The Seahawks Brought Back Bobby Wagner!

Look, I’m going to like any move the Seahawks make to improve the defense, because it’s been abysmal watching how this side of the ball has deteriorated over the years. Also, it’s one year, $7 million (guaranteed money amount yet to be released), which isn’t an unreasonable amount.

It didn’t feel great having Bobby on the Rams. That being said, it was entirely reasonable for the Seahawks to cut him (maybe not with the lack of communication) and sort of re-set his salary value to the league. He’s in his 30’s now, even if he’s playing at a relatively high level, this is the world we’re living in.

That being said, it was weird seeing him outside of a Seahawks uniform, and it was distressing seeing him twice in the uniform of a divisional opponent.

Bobby Wagner was easily one of the best parts of the Rams last year, given all the injuries they endured. He was second-team All Pro, which isn’t necessarily a legacy award like the Pro Bowl; it still means something. 6 sacks, 2 picks, his usual massive amount of tackles, and he played in every fucking game. Just a fucking Hall of Fame stud!

Has he lost a step? Sure, who hasn’t at 32 going on 33? He’s not an elite coverage defender anymore. That’s okay. The Seahawks just need to understand that, and focus him towards what he does best: roaming the middle of the field, and being a beast when it comes to stopping the run and plays around the line of scrimmage.

This free agency spree has been about one thing more than any other: fixing our run defense. Total revamp of the interior of the defensive line. Brought back Bobby (to help fill the void of the Jordyn Brooks injury). Signed Julian Love to bring a little more LOS help from the safety spot (either with Love or Jamal Adams, should he still be here). And, brought in Devin Bush, who very well could be that coverage linebacker if he can reclaim his lost speed, two years post-injury.

There are some interesting thoughts that come to mind with all of this activity. All of this activity, mind you, that’s VERY un-Seahawks. We aren’t normally EVER this active in free agency. Not at the top of the market. Not with guys you’ve actually heard of. Usually it’s people off the scrap heap, coming back from injuries or bouts of ineffectiveness, but who were once high draft picks and therefore have a pedigree that we hope to bring back to relevance.

My biggest worry is that this is the impetus for the Seahawks trading down from five. I know, there was always a chance they’d do that anyway. But, now I fear we’re going to trade WAY down, in an attempt to not only acquire a ton of middling draft picks, but also to save money under the salary cap. As I’ve stated from Day One (that day being: when I realized we’d get the number five pick from Denver) that I want a stud in this draft. You don’t get a stud by trading back. You don’t get a stud by LEAVING the top five. They’re not falling down the draft board. I’m sick of picking in the 20’s. This was our ONE chance to pick in the top five, and I fear we’re going to blow it.

The counter to that is: the Seahawks are making all of these free agency moves in order to mitigate our dependence upon the draft. Now that we’ve – more or less – filled out our roster, we can truly go Best Player Available in the draft and not have to think twice. But, that doesn’t mean I want us throwing this draft away.

But, the fact of the matter is, even before the Bobby Wagner signing, the Seahawks were out of money. When you factor in the cost of draft picks, practice squad, and the IR replacements we’ll eventually need, we’re actually in the hole. And there’s significant savings to be had if we trade down from number five.

There’s also, as it turns out, significant savings if we cut Jamal Adams after June 1st. Adams counts a tad over $18 million towards the salary cap this year. I think his dead cap figure is more than that – something closer to $24 million – but if you do it after June 1st, you can split the damage over 2023 and 2024, which would – in effect – save us around $6 million on the low end, or maybe up to $8.5 million on the high end. I have no idea how it works with his contract; I’m reading very different things between Spotrac and Over The Cap.

I understand the rationale, though. Adams has been fucking worthless the last two seasons. His first year here was terrific – with the 9.5 sacks and all that – but even then he was limited to 12 games. Indeed, he’s NEVER played in more than 12 games per season in a Seahawks uniform, and we suffered the indignity of him going out in Game 1 last year. A year, mind you, where it sounds like we REALLY catered the defense to his unique abilities. So, yeah, I get it. I’m as down on him as anyone. I do not believe – for one second – that he’s going to be available for anything CLOSE to a full season. I’d have to be a gullible fucking idiot to believe that!

That being said, I would still hate this move. Not so much that I actually believe he’ll be available – though, I do think precautions can be made where maybe we can limit his snaps and hopefully limit the damage to injuries he can either play through, or make it back from in time for the playoffs – but I just hate giving up on a talent like that. He DOES have a unique skillset that you just don’t get with any ordinary player. And, I also hate having to eat this much dead money. We’re paying a fuckton to him to NOT play for us this year, AND we’re suffering another fuckton in dead cap in 2024, when he’s already long gone.

Bottom line is, we’re going to have the most talent on this defense that we’ve had in ages. I want to see what it looks like WITH a healthy Jamal Adams, even if he’s only healthy for a game or three!

That being said, the writing is on the wall. I believe more and more, with every passing day – with every passing move the Seahawks make – that Jamal Adams is as good as gone. The only other way we can generate a little cap relief is if we extend Uchenna Nwosu and/or Noah Fant. Maybe we can restructure Lockett or Diggs, as a Twitter replier pointed out. If I had my druthers, THIS would be the way the Seahawks free up some cash. I want Nwosu around for the long haul, and extending him now might be more cost-effective than trying to extend him after a second very productive season in a Seahawks uniform.

Regardless, if it only comes down to cutting Adams or trading down from five – as a means to save money – I guess I’d rather trade Adams. But, that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.

What’s really interesting about all of these moves is how – for the first time – this doesn’t feel like your run-of-the-mill instance of the Seahawks “Going All In”. I think there have been a number of times where we’ve tried to shoot the moon. It may have looked like half measures as we were doing it, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t legitimate.

