The Seahawks season may be over but I'm still following the offseason. I get excited about the personnel moves, the strategies, and the possibilities. I'm gonna be writing some blog posts throughout the offseason tracking what's going on with the Seahawks. This will be extremely opinionated and viewpoints on what the team should do, value of players, and potential personnel changes should be considered my opinion.
This first one will be going over my general view of the personnel we're starting off with in the offseason.
Offense:
Quarterbacks:
Russell Wilson, Austin Davis, Trevone Boykin
Russell Wilson stays. He's signed through 2019. Austin Davis is a free agent. Boykin is signed through next year. I don't expect anything exciting to happen to the Quarterback situation.
Overall current QB grade: A We have an MVP worthy franchise QB. What more can you ask for? Well, I guess the Pats had Brady AND Grappy backin’ him up, the Packers had Favre AND Aaron Rodgers backin’ him up.. So I guess I’ll save the A+.
Running Backs:
Chris Carson, Mike Davis, JD McKissic, Thomas Rawls, Eddie Lacy
Carson looks like a monster and he's cheap. He's definitely getting another shot at RB 1 next year.
Mike Davis is a restricted free agent. Not only did he stand out in the preseason but he showed up when his number was called in the regular season. I hope we keep him. A running back on the Seahawks in 2017 doesn't command a lot of money so I think it's very likely Mike Davis comes into the 2018 season as our RB2.
JD McKissic looked great as our speedy pass catching back. He's a free agent going into the offseason, but once again I don't think Seattle RBs will command a large price.
Thomas Rawls... He's a restricted free agent. I don't think there will be any interest to raise the price. Call me crazy but I think he's retainable and I still like him. At least let him compete vs Carson, Davis, and McKissic in camp/preseason, please! I think he's good and explosive. He's not at all an every down back, but he doesn't need to be. If an injury occurs and Thomas Rawls gets called onto the field, I won't feel bad at all.
Eddie Lacy... hahahahahahaha
Overall current running back grade: B I don't think the running backs are bad at all. I'd be confident in the potential of our backfield if we go into next year with Carson, Davis, and McKissic.
Wide Receivers:
Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Paul Richardson, Amara Darboh, Tanner McEvoy
Doug Baldwin is signed for a long time. He’s our franchise WR, as he should be. Doug Baldwin be great.
Tyler Lockett is signed one more year and I love it. I love Lockett. He’s cheap. He’s reliable. He has big play potential in the passing game, explosive potential as a returner. I hope he stays a Hawk for a long time.
I love PRich. He’s got huge play making potential, he goes up and gets balls, and he never stops fighting for a catch. I think he’s going to command a lot more money than a tight cap Seahawks organization is going to put forward. I think it’s probably the right decision to let him walk as well. He’ll be missed, but we have playmakers at WR and some potential in Darboh.
I’m happy to give Darboh a chance. I didn’t want to pick him in the first place, but he’s here. He’s cheap. He does have potential. Let’s see what he’s got.
Tanner McEvoy is around cause he’s big. Kasen Williams absolutely beat him out for this roster spot last year. He’s cheap and I feel like he’s not terrible so it won’t feel bad to have him back I suppose. I won’t feel bad if he gets beat out for a roster spot next preseason.
Overall current WR grade: C+ I really like our wide receivers. I don’t see it as a point of weakness. We are lacking a threat every defense needs to prepare for, however.
Tight Ends:
Jimmy Graham, Luke Willson, Nick Vannett
I love Jimmy Graham. I don’t think he wants to be here, and we haven’t proven we can utilize him effectively enough to accept the cap hit. It doesn’t matter if your Tight end is an S class receiver if your scheme sets his ceiling to a C. Bye, Jimmy :( It’s gonna suck when the 49ers pick you up and you drop 3 TDs on us next year.
Luke Willson is a free agent as well this year. We don’t have tight ends, basically, so I think I could see us signing Luke to another year deal. I doubt it will happen if he commands too much of a price as he hasn’t exactly been indispensable this year. We’ll likely try and replace Graham in free agency and Nick Vannett will remain on our team so there’s no way we’ll retain Luke if it’s even a semi issue.
I like Nick Vannett. He has little play time and he hasn’t been great, but I feel like he’s at worst Luke Willson and has a higher ceiling.
Overall current TE grade: F Our Tight end position is likely to lose 2 of it’s players and the one remaining has played so very little.
