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QB Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks

HT: 6-4, WT: 220, Born: 9-25-1975, College: Boston College, Drafted: Round 6

2009 Projections

Average draft position

Current as of June 29th. [Full ADP list]

Overall: F Jackson (110), A Bradshaw (111), Matt Hasselbeck (112), L Washington (114)
Position: M Cassel (91-QB14), E Manning (106-QB15), Matt Hasselbeck (112 - QB16), D Garrard (115-QB17), K Orton (119-QB18)
Click here for a comparison of these players.

Best Case

The Seahawks had a chance to select Mark Sanchez in this year's draft but passed on the opportunity, leaving Matt Hasselbeck with a hold on the starting QB position in Seattle. He has been a Top 10 fantasy QB when he has stayed healthy. Over the last seven years, Hasselbeck has been nagged by injuries during the even years but has been able to stay healthy during the odd years. If you're superstitious -- this is an odd year. T.J. Houshmandzadeh gives him a true WR1 for the first time since Darrell Jackson left, and the combination of Houshmandzadeh and TE John Carlson will provide a pair of solid red zone targets. A Top 10 season is well within reason if Hasselbeck can stay healthy.

Worst Case

Hasselbeck is six months older than Peyton Manning -- no spring chicken, but the Seahawks are convinced he has at least a few good years left in him. Nonetheless, unlike Manning, Hasselbeck has struggled with injuries in about half of his seasons as a Seahawk. Concern about his durability will likely drop him down to the QB15-QB20 range in most fantasy drafts this season, and if last year's back injury (which plagued him from Week 5 on) continues to give him trouble, he could easily fail to live up to even that discounted draft position.

Outlook

Hasselbeck has a high upside and a low downside. If he stays healthy, he should be good for at least 3,300 yards and 22 touchdowns, and perhaps substantially better than that. But his frequent assortment of injuries over the past eight season make him difficult to count on as a starter.

Relevant Articles

Why he is undervalued

Marc Levin - It is easy to turn your back on a 35 year old QB coming off injuries. However, this 35 year old has four top-15 finishes in the last 6 years. Three of those were top-6 finishes. The Seahawks return good receivers who were injured last year, they add a true WR1 in T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and John Carlson emerged as a fine threat from the TE spot. Plus, he plays in a division with weak pass defenses. While injuries remain a valid concern and prevent drafting Hasselbeck as a true QB1, expecting QB1 numbers from this QB16 is not unrealistic.

Bob Magaw - Sometimes, the fantasy football collective memory doesn't extend back much further than the previous season. In his last three complete 16 game seasons, Hasselbeck ranked 6th in 2007 and 4th in 2005 and 2003). T.J. Houshmandzadeh was added to a WR corps decimated by injury last season, and Nate Burleson and Deion Branch are healthy again. Second year TE John Carlson is an emerging player at his position. While not exactly young (turns 34 in September), he is hardly a geezer in QB years. Playing six games in the typically defensively challenged NFC West is a bonus. Legit questions linger about the state of the OL (especially regarding the health of serial Pro Bowl LT and probable future HoFer, Walter Jones). This risk is mitigated by the fact that Hasselbeck can be drafted a backup, but has the ability and the weapons to produce at the level of a starter - the definition of value.

Jeff Pasquino - Hasselbeck will be off the radar of most fantasy drafters this year, and some might think that is deservedly so. Hasselbeck struggled with his health but he appears to be over all of that and now has several receiving options with Nate Burleson and Deion Branch both healthy and the addition of T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Hasselbeck also has TE John Carlson, a strong red zone player, giving the Seahawks another choice for TD passes. The Seahawks lack a good rushing attack and will depend on the passing game all year which is great news for Hasselbeck's fantasy numbers.

Aaron Rudnicki -

David Yudkin - Hasselbeck has been a Top 10 quarterback three times and should return healthier in 2009. Injuries completely destroyed the Seahawks receiving corps last year, but Seattle should have some decent targets in T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, and John Carlson. If everyone can stay healthy, Hasselbeck should rank in the top half of the league in passing and has shown he can get the ball into the end zone.

Why he is overvalued

Andy Hicks - Matt Hasselbeck missed nine games last season with a back injury, bringing his total to 20 in his eight seasons with the Seahawks. Odds are he'll miss more games this season. With a new coach in place and an underwhelming running game, it's hard to place too much confidence in Hasselbeck being anywhere near a fantasy starter this year. At this stage of his career it's time for fantasy owners to give Hasselbeck a miss until he can demonstrate that he is still a capable fantasy option.

Latest News

Seahawks | Houshmandzadeh guarantees playoffs (Mon Jun 29, 12:24 PM) - Greg Johns, of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reports Seattle Seahawks WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh said during an interview with the Sporting News that the team will make the playoffs this season. Houshmandzadeh also predicted Pro Bowl nominations for himself and QB Matt Hasselbeck. 'I just want to let everyone know that Matt Hasselbeck and I will be leading the Seahawks to the playoffs this season,' Houshmandzadeh said. 'And we'll be going to the Pro Bowl as a tandem. We're both going to have top five seasons: He'll have a top five quarterback season, and I'll have a top five receiving season. I'll put up stats I've never had before yards-wise because they're allowing me to be a complete receiver.'