But, this? This feels – again, for the first time – like it’s Pete Carroll’s age showing. He’ll be 72 years old in September. And, yeah, I get it, he’s the youngest-looking 72 year old we’ve ever seen. He’s more active than a man half his age and blah blah blah. But, 72 is 72. The oldest head coach in NFL history was Romeo Crennel at 73. Do I believe this is Pete’s last hurrah? Of course not. I think he’ll reach that mark as the oldest head coach in NFL history (until whenever Bill Belichick surpasses him, as he’s a year younger). But, I also don’t know if I believe that Pete has more than three seasons left. He’s apparently under contract through 2025. That might be it, regardless of what happens with the eventual sale of the Seahawks.

We’re gearing up for a run here, and then The Great Unknown. So, if ever there was a time to start kicking the can down the road as far as the salary cap is concerned, this might be it. I’d like to do that with as many bullets in the chamber as humanly possible, so I hope the Seahawks don’t make any rash decisions in the coming months.

Either way, this should be a VERY interesting team. And it’s super fun having Bobby back for at least one more go-around!

L.J. Collier Was The Worst Seahawks First Round Pick In The John Schneider Era

L.J. Coller was taken with the 29th overall pick in 2019 by the Seattle Seahawks. He just recently signed with the Arizona Cardinals for a 1-year deal, probably worth the minimum. Thus ends the Seahawks tenure of the very worst first round draft pick John Schneider ever made.

To be fair, it’s not like there’s been a TON of first round draft picks. There’s been FIVE years in that span (2010-2022) where we didn’t make a selection until the second round! It almost happened a sixth time in 2019, I’m sure, but I gather we couldn’t find a trade partner willing to give us what we wanted to trade into the first round (not a good quarterback class AT ALL, really hampered us).

But, that being said, there have also been a number of first round duds taken by the Seahawks in that time. James Carpenter was disappointing (and entirely miscast as a right tackle), Germain Ifedi was a frequent whipping boy (and ALSO entirely miscast as a right tackle), Rashaad Penny was a reach and oft-injured, and no one’s ever happy when their team takes an off-ball linebacker that high (Jordyn Brooks has been good, but not quite elite, and now quite injured).

L.J. Collier, however, out-sucks them all and it’s not even close.

The circumstances weren’t great at the time for the Seahawks. In 2019, we were still clinging to the delusion that we were a championship contender. We were trying to recover from YEARS of mismanagement along the defensive line – starting right around the point where we took Malik McDowell in the second round in 2017 – and this was really the nadir. Frank Clark was coming up for a new contract. We franchise tagged him, then traded him to the Chiefs for a bounty of picks. It was our only viable move, really, since we didn’t even have the money to cover the tag, let alone enough money or draft capital to replenish all the spots that needed filling.

It was just unfortunate, in retrospect, that we couldn’t find a trade partner with a pick higher than the 29th. But, there was nothing doing, and by the time the draft got to the 29th spot, there wasn’t a quality defensive end left.

The consensus was down on Collier from the start. He was a reach. He had no marketable skills on the football field. If you squinted (and REALLY lied to yourself), you saw a guy who could play inside and outside – a la Michael Bennett – but in reality this guy wasn’t anything CLOSE to Michael Bennett.

45 games in 4 years for the Seahawks. 16 starts, all in 2020. His career got off to a bad start with an injury in training camp as a rookie; that set him back considerably. Or, maybe it didn’t. Maybe he was just fucking terrible, and a track record of perfect health wouldn’t have made any difference. I know this, injuries didn’t keep him off the field 2020-2022. You know what did? His incompetence at the game of football. He was frequently a healthy scratch on gamedays. On a line – mind you – that wasn’t very good as it was! We’ve never STOPPED trying to recover from the years of mismanagement along the defensive line! And he couldn’t even crack THAT rotation in many weeks!

3.0 career sacks, all in 2020. 40 career tackles – less than one per game. So, no pass rush ability, and not really anything special when it came to stopping the run. He didn’t do a fucking thing in his time here.

It’s adorable that Collier’s agent is throwing shade at the Seahawks and their scheme. I mean, I know the Seahawks have been far from perfect (especially defensively), but Pete Carroll has a track record. Other players HAVE stepped up and produced in this system. If Collier goes to the Cardinals and becomes a force to be reckoned with, I’ll eat my fucking hat.

Good. Fucking. Riddance.

Now, let’s go out and find a proper defensive end in this year’s draft to take his place.

Minor Seahawks-Related News While I Was Losing My Shirt In Reno, Part 1

Every year, for the first weekend of March Madness, my friends and I congregate in Reno to gamble on basketball and drink all the alcohol our special bracelets will allow. It’s a great time to be alive.

But, it’s a pain in the ass when it comes to sports blogging, because it also generally coincides with the start of NFL free agency. A lot of shit goes down during these four days, and I don’t have the time or the willingness to drop everything and shoot off a blog post as they happen.

Instead, other than the really big stories, I compile them all here in a post-trip post. Here’s all the bullshit that didn’t deserve its own headline.

Gabe Jackson Released

This actually happened way before I left for Reno, but it was so unimportant that … I can’t even properly finish this sentence; farts? We save $6.5 million, which is considerable what with the nearly $5 million in dead money we’re eating. He was going to cost us a pretty penny if he remained on the roster, and that’s too much to spend for someone who was a rotational guy at guard with Phil Haynes (who was previously re-signed on a one-year deal). I’m not so sure Haynes’ $4 million contract means he’s a lock to start for us; we could (and probably should) draft a guard of the future. But, he’s probably going to start for us – at least at first – and it’s better that way. Haynes has proven capable; Gabe Jackson has proven to be over the hill and expensive.

Shelby Harris Released

We saved another $9 million by making this move (though, we still had to eat a little over $3 million on dead money). Figure a lot of that will be going to Dre’Mont Jones, in our big splash on the first day of free agency. Harris was a quality interior player that we got back in the Russell Wilson deal, but he’s getting up there in age and you can’t afford to pay that kind of money to a guy who’s just okay. There’s no denying that the Seahawks were absolutely atrocious on the front seven in 2022, and especially in the interior defensive line. Harris was fine, but he clearly wasn’t making up for how deficient this team was, and it was imperative to make a big move at this position, considering our dire need.