Offensive Line:
Duane Brown, Justin Britt, Luke Joeckel, Mark Glowinski, Ethan Pocic, Germain Ifedi, Oday Aboushi, Matt Tobin, Jordan Roos
Duane Brown is signed through next year. I personally hope we pen a 3 year contract in the offseason to replace the current one. Save for freak accident there’s 0 chance he’s not a Hawk come 2018.
Justin Britt is signed through 2020. I’m good with this. I like Britt. His contract is backloaded so he’s not a liability for cap in 2018, not really a bother in 2019, and really 2020 is the first time I think we’ll say “Do we need to pay him this much?” War Britt. (End Good things to say about the offensive line)
Luke Joeckel has been inconsistent all year. He hit our cap for 7 million and that hurts. I think he’s a better option than the others remaining on our roster, but if we can’t get him significantly cheaper I really hope we let him walk in Free agency.
Ethan Pocic will be around as he should be. I hope to see improvement. Poachit.
What the fuck Ifedi?? 20 accepted penalties. It’s like a bad joke. He’ll be here again next year and compete for the right tackle spot as he should. Hopefully he loses..
Glow’s presence is a measure of how terrible our line is. We have him for another year and I suspect he’ll be around for it.
I was actually intrigued by the potential of Aboushi. Everyone told me I was an idiot. Now who’s laughing? Them, I guess…
I doubt we’ll be trying to get Matt Tobin for another year. Man.. that 5th round pick...
Jordan Roos is with us for a couple years. He barely played. We’ll see if he climbs the depth chart in the absence of Tobin, Joeckel, and Aboushi.
Overall current O-Line Grade: D+ We actually have a couple bright spots in Brown and Britt, as well as potential in Pocic. This is more than I can say for the Giants, the Bengals, or the Cardinals.
Defense:
Defensive Ends:
Frank Clark, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Marcus Smith, Dion Jordan, Branden Jackson, Quinton Jefferson
I love Frank Clark. We have one more cheap year of Frank Clark, as long as he doesn’t demand a new contract in the offseason. As it stands right now, he’s a no brainer. Cheap and a beast.
Malik Mcdowell. I was excited about Sparta’s one man Army. Fuck you because I know what you’re thinking. I think he’d have been a monster if he played. It remains to be seen if he ever plays again. I seriously hope he does.
Michael Bennett could be offsides in a game of checkers. Still, he’s disruptive. Not elite, but disruptive. We’d only save 2 million in cap space to cut him. That’s not worth it unless there’s a very tight fit in cap and you cut him for a specific player. I expect to see him back with more offsides calls than ever.
Cliff is probably done. I’m basing this off all reports I’ve seen since his injury, none seem to get more optimistic. He probably will never play football again from the sounds of it. Bye, Cliff. Thanks for Hawkin’ it up for as long as you did :(
Dion Jordan has huge potential. I like the idea of bringing him back. He was basically free in 2017. But now he’s a free agent and I don’t know how much he’ll command in free agency. I want him back, but I’m 50/50 on whether he’ll actually be here.
Marcus Smith is another former first round pick with huge potential we signed to a virtually free 1 year deal in 2017. I have no idea if the Seahawks will retain him. I suspect the decision to do so will depend on what happens with Dion Jordan.
Branden Jackson and Quinton Jefferson are both free agents that didn’t see much play. If we retain them this would be a solely depth related move.
Overall current DE grade: B- We don’t have that unblockable monster but we do have a ton of potential. Our D-Line always seems to underperform expectations though, so I dropped the grade slightly.
Defensive Tackles:
Sheldon Richardson, Nazair Jones, Jarran Reed
I really like Sheldon Richardson although he didn’t live up to what was expected of him. I wonder what kind of price tag he’d demand to stay. With our cap predicament it’s likely there’s a lot of “Sheldon or X” situations. It’s worth noting he’s recently stated that he’s interested staying in Seattle. Here’s to the Hawk Nest Monster!
Naz Jones! War Naz! War Jones! WAAAR! He’s here a long time and he’s outperforming (at least my) expectations!
Jarran Reed is good through 2019 and I don’t suspect we’ll be parting ways. He’s been great.
Overall current DT grade: B- Once again we have very solid players on the D line and huge potential that they have not quite lived up to. No unblockable monster type. I feel this position is as strong as our ends.
Linebackers:
Bobby Wagner, Michael Wilhoite, KJ Wright, Josh Forrest, D.J. Alexander, Terence Garvin
I tried to pay my tab at a bar during a hox game a couple months ago. The transaction was declined. Called my bank, they said Bobby Wagner stopped it.
