As the NFL offseason
is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in
2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of
the Seattle Seahawks.
2017 Season Recap:
While we’ve witnessed the Seahawks employ their terror over the NFC for
the last five seasons, 2017 wasn’t as favorable as the 12th-man would’ve
hoped. Struggling to find a viable option in the running game and having
similar concerns with the current receiving core left Seattle in a precarious situation
to fill glaring needs which didn’t necessarily happen. Knowing the amount of
money spent on the defensive side of the ball (the Legion of Boom), Seattle was
forced to take a flyer on former Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy to help
spell Thomas Rawls in the back field. Adding a third back to the mix in Chris
Carson, proved the instability facing this team in providing a clear endorsement
to who they wanted to carry the load. Defensively the outlook seemed much
better, but the beginning of the end would be a force that Seattle wasn’t ready
for.
Entering the 2017 season, the expectations were set lower than usual for
the offense, as Russell Wilson would have to carry this unit on his back to try
and exploit the talents from this group. With an offensive line in utter
shambles, the Hawks lost their starting left tackle right from jump to a season
ending injury. Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham were the best options for Wilson
to garner any positive yardage consistently. Losing the opener to the Green Bay
Packers putting up a mere nine points, suggested what the NFL already knew;
this offense would be in trouble. Narrowly beating the 49ers in week two and
following that up with another loss to the Titans, Seattle’s season was looking
grim right from the start. Coach Carroll recognizing the shortfalls of this
offense, he employed a Russell Wilson special that would allow him to operate
as he pleased to create anything positive whether in broken or scripted play
formats. From week 4 to week 8, the Hawks found a way to rattle up four
consecutive victories with the most impressive contest being the matchup
against rookie Deshawn Watson and the Houston Texans. Together, both teams put
up an impressive 79 points as back and forth touchdowns were the name of the
game. Posting a record of 5-2 after their week 8 victory, Seattle knew their
stiffest competition was the charging LA Rams. With the remaining nine games on
the slate, realistically the Seahawks would have to win at least five if not
six to guarantee them a spot in the postseason. Dropping contests in week 14
& 15 to the Jaguars and the Rams all but sealed their fate for what was a
season built on hope and dreams rather than realizing the team was at the end
of their phenomenal run of dominance.
Finishing the year with a record of 9-7 and missing the playoffs, while
spending ample amounts of money on a defense that was beginning to show wear
and age, it was clear a change was going to happen, but the level of that
change was still up for discussion.
2018 Offseason
Workbook:
Offseason Review:
It was extremely clear
after reviewing the Seahawks tape from last season that a major change would
have to be made to give Russell Wilson the support he requires to make this a
viable situation again. With big money spent to bolster the defense, many holes
were prevalent offensively, most notably to the offensive line. Starting the offseason
with a bang, general manager John Schneider obviously understood the situation
and chose to make moves proactively rather than sit back and watch his team
crumble in the future handcuffing them to long term massive money deals. First,
speculation that Seattle wouldn’t re-up defensive linemen Sheldon Richardson
who was acquired last season in a trade with the Jets, leaving him free to hit
the open market. With the injury issues surrounding defensive linemen Cliff
Avril and safety Cam Chancellor, the potential that both could be forced to
retire, the rest of this process seemed simple execute. Star defensive back
Richard Sherman was told in a meeting with Coach Carroll and GM Schneider that
he would be out right released from the club ultimately breaking up the Legion
of Boom. In subsequent moves, the Hawks released defensive backs Jeremy Lane and
Deshawn Shead, while placing the word out to other teams they would entertain offers
for all-star safety Earl Thomas. Let’s not forget about the recent trade that
saw another defensive lineman (Michael Bennett) get dealt to the Eagles for
draft pick compensation. The Seahawks we once knew should look vastly different
upon the start of the season as they look to retool and get money back on the
books.
With the plethora of moves
already taken place, it’s clear in reviewing all the statistics from last season
that it has become a moot point on the defensive side, but more viable for the
offense. Russell Wilson did everything in his power to keep this Seahawks team
in the thick of the playoff race gaining even more respect from us here at ADF.
Narrowly missing the 4000 yard mark for the third time in his career, Wilson
was able to match the heights of his best season of 34 touchdown passes.