Cody Barton Signed With The Washington Commanders

One of the other biggest needs is interior linebacker, where we really need a couple guys to fill the void until Jordyn Brooks is able to return from injury. One of my biggest worries, as a result, was the Seahawks shrugging their shoulders and re-signing Barton because he’s “familiar with the system” and “is better than everyone insists based on our 2022 results”. I don’t know who I’m quoting there, but in my head that’s word for word what some know-it-all has to say about Cody Barton. Has there ever been a good football player named Cody? I don’t think so! Prove me wrong. Anyway, Washington saved me from a lot of unnecessary worry by signing him on Day One, so he’s their problem now. Enjoy ankle tackles and a complete dearth of impact plays!

Quinton Jefferson Released

This came after the Dre’Mont Jones signing, which saves us around $5 million. He’s always been a quality rotation body – who can slide inside and outside – but nothing really special. That being said, he was one of the few players who flashed any semblance of competence along the line in 2022, so it was nice having him back while it lasted. I don’t know if this is a move we made to help pay for Jones’ new deal, or if it will lead to another move, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Rashaad Penny Signed With The Philadelphia Eagles

You know, the more you think about it, the more you realize Rashaad Penny is the most Eaglesy running back on the market. Mix him in that backfield with three other guys and watch them all tantalize – fantasywise – but ultimately let you down when you actually have to start one of them on your team. Penny leaving the Seahawks seemed like a foregone conclusion after returning on a 1-year deal, only to get hurt early in the season. It was time for a fresh start, and it’s time for the Seahawks to look elsewhere to back up Kenneth Walker.

Travis Homer Signed With The Chicago Bears

It’s a 2-year, $4.5 million deal, which granted isn’t a lot of money, but also Travis Homer isn’t worth spending money on. He’s just a guy, and that’s all he’s been. He also hasn’t been remotely durable since his rookie season. I’m happy to move on and hope the Seahawks look to draft a running back to fill out the ranks.

It Would Be Weird If Bobby Wagner Returned To The Seahawks

I don’t totally get what just happened between the Rams and Bobby Wagner. It was my understanding that they were on the hook for much more money than what he ended up getting. I don’t know how you go from a 5 year $50 million deal with $20 million in guarantees, but only end up paying a little over $7 million for one season.

Anyway, he’s once again a free agent. And, just as he was following his final year here in Seattle, he’s a free agent coming off of a season where he was 2nd team All Pro. I don’t know if that speaks to his level of play, or the lack of impact middle linebackers outside of the NFC West, but either way, it feels like the Rams had a bargain on their hands, and squandered one of his last great years in the NFL.

But, maybe I have to stop thinking about Bobby Wagner in those terms. Ray Lewis played until he was 37 years old. And he was still playing at an All Pro level at age 35. I’m always reluctant to compare guys to the all time greats – and regardless of what kind of person he was off the field, Ray Lewis was the best middle linebacker of the last 30 years – but Bobby Wagner might actually be in that conversation. He’ll be 33 this year. If he continues to take care of himself, and finds himself in the right situation, there’s no reason why he couldn’t play at a high level for another 3-4 years.

Which brings us to the topic of conversation for today. The Seahawks have a history with Bobby Wagner. The Seahawks also have a need to improve the linebacker spot. It’s under debate how important this need is, largely hinging on how serious the injury to Jordyn Brooks was to close out our 2022 season. Will he be back in time for the start of the 2023 season? How effective will he be when he does return? Is this one of those things where he’s not back to normal until 2024, but struggles through this year and wastes everyone’s time with his limited abilities?

The debate part comes in because the NFL defense is an ecosystem. For everything to work as it’s supposed to, all the pieces need to be doing their jobs in harmony with one another. I think a lot of people would argue that the interior of the defensive line was a major culprit in our inability to stop anyone with any sort of regularity. With improved defensive tackle play, they would free up the linebackers to be more impactful. But, since our first line of defense was continuously bulldozed, opposing offenses were able to swallow up our linebackers.

That being said, I don’t think anyone would be happy with another season of Cody Barton, Starting Linebacker for the Seahawks. But, his isn’t really the same position as what Bobby Wagner plays. Indeed, as we transition to a 3-4 defense, it’s fair to wonder why Bobby would be interested in returning at all. It seems drastically different to what he’s used to.

But, let’s disgard that for a moment. Let’s say he’s a savvy veteran who fits into any system. It would still be weird if he returned to the Seahawks.

You can’t deny Wagner had some hurt feelings when the Seahawks released him, so right off the bat it seems like his return would be a non-starter. Then again, maybe you consider his 2022 season the big Fuck You to his former team, proving he’s still got what it takes to be elite in this league.

The market dictated his value last year, and it will continue to show that if he wants to continue playing, it’s going to be at a reduced rate compared to what he would’ve gotten had the Seahawks not cut him in the first place. If he could be had for the right price, I don’t think anyone would say no. But, by all accounts, Wagner wants an opportunity to win a Super Bowl. Maybe beggars can’t be choosers in this regard. I don’t know how the Super Bowl contenders are fixed at middle linebacker at the moment, but if I were Wagner, I don’t know if I would wait around too long after free agency opens in mid-March. If he wants to maximize his dollars, he’ll probably want to jump at what the first tier offers are. The longer he waits, the more teams are going to look elsewhere for their solutions at his position. If he has to wait closer to training camp – or even into the regular season – you can bet he’ll be settling for whatever minimum deal some needy team has available within their cap.

As for the Seahawks, I would wonder if that’s how they’d want to spend their free agent dollars. How many times have we been burned by L.O.B. era players ending their careers here due to premature injury? Also, is that the position we want to use our money on, when we’re probably in need of drafting for our linebacking future?

I know, I know, teams can always find a way to make these things work under the cap. But, we’re looking at putting down a significant chunk of change on Geno Smith. We need to maximize the value of lesser positions like linebacker. Sure, we could always sign Bobby, still draft his replacement, and have that guy learn at his feet. But, we did that already with Brooks. I’d much rather draft someone and play him immediately. Take advantage of a quality linebacker on his rookie deal. Get four full years of value out of him.

