Seneca

Wallace

“I think he will play well,” coach Mike Holmgren said of Matt Hasselbeck’s backup. “I believe he will play well. It is a little bit of a hypothetical.’'

Half of his incompletions were dropped passes. Wallace needed a strong preseason to earn Seattle’s backup QB job and he’s off to a great start.

Reports that Wallace had beat out Tyler Thigpen to serve as the No. 3 quarterback behind Matt Flynn and Terrelle Pryor proved to be premature. Beat writer Vic Tafur says the Raiders could sign 32-year-old Wallace “down the road,” but not right now. He’ll head back to the free-agent market.

Wallace was one of four free agent QBs to work out for the Seahawks on Monday, but didn’t get a call back. The 2003 fourth-rounder spent 2012 out of the NFL, and would be little more than a veteran mentor to Matt Flynn and Terrelle Pryor in Oakland. The Raiders would be better off using the roster spot on a young player.

Wallace beat out Tyler Thigpen to join Matt Flynn and Terrelle Pryor in the Raiders’ QB corps. He’s being signed for his experience and leadership more than his skills, which have eroded to the point that he was out of the league last season. Wallace will spend camp mentoring Flynn and Pryor, but shouldn’t attempt a pass after the preseason. It’s possible Wallace won’t make the Week 1 roster, but the Raiders have been enamored with the idea of signing a veteran QB, so he most likely will.

Wallace is taking a different tact this year after saying last summer that he’d rather compete with than mentor Colt McCoy. “I know my job going into my 10th season of being in this offense is to prepare Brandon Weeden to get him right and make sure he’s ready to go for day one,” Wallace said. “This is a different beast. This is a first-rounder.”

At 28 years old, it’s expected that Weeden can step right into a starting job at the NFL level, especially in Cleveland, where his only competition would be Colt McCoy. According to Pluto, Wallace “obviously doesn’t want to be a backup to McCoy” and is not in the mix to start. The Browns are sure to add a quarterback at some point in the draft, putting Wallace squarely on the roster bubble.

Assuming Brandon Weeden is the starter and Colt McCoy isn’t traded, McCoy and Seneca Wallace will duke it out for the No. 2 job. “I think we have to let that one play out,” Holmgren said. The Browns will surely make another run at trading McCoy, and would likely prefer to stick career backup Wallace behind Weeden despite Holmgren’s recent proclamation that McCoy is a “special young man.”

Due to recurring concussion symptoms, McCoy has already been ruled out for Week 16. The Browns will be hesitant to go with McCoy in a rematch with the oft-fined James Harrison. Seneca Wallace is approaching the final two games as if he’s the starter. Author of a disappointing 5.9 YPA and 57.2 completion rate at the helm of the NFL’s 29th-ranked offense, McCoy will face competition for the starting job in 2012 -- perhaps from an early-round rookie.

Cleveland was actually threatening late after Wallace hit Evan Moore for a six-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the final result was 20-14. The Browns’ offense got nothing going in the way of big plays and struggled to move the chains. They close the season versus a Steelers team with the AFC North title on the line, so the Browns are likely staring at a 4-12 finish.