing part time in 11 games he finished the season with 40 solo tackles, 5 picks, 2 forced fumbles, a sack and a TD.

Last year was not as kind to Boulware but look beyond the numbers. For starters he played much of November and December with nagging back and hamstring injuries, however that isn't the most important factor. The Seahawks '05 schedule had them facing some of the leagues weakest rushing attacks. Two games versus the 32nd ranked running game of the Cardinals, two against the Rams at 22, the Packers 29, Eagles 28, Titans 23 etc. In all Seattle faced 9 opponents who finished in the bottom half of the league in rushing. In the other seven games Boulware averaged just over 5 solo tackles a game.

Now fast foreword to the '06 schedule which features two meetings with the Cards, who added Edge, and two with the Rams who plan to feature Steven Jackson and a running game in their new offense. Those may be the easy games. They will also see Larry Johnson, LaDanian Tomlinson, Lamont Jordan, Tiki Barber, Cadillac Williams, Cedric Benson/Thomas Jones and the always ominous Broncos with who ever they decide to feed the rock.

Simply put, 2006 will be a much busier for Boulware.

Downside - by Aaron Rudnicki

A former college linebacker who was converted to safety, Boulware is an impressive athlete and a reliable tackler, but he’s also a liability in coverage and is often slow to diagnose a play. After a promising rookie season that saw him collect 5 interceptions while playing as a backup for most of the season, many expected a breakout season from him in 2006 that he didn’t quite deliver. Although he came through with some big plays once again, his tackle numbers were underwhelming for a starting strong safety. Boulware finished with 3 or fewer solo tackles in 7 games last year, making his fantasy value very dependent on big plays that are notoriously hard to predict from season to season. The emergence of second year linebackers Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill, along with the signing of Julian Peterson will make it difficult for him to substantially improve on his tackle numbers as fewer plays should break through into the secondary. The free safety spot is also a question mark right now given the head injury suffered by Ken Hamlin last year, and without a great cover guy behind him Boulware may not see as much time up in the box as an extra run defender or blitzer. Boulware is a young and exciting playmaker on a defense that should be playing with a lead pretty regularly, so it’s easy to get excited about his future prospects. But apart from his 9 interceptions in two years he hasn’t really proven himself yet and I think people who rank him in the top-20 are counting on a substantial increase in his numbers that is unlikely to happen this year.