Every outside free agent signing that doesn’t address our most pressing need – the defensive line – is going to be a signing that annoys the shit out of me. Even if Bobby goes on to play at a high level for the next 3-4 years, I’d rather look back on his career here with fondness, rather than see how it comes crumbling to a depressing end. Let’s leave the past in the past, and move forward with a group that will hopefully make a whole new set of fond memories.

Seahawks Death Week 2022: What Moves Should Be Made

I got into what I want the Seahawks to do at quarterback yesterday, so we’ll get into the rest of the roster here.

If you look at the Seahawks’ salary cap for 2023, you’re going to find some REAL annoying shit at the top. Two safeties – Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs – sitting #1 and #2 with our biggest cap hits, both over $18 million. It’s fucking asinine! You might be able to talk me into one safety at that kind of figure, if he’s far-and-away the best in the game. But, one guy can’t stay on the field, and the other clearly lost a step in 2022 (and even at his best he wasn’t the best).

The next two players on the list – Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf – are more appropriately ranked. They’re your best wide receivers (a premium position) and they play among the best receivers in the game. Even though they’re taking up a significant portion of the salary cap, they’re still good value.

Then, you’ve got Uchenna Nwosu at around $13 million; that’s a good number for what he gave us in 2022. Figure he’ll pretty easily replicate those numbers if he stays healthy.

So, out of the top five highest paid players currently under contract for 2023, I’m happy with three of them. Not a great percentage.

They say the NFL’s middle class is dead, but I think the Seahawks are trying to remedy that in a big way. We have six guys making between $5 million and just over $12 million. This is a significant chunk of change for players who you could probably replace for minimum salaries and get production that’s just as good. Shelby Harris tops that list at just over $12 million. He was a bright spot on a very bad defensive line. But, I don’t know if he’s giving you $12 million worth of production.

Gabe Jackson is set to count just over $11 million, but he could be cut for $6.5 million in savings. That might be the way to go, considering how he is on the downside of his career. Then, you’ve got Dissly and Fant, who count for a combined $16 million against the cap. Yikes. But, we’re already committed to them, so there’s not much we can do there. Then, there’s Quinton Jefferson and Al Woods making a combined $12 million … I dunno.

It all boils down to there being around $34 million in cap space next year (and I don’t know if that counts the new contract for our kicker). Which would be entirely used up if Geno Smith returns on the franchise tag. How did we get here? We got rid of Russell Wilson, we shed a lot of dead weight, we played a lot of rookies and cheap guys … and yet we have practically nothing to work with because we’re going to have to pay Geno’s ass the bulk of it.

There are SO MANY problems with this team! I can’t even begin to comprehend how much of the defensive line needs to be replaced. The off-ball linebackers are trash, and we likely can’t even count on Jordyn Brooks to be healthy with his significant knee injury/surgery (not that I’m crazy-enamored with Brooks anyway, considering the lack of impact plays he makes in the backfield). That’s really two entire position groups that need significant revamping, but of course no money to work with (while we’re sickeningly over-paying for our two starting safeties).

I’m already on record as saying the Seahawks should cheap-out on quarterback and use every available dollar to fix the defense and the interior of the offensive line. So, asked and answered, that’s what I want the Seahawks to do in 2023.

But, since we live in the real world – where Geno Smith will most definitely be back on a 3-4 year deal – I have to come to grips with what we have to offer.

Maybe there’s ONE mid-tier free agent defensive starter we can bring in. Then, there will be the requisite dumpster diving, with all our trust falling on the draft.

My hunch is: the Seahawks will ignore the quarterback position entirely in the draft. So, high-end pass rusher at the top, maybe a trade-back or two, then pick up the following:

  • Guard/Center – somewhere in the low first, upper second round, who can step in right away and start for the next four years. Ideally, this will be the first competent center we’ve had since Max Unger
  • Safety – because we’re going to need someone to step in to start in 2024, when we likely cut both Adams and Diggs
  • Wide Receiver – we need a quality #3 receiver who isn’t Dee Eskridge, so I wouldn’t mind this guy being a second or third rounder with upside as a possession receiver
  • Defensive Tackle – a real big, burly dude to clog up the middle in this 3-4 defense
  • Inside Linebacker – probably a couple of ’em – one on day 2, one in the early part of day 3 – with good speed and play-making ability
  • Another Guard/Center – to further bolster our depth
  • The Next Brock Purdy In The 7th Round – a guy can dream, right?

Honestly, as long as we don’t bring back Cody Barton, I don’t care what else the Seahawks do with their offseason.

Who Do The Seahawks Have On Defense That’s Worth A Damn?

There’s nothing worse in football than a shitty defense. Put me in the minority of football fans: I want a defense that far-and-away outclasses the offense. I’d rather root for a team like the 49ers than I would a team like the Chiefs. Great defenses don’t take weeks off. Great defenses can make great offenses look inept; rarely do you see it go the other way. Rarely do you see a great defense – that isn’t totally decimated by injuries, thereby rendering it not-so-great – get totally obliterated. That’s what I’m looking for in a championship-level football team. That’s what I’m counting on when it comes to the playoffs. Great defense, and a quarterback who can get the job done in a pinch.

It feels like it’s been forever since the Seahawks have had a great defense. You could argue we haven’t had one since 2014 or 2015, which in NFL terms IS forever. The Seahawks haven’t just been mediocre, though. They’ve been downright BAD. What’s worse, they’ve often been bad masquerading as mediocre, which has led to this endless fucking cycle of never really going all-in to improve.

Year after year where we start out as the absolute worst defense in football. Then, through smoke and mirrors (and usually a reduction in the quality of offensive opponents), as the season goes along, they improve JUST enough to fool us into believing they’re not as bad as we thought. An inept coaching staff gets to keep their jobs (for a while), inept players get to stick around (for a while), and it starts all over again.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been THIS bad though. The run defense has been bad in spurts over the last half-decade, but never this consistently atrocious. There’s always been SOMETHING to stem the tide, and maybe that something was Bobby Wagner. Maybe we took him for granted for too long, and now we’re reaping what we sow.