K.J. Wright is signed through the 2018 season. Great LB, glad to have him.
Our linebacking corps would be all around scary.. If only Wilhoite could tackle a runner or two… Anyway he’s a free agent. I don’t see us fighting to get him back so if he’s made any better offers.
I feel like Garvin is in the same position as Wilhoite. If a depth move has us deciding between the two I’d prefer Hoite because I feel like his ceiling is higher, but I wouldn’t be surprised if neither of them were here next year. Not much to say here.
DJ Alexander is signed through next year. I don’t know how much consequence this position will be unless we end up loaded at LB overnight.
Overall current LB grade: B+ Although BWagz can carry an LB corps to an A on his own, and KJ Wright is a very strong compliment, the grade takes a ding for depth.
Cornerbacks:
Richard Sherman, Shaquill Griffin, Justin Coleman, Byron Maxwell, Deshawn Shead, Neiko Thorpe, Jeremy Lane
I’d love to have Richard Sherman back, provided we’re confident the team is going to make a push into the playoffs. He’s a beast and I want him mentoring Quill. Cutting or trading Sherman will free up something like 11 million in cap space. That being said I doubt we part ways and I’m ok with that.
Quill has been great. I really like this addition. I hope he can continue to grow and become great. I see the potential in him.
Justin Coleman has been a great pickup. He’s a restricted free agent in 2018. I just have this feeling he earned a bigger paycheck with this season, one he’ll be able to cash in with the Titans, Raiders, or someone else in need of secondary help. I really hope he’s back, but I just have a feeling he won’t be.
Deshawn Shead is actually a free agent in 2018 too. I doubt we’ll lose both Coleman and Shead. I hope we can retain both, but I suspect Shead will return and Coleman will not.
I don’t know if Maxie will return next year. I guess it depends on how badly he wants to play football. He’s been decent for us, but he’d be purely a depth move. Especially if we Retain Coleman, Shead AND Sherm. I imagine if he wants to return and doesn’t try and get paid he’ll be back. I’d like to have him as a depth player.
Neiko Thorpe isn’t a bad depth hold. That said, he also represent virtually no cap hit. If there’s a higher potential cheap free agent I suspect we might swap up our depth.
Jeremy Lane. You were this close to being traded. We were almost free...
Overall current CB grade: A Our CBs are seriously solid and with a high potential. Haters can hate.
Safeties:
Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bradley Mcdougald, Delano Hill, Tedric Thompson
ET3! I can’t see him as anything but a Seahawk. I hope he sticks around for the next 8 years. He did express interest in the Cowboys, and there’s been some dissent in the locker room. It’s possible he’s thinking that he’s on the back end of his career and he has always wanted to be a Cowboy. I also fear if we franchise tag him he’ll retire. We still have him signed through 2018 but this is a reality we have to face this year or next. I hope he sticks around. There’d be no reason he wouldn’t be back for at least 2018 unless we trade him as a form of looking to the future.
Kam is my favorite player on that defense. That’s why it’s sad to say.. It sounds like he’s unlikely to ever play football again. To be cold and calculated for a second, we save 2 million from releasing him. That’s not a lot, but it’s a silver lining to the punch in the gut. #KrushEmKam
Bradley Mcdougald has been really good in Kam’s absence. He’s headed to free agency but I really hope we can retain him.
Delano Hill was drafted too early. Barely played. We have him for quite awhile provided he keeps earning his roster spot. We’ll eventually get a good read of what he has.
Tedric Thompson is our least popular safety. He doesn’t seem that great, unfortunately. I think he seemed like a cool dude. But the Hox need beasts. Given our safety situation, I’m sure he’ll have another shot to earn a roster spot during camp and the preseason.
Special Teams:
Blair Walsh, Jason Myers, John Ryan
Rickerblarewolsh. Cringe every time he kicks. Nothing left. Only sadness.
Jason Myers was signed after the Cardinals game. Pretty quick to grab a kicker. Especially if you’re keeping your current one. I guess what I’m sayin’ is…. Bye Walsh.
Jon Ryan just had a pretty bad season for Jon Ryan. In the end, his average lies middle of the pack for the league. If you want to replace him, whatever. I’m not sure it will have a huge positive impact. I think really people are just remembering those 4ish terrible 19-25 yard shanks. He did net more punt yards than most.. On more attempts… so I guess that says something about our offense at least. I know people are calling for him to be released, but I don’t mind another season of Jacked Jon Ryan and his Jon Ryan face.
I'll be solidifying my opinion on the coaching staff and then posting about them next.