Besides Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham as the most viable and reliable receiving
targets on the roster, with having no sense of a run attack what so ever, the
offensive line in utter shambles, Russell Wilson played unbelievably well in
the 2017 campaign.
Rebuilding this team most
definitely begins with the offensive and defensive lines. Having invested so
much capital in the defense, it finally caught up to the Hawks as we saw them
worse from wear crumbling to injuries and lost production. General Manager John
Schneider has an obvious plan to explode the roster with now over paid talent
which didn’t provide the returns necessary to bring them back to the fold for
the new season. The way the reconstruction will occur, it’s difficult to
envision Seattle being more competitive than they were a season ago. Wilson, Baldwin,
Wagner, and Thomas, still are the cream of the crop on this roster and
depending on the health of Cam Chancellor, replacing the talent that walked out
the door could happen but Schneider and Carroll will have to get extremely creative
in how they attempt to fill those holes.
Rostered Free Agents:
What’s more amazing
then they amount of talent the Hawks let go to the open market or opposing
teams, was the fact that they endured very little dead money on the books. With
Michael Bennett, Jeremy Lane, and Richard Sherman moved off the cap, Seattle
only lost 9.9 million in dead money, rather impressive.
As it stand today,
Seattle currently has 30 million is free space to play with in potentially
resigning the 20 free agents they currently have to contend with. As mentioned,
Jimmy Graham, Sheldon Richardson, and Paul Richardson have more than likely
priced their way out of the Pacific North West, as market value trends would
suggest Seattle would have to pony up in excess of 25 million to keep those three
around for the long term, definitely not going to happen. Eddie Lacy, Blair
Walsh, and Byron Maxwell have also likely seen their last days in a Seahawk
uniform, as underwhelming seasons would push them to the open market for
another team to choose from. Luke Joeckel might be the only viable option on
their free agent listing that could garner a contract renewal to return to the
club. With the offensive line struggles Seattle employs, it’s not inconceivable
they would pay to keep the once highly rated tackle turned guard.
It’s quite clear that
Seattle is in the business of finding money on the roster to help improve their
current cap situation, and on this roster it shouldn’t be difficult to find. It
would be in the best interest of the team to find a trading partner for
all-star safety Earl Thomas rather than releasing him out right. Moving Thomas off
the team would generate a healthy 8.5 million while incurring a 1.9 dead cap,
not bad at all. Most rumors suggest that Cliff Avril will never play football
again potentially landing him an injury settlement from the Hawks and at the
same time clearing 7 million off the books. Line Backer K.J Wright is another option
to hit the street as his 7.2 million in savings would do the club extremely well
in retooling. As mentioned more than once of the terrible state of the
offensive line, left tackle Duane Brown still holds value in his play on the
field but would create an additional 9.75 million to the Seahawks cap, a definite
possibility. By removing those four players from the team, Seattle would increase
their available money by roughly 33 million dollars lifting their accessible funds
to 63 million instantly able to be a player on the open market to find value
players to sign. It’s also not out of the question to rework some of these
contracts to provide nicer cap numbers for the upcoming season to generate more
cash flow. We shall see the approach.
NFL Draft:
In terms of the
upcoming draft, Seattle could be in a heap of trouble as they don’t possess
their 2nd or 3rd round selections while holding three 5throunders
and three 7th round picks. Holding their first round selection 18th
overall, the Hawks would then have to wait until pick 120 before their name was
called to the podium again. With the glaring holes and massive needs with the
cuts and potential for more cuts and trades, the draft was a place they could
work some magic in obtaining more talent. It doesn’t appear that it will take
place unless Seattle finds trade partners to move down the board to collect
more draft capital. This could be a very weak draft class for Seattle if they aren’t
able to help their cause.
Overall for 2018:
The overall perception
for the Seahawks is they will entertain a full on rebuild while holding viable pieces
to keep the foundation intact. Without a current valuable set of draft picks
and a roster that could still see players trimmed from it, it sure appears they
will be in the market to show the public they will be competitive while knowing
this is the beginning of a rebuild. Seattle did enjoy five great years of
dominance in the NFC where they became a Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl
runner up. Coach Carroll might not have another rebuild left in him, but under
general manager John Schneider he could easily turn this around as the Hawks
still have a superb franchise quarterback running the show. Even in a full
rebuild the luxury of Wilson could have this back in place in two years.
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