There’s been a chicken or egg thing with this defense this year. Is it a scheme/coaching problem? Or is it a lack of talent among the players problem?

I’m inclined to think the scheme is sound – because we’ve seen the Vic Fangio scheme work all over the league – but the key difference is that usually they have Vic Fangio running it. I’ve had a problem with Clint Hurtt since it was announced he was taking over as defensive coordinator. Here’s a guy who’s done nothing in his coaching career, who led a mediocre-at-best defensive line unit under the previous shitty regime, and you just have to wonder what this guy did to deserve a promotion, as someone who’s never coached at this level before.

That being said, I don’t think there’s any question there’s a lack of talent on this team. Tariq Woolen appears to be the only player worth a damn. Uchenna Nwosu looks good week-in and week-out, but that can be deceiving. Is he just a standout among clods? Or is he actually a talented pass rusher/outside linebacker? I think it’s worth questioning since the Chargers let him go in free agency, and the Seahawks were only willing to sign him to a 2-year deal.

After that? Fuck this defense. As has been belabored, Jordyn Brooks makes a lot of tackles, but rarely are they of any impact. What big plays has he generated to put teams behind the sticks? Quandre Diggs appears to have lost a step, and if he’s going to keep dropping interceptions, then what good is he? We’re all well aware of Jamal Adams’ broken-down body; can’t count on him going forward. Darrell Taylor has had a nightmare season, given where we expected him to be in his development. Even Poona Ford and Bryan Mone have appeared to take steps back in their production, and all those guys are paid to do is stop the run! That’s literally their only fucking job!

The third and fourth best players on this defense are Al Woods and Shelby Harris, two aging vets you could get on the scrap heap in any given offseason.

It really makes you wonder how far away we are from building that elite defense we’ve missed so much. Are we just a few impact players away? Or is a total teardown and rebuild required? I don’t think we’re going to see the latter – at least as long as Pete Carroll and John Schneider are here – so that means we have to hope we’re just a draft away from turning things around.

Heading into next year, we’ve got the aforementioned Woolen and Nwosu. We hope the likes of Coby Bryant and/or Tre Brown can make an impact. Beyond that, man, I dunno. It seems more and more like we’re going to need that first Broncos pick to be an impact defensive lineman. I’m wondering if we’re going to need to use the vast majority of our draft picks to go towards the defense!

It’s extremely discouraging. I don’t like calling this a “lost season” because that makes it sound like a failure, when really it’s not THAT bad. But, any season where you’re not seriously contending for a championship – or at least building towards that – is indeed a lost season. You like to at least hang your hat on some players you can point to and say, “These are the building blocks of a potential championship team.” There are guys up and down that offense where you can say that. But, on defense, the cupboard is fucking BARE.

Fans are impatient. I get that. The Seahawks are 7-7 with three weeks to go. We’d need to win out AND we’d need help if we want to make the playoffs as one of the last two wild card teams. To win out, that means we’d need to somehow defeat the Chiefs this weekend, then turn around and beat the Jets and Rams at home. As a team that couldn’t even beat the Panthers, Raiders, or Bucs, that feels implausible. As such, I just want to get this Seahawks season over with as soon as possible, with as many defeats as possible, to better our draft picks for next year. I want to fast forward to the 2023 draft, I want us to select the best possible players, and I want the next regular season to get going with our bounty of improved talent! It feels insane to say that while there are still relevant regular season games left to play in 2022, but that’s where I’m at.

I can’t watch this defense anymore. It’s infuriating. The offense has been a heartwarming story thus far, but it’s not good enough to overcome the other side of the ball being so helpless. It’s time to seriously overhaul the whole fucking unit, from top to bottom, by any means necessary. All these half measures aren’t going to cut it anymore.

The Seahawks Struggled To Take Down A Bad Rams Team

Pretty standard Seahawks game, all things considered. Lots of turnovers and flukey plays, controversial referee decisions, with a generous portion of Playing Down To The Level Of Your Opponent. In the end, talent overcame whatever the football gods have for us when it comes to the Seahawks playing the Rams, in a 27-23 victory.

It’s hard to come away too impressed, though there were some impressive elements. You have to start with Geno Smith, who finally got the monkey off his back when it comes to leading his team on a 2-minute drive to come from behind and win it. We had every opportunity to blow it at the end. We also had every opportunity – once we got into field goal range – to sit on the ball and play for overtime. But, Geno rared back and won this game with his arm, and it was refreshing to see.

I also gotta say I was impressed we were able to do it while getting absolutely nothing from our running game. Kenneth Walker left the game early with an ankle injury, as he was limited to 3.6 fantasy points 36 rushing yards. We’re obviously down Rashaad Penny from his injury weeks ago, not to mention Travis Homer, who failed to suit up for this one. That left us with DeeJay Dallas – who came into the second half “doubtful” to return, only to gut it out until the end – and someone named Tony Jones, who I’d never heard of before. All told, the running game got us 90 yards on 22 carries and zero scores.

On paper, the defense seemed to have a good game – 5/14 on 3rd/4th downs, 319 total yards (5.1 yards per play), 148 yards passing, 4 sacks, and two interceptions – but it’s infuriating that the Rams were able to score 23 points with no one but backups all across their offense. No Matthew Stafford, no Cooper Kupp, no Darrell Henderson; we should’ve held them to single digits.

That being said, it was cool to see Tariq Woolen get another pick, and have a beautiful tipped pass on what would’ve been a huge gain. Nwosu had a couple more sacks, and Jordyn Brooks had a great game. Even Cody Barton got another late pick to shut it down.

The wide receivers showed up and balled hard in this one. Tyler Lockett had 128 on 9 receptions, with a TD, and D.K. Metcalf had 127 on 8 receptions, with a TD. Noah Fant also had a nice game with 4 catches for 42 yards and a TD.