Our View: Easy there Houshyourmamma. It's great to have this type of confidence as we enter the season, and it's much better than hearing "we're not going anywhere" but too often these "guarantees" collapse in glorious fashion. That being said, there is a good chance that Seattle could make it back to the postseason because of the division they play in. The 49ers and Rams may have okay seasons, but are far from ready for a playoff push. The Cardinals won the conference title last year but had to get hot at the end of the year to do so. If Matt Hasselbeck can stay upright the Seahawks have a good chance of being at least 8-8 in 2009. That kind of record could win them the division and have them playoff bound.
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Seahawks | Houshmandzadeh makes lofty predictions (Fri Jun 26, 02:07 PM) - Mike Florio, of profootballtalk.com, reports that TJ Houshmandzadeh made some lofty predictions in the latest issue of Sporting News, including a playoff appearance by the Seahawks, top five statistical seasons from him and QB Matt Hasselbeck, and a Pro Bowl appearance by both players.

Our View: This is the same guy that called out Joey Porter and shined his shoes with a Terrible Towel back in 2006. We all see how that turned out. It's good for a player to have confidence in his abilities, but this kind of talk just get opponents fired up to face Houshmandzadeh so they can shut him up.
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2009 Schedule

2008 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Hasselbeck looked rusty to start, but came out throwing right from the start. Unfortunately, he had very little to work with as two of the Seahawks top receiving options are injured. He made the best of it, and did not throw a pick until the final play of the game, when it no longer mattered if he took the risk of throwing into heavy coverage. Most often, two things happened on passing plays: Either he overthrew the pass (because the target was covered) or the open receiver dropped the ball. The Buffalo pass rush was tough as well, and he didn't often have much time to throw. His completion percentage was awful, but when he does get his WR options back, he should be productive. There was talk of a nagging back injury leading up to the game, but he did not seem to be affected by it.

Week 2 - Considering the injuries to his depleted receiving corps (two more lost in this game), Hasselbeck's performance was pretty good, despite the poor numbers. He had eyes for rookie TE John Carlson, who seemed open all day over the middle. Hasselbeck also connected with the recently signed WR Billy McMullen for a nice 31 yard grab, though McMullen promptly coughed up the ball. Both of Hasselbeck's INTs came on tipped balls, which were obviously not his fault. He also had a 12 yard scramble late in the fourth quarter.

Week 3 - Hasselbeck loves playing St. Louis. While his final stats only showed 12 completions for 172 yards and one touchdown, his QB rating was 104.6. After they built a big lead in the first half he only attempted seven passes in the second half. He hopes to get Engram and Branch back into the lineup week five after Seattle's scheduled bye week.

He entered this game with a 48.6 QB rating, but in his last four games against the Rams he threw eight touchdowns.

Week 5 - Though his top two receiving options both returned for this game, it wasn't nearly enough to offset the fierce Giants pass rush. Hasselbeck didn't have a lot of time to look downfield, instead preferring short passes over the middle to Bobby Engram for much of the game. He finished the day completing just over 50 percent of his 21 attempts, for 105 yards, while throwing an ugly interception into double coverage. On Seattle's first drive he was tackled and stayed down for a few minutes with what appeared to be a knee injury, but he returned to the game their next possession.

Week 10 - Hasselbeck remained out due to a back injury.

Week 11 - Hasselbeck looked rusty returning from a six week layoff and missed a lot of his receivers. He was pressured often and sacked twice on the day. His touchdown pass came on a first and ten at the 13 yard line when he hit Maurice Morris out of the backfield. Seattle's points were scored on offensive drives of 14, 19 and 11 yards.

Week 12 - Despite his two touch downs on the game; it's hard to be complimentary of his play. Hasselbeck appears to still be shaking the rust off after a long absence from injury. He and his receivers lacked timing and rapport throughout this contest. Often Hasselbeck over threw open receivers or threw to spots where there was no receiver. This is an obvious sign of the offense not being in sync at all. The worst miss was with Bobby Engram who had a full step on his man and was open, but was well over thrown. To save a terrible stat line, Hasselbeck had hook ups with Maurice Morris and John Carlson.

Week 13 - Hasselbeck was in fine form early in the game as he spread the ball around the field and seemed to have little trouble connecting with all of his receiving targets on his way to 170 yards in the first half. Unfortunately, the combination of Seahawk fumbles, penalties, an ineffective rushing attack and some ill timed sacks prevented him from turning that early success into scores. By the second half, however, the Dallas defense had figured out how to shut down Hasselbeck's passing lanes and get consistent pressure. As a result, Hasselbeck spent much of the third and fourth quarters just scrambling around trying to survive. Given this set of circumstances, it was perhaps inevitable that Hasselbeck would get caught trying to do too much, and it happened midway through the final quarter. While scrambling for his life in the pocket, he reared back and tried to get the ball deep downfield for WR Deion Branch. Instead, the pass ended up as Hasselbeck's sole interception on the day.

Week 15 - Hasselbeck was out due to a back injury.