There was a point here – when this game was still a 50/50 deal – where it kinda felt like maybe losing would be the better result. Look, a 7-5 Seahawks team led by Geno Smith is a nice story and all. But, the 49ers just played the bulk of their last game against a very good Dolphins team without Jimmy G and they HANDLED them. We’re not winning the division. At best, we’re playing for a wild card spot, but now even our victory over the Giants is meaningless since they have a tie on their record. Even if we do sneak into the playoffs, it’s hard for me to see us getting to the Divisional Round, and impossible for us to make it beyond that point. In spite of how great a lot of younger guys are playing, there are still MANY holes left to fill before we can consider ourselves to be a championship-contending team.

Now, obviously, the good news is that the Broncos lost again. The more we win, the more we NEED that pick to land in the top 5, and ideally in the top 3. They’re having a true Season From Hell, with everything that CAN go wrong actually going wrong. I don’t know how many more weeks we’ll be able to depend on them choking these games away.

We get back-to-back home games on the horizon, with a weird 4-8 Panthers team that’s still somehow playing for the division, followed by a Thursday night showdown against the 49ers. That’s two very good defenses, with the Seahawks heading into these games sorely banged up.

I have to like our chances against the Panthers – because their offense looks so bad – but that’s a team that can easily nip us in a close one. I’m officially predicting a 19-16 Seahawks victory, but I’m not super confident about it.

How Good Can The Seahawks Be In 2022?

So much of the discourse about our favorite sports teams has a bent towards the future, for better and for worse. To the point where all too often, the reaction to that discourse is a Stop & Smell The Roses mentality that can feel overly sentimental or old fashioned. I’m as guilty of that as everyone, because duh, I am stopping and smelling the damn roses. I’m watching every week, aren’t I? I’m reading articles and blogs, I’m writing about the games and whatnot, what more do you want from me? I’m invested!

But, that’s just it. I’m so invested that I’m taking a big picture approach to following a team like the Seahawks. I can do both: I can follow along and be entertained in the moment, AND I can think about the future and what this team needs to do to be even better.

What’s only starting to occur to me is: what if the future is now? Maybe we don’t NEED to look ahead a year or two, to see this team compete for Super Bowls. With the trajectory we’re on now, the sky really does feel like the limit!

Maybe it’s the four-game winning streak talking, I dunno. But, when I watch this team, I see a balanced and explosive offense, strong across the board at both the skill positions and the grunt workers. I see a defense that’s clearly improved from where it languished in the first month of the season, and it’s seemingly getting better by the week, as the young guys gain experience and start to mesh with the new scheme.

What’s a little uncertain is how elite this team truly is.

I would say throughout the year, the offense has been ahead of the defense. That’s not going out on any significant limb of hot takes or anything. But, does that make the offense elite? In a lot of ways, the analytics would say yes. Points per game, we’re 4th in the league. But, yards per game we’re down around the 10ish range. That’s good, not great. It also kinda feels like this team hasn’t played its absolute best on offense except against the very worst of defenses. Maybe I should give the Seahawks more credit for the 32 we rung up on the Saints, but there’s also been times we’ve been stymied. It feels like there’s more we can do, like this team could put up 50 on an opponent at any given time.

Then, on the flipside, defensively is this team a championship level unit? Certainly, after that Saints game, things turned around in a hurry. The D-Line shifted in its attack, we stopped relying so much on Cody Barton (in favor of more DBs on the field), and our young secondary has stepped up in a big way. Ours isn’t a traditionally dominant defensive unit like the 49ers, the Jets, the Cowboys, or the Broncos. But, it’s hard to argue with results.

That’s a potentially-explosive Cardinals team. They racked up a relatively easy touchdown-scoring drive when they first had possession of the football, then they proceeded to go punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt, punt, punt before their next touchdown (they did get a pick-six there in the middle of all of that, but that’s no reflection of their offense, now is it?). That’s some serious domination, three weeks after we held them to all of 9 points (3 points on offense, with the other 6 coming on a special teams TD).

To be fair, though, the Cards are kind of a mess. While they do have the potential to be explosive, they’ve also proven to be prone to implosion more often than not. It’s not like we just held the Chiefs, Bills, or Eagles to some miniscule number. But, you play the teams as they’re scheduled, and it’s hard not to be impressed with how the Seahawks have looked in all facets.

What’s not uncertain is the team’s lack of depth.

It’s not quite a Gods N Clods situation, but you could make a good argument that the Seahawks have been pretty lucky with injuries. We lost Jamal Adams, but who’s the other injury on defense that wasn’t an addition by subtraction (a la Sidney Jones or Justin Coleman)? We’ve had nagging injuries on offense, but other than Rashaad Penny, I don’t think we’ve lost anyone of note.

But, clearly, this team wouldn’t be the same if Geno Smith went down for a long period of time. We’d be severely hurting if we lost Kenneth Walker. And if either Lockett or Metcalf go out, we’re pretty bad at receiver behind those guys. Defensively, I think we’d be devastated if we lost Nwosu or Brooks, and the last thing I want is for our secondary guys to get hampered in their development.

Of course, you could make the same depth argument about a lot of teams. We’re seeing it play out in real time with the likes of the Green Bay Packers, for instance. For the most part, the very best teams – the ones competing for and winning Super Bowls – are also the ones who are luckiest with injuries. There’s never a 100% healthy team, but I would argue it’s a pretty high number. All the difference in how you finish lies in how healthy your best players are able to remain throughout the season. The NFL is a rough business; it churns through athletes with the best of ’em.

But, this isn’t a blog post talking about How Healthy Can The Seahawks Be In 2022; that’s a discussion about randomness. We’re talking about how GOOD this team can be, and I’m really starting to believe.

I think the biggest test to date is coming this weekend. I know I say that every week, but every week it remains true.

The Bucs, by and large, have been a colossal disappointment. But, there’s been plenty of extenuating circumstances. They’re still a team led by Tom Brady, with tons of offensive weapons at his disposal. They’ve still got a tremendous defense – especially at stopping the run – and a foundation of quality coaches and coordinators keeping the boat afloat. There’s a ton of experience on that team, and they’re right where they need to be. They play in one of the worst divisions in football, and control their own destiny. They won’t be a top seed in the NFC, but they can easily make the postseason and be a team nobody wants to play.

At this point, I usually talk about “how you beat this team”, but I don’t fully grasp why they’re so bad in the first place, other than guys who are usually great aren’t doing so hot. Obviously, if you get in Tom Brady’s grill with a 4-man pass rush, that’s the best way to slow him down. But, he can still carve up anyone when he’s on. Leonard Fournette can look like one of the best running backs in football at times, but all too often it seems like they go away from him for no reason. They have dynamic receivers, good players at tight end, and when healthy, their O-line has been tough. I don’t know how healthy that line is now, but maybe that’s a weakness we can exploit.

On the flipside, we have to stay on schedule and disciplined on offense. No penalties, no negative plays, and be efficient on third down. I expect this to be relatively low scoring and close to the bitter end, so there will be a few crucial plays that determine this one. Kickers better be on point, is all I have to say about the Special Teams.

There’s a real great opportunity here. If we can gut out a win in Germany, that puts us at 7-3 heading into the BYE. Then, we host 5 of our last 7 games, which at the beginning of the season seemed like a pointless gesture, but now looks like a gift from the heavens. There are still tough games sprinkled in throughout – hosting the 49ers, Jets, and even the Raiders; two games against the hated Rams, and that huge road game against the Chiefs on Christmas Eve – but it’s hard not to like our chances in most of those. Clearly, there’s something wrong with the Rams and Raiders. The Panthers should be pushovers. The Jets stink on offense. The 49ers are banged up and coming to Seattle. Even the Chiefs have shown their warts at times.

I’m not saying the Seahawks are definitely winning out the rest of the way. But, I am saying that it would not surprise me if the Seahawks won this weekend and continued to win the rest of the year. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Seahawks earned a top 2 or 3 seed in the NFC. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Seahawks made some noise in the playoffs. And, indeed, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Seahawks won it all.

Until further notice, I’m not concerning myself with the 2023 version of this team, or beyond. I’m all in on 2022, and from where I’m sitting, the view is pretty great.

Everyone’s Crapping Their Pants Over Geno Smith & The Seahawks’ Offense

It’s football, and so by design you get these wild emotional swings from week to week. We won on Monday Night against Russell Wilson and the Broncos: we must be great! We lost in demoralizing fashion to the 49ers and then the Falcons at home: we must be among the very worst teams in football! Now, we go out on the road and win a crazy shootout: heck, maybe the wild card is on the table!

There’s a lot of Geno Smith dick sucking going on, and I don’t know if it’s deserved. I don’t know if anyone considered him the very worst quarterback in the game; among backups, I think he’s always been fairly well-regarded. That’s probably because – until last year – you never got to see him play. The mystery and the name recognition did a lot of the heavy lifting for Geno Smith’s reputation. Once it became apparent this offseason that he was not only in a quarterback battle with the likes of Drew Lock, but until he got COVID, it was a battle set up for Lock to ultimately win, I think we all remembered, “Oh yeah, this is Geno Smith we’re talking about.” He’s probably in the low 20’s or high 30’s in a ranking of all quarterbacks.

Now that we’re four weeks into the season, I’ll admit that he’s better than I expected. His accuracy is off the charts, and even if we’re talking about a preponderance of throws being dinks and dunks, that’s still better than a lot of other so-called Game Managers. To me, this feels like our offensive system making good on its original promise (more than Smith making a late-career surge in effectiveness). We wanted the Rams’ style McVay offense, and we’ve got it! Jared Goff was once a quarterback that took his team to the Super Bowl. I think while it’s safe to say Geno Smith won’t be doing the same, he can still play competitive football within the parameters of this offense.

But, let’s see it against superior competition. His first half against the Broncos was lights out; his second half was atrocious. His entire game against the 49ers was a huge nothing-burger. He was good and bad against the Falcons, but clearly not good enough to prevail in a home game that you HAVE to have if you’re a playoff team. Now, he has this elite performance (320 yards on 23/30, with 2 TDs, 0 INTs, and 1 rushing TD with 49 yards on 7 carries) against arguably the worst defense in the league. Possibly one of the worst defenses of the last decade or more!

And that’s saying something, because the Seahawks this year ALSO have one of the worst defenses in the league, and one of the worst defenses of the last decade or more.

If the argument is that this offense has worked out the kinks, and is capable of some percentage of this every week, then I’m going to have to see it in action against good defenses. I need to see this against the Rams and 49ers. I need to see it in action against the Saints on the road next week. I need to see it against the Chargers and Bucs and Cardinals and literally everyone else on our schedule; they’ve all got better defenses than the Lions!

If you’re like me, and you saw this team – heading into the year – as an annoyingly 7-10 type of team, then you looked at the schedule and predicted we’d be 2-2 after four games. Granted, one of those victories would’ve been over Atlanta, but one of those losses would’ve been to the Broncos, so maybe that evens it out. Regardless, this isn’t the most unexpected thing in the world. There’s a lot of football left to play. A lot of the teams we thought would be good might lose to a team like these Seahawks. Conversely, a lot of teams that we thought would be pushovers might nip us in the end. I don’t think I can make a definitive statement one way or the other about this team. I still don’t think we’re very good. I still don’t think Geno Smith has what it takes to drive us the length of the field, needing a touchdown to win the game in the final two minutes.

I’m not terribly irate about winning this game, though I think it annoyingly papers over a lot of deficiencies, especially regarding the defense. But, I’m happy that our skill guys looked good (Penny had 151 yards on 17 carries, with 2 TDs; Metcalf had 7 catches for 149 yards; Lockett had 6 for 91). I’m happy that the offensive line is progressing like gangbusters. I’m happy that Tariq Woolen had a pick six.

But, in the grand scheme of things, if we’d lost 45-41 – instead of winning 48-45 – I’d still have all of those things to be happy about, plus we’d be one step closer to tanking this season! As it stands, this looks like a HUGE tiebreaker for us at season’s end. Clearly, these are two pretty evenly-matched teams. I think both the Seahawks and Lions will be close in record. So, we’re talking about a pretty big edge they have, especially if they decide to make drafting a quarterback a priority next year.

This Seahawks defense, tho. Ye gods. Darrell Taylor got demoted to a rusher on passing downs, because he can’t handle all the responsibilities of an outside linebacker. Then, his replacement go hurt and he was forced back into action. All in all, this has been a pretty bad season for him so far. The secondary is still getting dinged pretty severely. Other than Nwosu, no one is getting to the quarterback on a regular basis. Cody Barton looks inept and feeble. Jordyn Brooks is no Bobby Wagner in his prime; not by a long shot. If we’re not at the point where we’re abandoning the 3-4 for the 4-3, then it’s probably only another week or two away (because we can’t keep getting gashed with this sort of regularity).

At this rate, I don’t know what we’re going to have to hang our hat on by season’s end. Hopefully, the secondary can settle down a little bit. I don’t think there’s much hope for the linebacking group, and I think we’ll have to use a 2nd or 3rd rounder on that position. I think there’s a considerable demand for a dominant pass rusher, but I don’t know how you get that without foregoing a shot at one of the elite quarterback prospects. Maybe someone falls to us?

There’s also the very legitimate – though, I would argue kind of a longshot – concern that Geno Smith keeps playing well within the system, and is just handed the keys to the offense next year. Does a 7-10 Seahawks team with Geno throwing for 4,000+ yards on high-efficiency passing give this group the confidence to continue trying to bolster around the quarterback position, rather than addressing it directly? Again, I don’t think that’s very likely, but it has to be a concern.

So, yeah, I’d say the weekend could’ve gone better. At least the Broncos lost! I made a big show of telling all my friends how they’re a 12-win team and they all rightly laughed in my face. We’ll see who’s laughing last (it’ll either be me because I’m right, or me because I engineered a quality jinx).

The Seahawks Looked Predictably Inept Against The 49ers

I’ll be honest, Saturday was a long, fun-filled day for me. We had some tailgate festivities, a couple of long drives to and from that event, followed immediately by a family poker game, followed by some late night billiards in our rec room. I didn’t go to bed until maybe midnight or 1am, yet still managed to wake up well before the 10am games on Sunday. Long story short, I took a nap for most of the second half of those early games, and didn’t wake up until we were already an hour into the Seahawks’ game.

So, I missed out on the Trey Lance Experience. A very small part of me will always wonder if we might’ve had a chance in this one had Lance stayed healthy.

But, given the way our offense performed, I still highly doubt we would’ve come close to winning in this one. I hope you heeded my warning and stayed away (or bet hard against the Seahawks), because I was as on the money with this one as I’ve ever been! I missed the total by a single point! That’s unheard of (for me)!

Even though I saw a good percentage of this game (I tuned in when we were only down 13-0 in the second quarter), I didn’t see much of an effort whatsoever by the Seahawks’ offense to try and run the ball. Maybe my attention was stolen by the Broncos/Texans game on the little TV – rooting hard for Houston to take down Denver – but that was really shocking to me. Then again, given how poor our offense looked overall – not to mention how badly we were losing for the last 2/3 of this game – I guess it’s not all that surprising either.

Geno Smith only threw the ball 30 times, so it’s not like we went all pass-wacky. We just couldn’t do a damn thing, running or throwing. He completed 24 of those passes, for a measly 197 yards (for a 6.6 average per attempt, a miserable figure).

There was one highlight in this game for the Seahawks, and it was a blocked field goal for a touchdown. In a game we lost 27-7. That marks six consecutive quarters (and counting) where the offense has failed to score a single point. If you want to push things further, Tyler Lockett had a breakthrough game (it was starting to be worrisome that he just never has been on the same page as Geno in their limited action together), with 9 catches for 107 yards. For someone of his talent, he deserves better.

Also, I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel for highlights, but it was nice to see Kenneth Walker out there getting some play.

Defensively, I dunno. There were plenty of mop-up tackles for Brooks and Barton. I thought Al Woods made his presence felt in the middle (7 tackles, 3 for loss, with a pass deflection). But what’s Poona Ford been up to this year? Whereth Bryan Mone? I did think Nwosu looked good again, and Darrell Taylor looked better than his week 1 faceplant.

We’re still seeing lots of growing pains out of the secondary. Too soon to make any sort of definitive statements, but I’ll say this: I’d rather have excessive penalties over excessive cushions for receivers to get lots of yardage. I’d rather have aggression, because you can teach them to tone it down for the refs; but you can’t teach a guy to be stickier to his receiver. I’ll take this all day over the likes of Tre Flowers and whatnot.

Even though the Special Teams got that score, it’s hard to give them too positive of a grade. We didn’t do much in the return game, and the new guy got in Lockett’s way for a critical muffed punt in the second half. You just can’t have that. That’s bad even for high school players, let alone the NFL.

This is more in line with what I expected from the Seahawks this year. But, I don’t think it’s going to be this dire every single week. I think the 49ers have a tremendous defense, and any time we go up against a defense of this calibre, it’s going to be a bloodbath. Otherwise, though, I think we’ll move the ball and score some points at an okay clip. I still contend, however, that anytime we’re down – and we need Geno Smith to orchestrate a scoring drive late in the game – it’s going to be a difficult proposition for this team to execute. And, god forbid if we ever get into any shootouts.

So far, I’ve seen glimpses of greatness out of this defense, but I don’t think we’re going to get over the hump until the secondary starts making some strides. As I said before, I like the way it’s trending, but at some point it’s going to have to click. Otherwise, this defense looks like every other mediocre Ken Norton defense we’ve had in recent seasons. Until they play to their highest potential, I don’t see a path to a winning season for this team. And, if it’s too little, too late when they finally figure it out, then clearly this will be a bottom 10 team in the league (looking forward to a top 10 draft pick next year).