Seattle Seahawks: 5 Positions to address in the 2019 offseason
By Samuel Teets
The Seattle Seahawks over performed in 2018, winning ten games. Despite the success if the Seahawks want to win championships they need to improve.
The Seattle Seahawks showed up their critics and detractors in 2018 by going 10-6 and outperforming all expectations. Unfortunately, the team’s season ended in the Wild Card round with a loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The team took a lot of criticism for their game plan and execution, particularly of a late onside kick.
Given what the team accomplished during the regular season, the early playoff exit was disappointing. At least now the head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have a chance to sit down and consider what their goals are this offseason. Free agency and the NFL Draft always play a big role in building and maintaining contending teams.
Going off of that, if the Seahawks want to build themselves back up to their old Super Bowl level, then they’ll need to focus on and upgrade the following positions.
The offensive line
Where do I even start? I guess I should mention left tackle Duane Brown isn’t included in this. He played well enough this year to be a Second Team All-Pro, which makes him one of the most indispensable linemen in the league. Luckily for the Seahawks, he’s under contract through the 2021 season.
The rest of the line isn’t so impressive. The Seahawks did lead the league in rushing yards per game this season, which is a great testament to the maulers up front, but Russell Wilson was sacked a career-high 51 times. Those sacks cost the team 355 yards.
Prior to 2018, the most times he was sacked was back in 2015 when he was dropped 45 times. He had a sack percentage, which is the percentage of times a quarterback is sacked when attempting to pass, of 10.7. Wilson’s previous career high sack percentage was 9.8 from back in 2013.
The Seahawks need to look at investing in the offensive line again this offseason, which stings since they’ve already invested in signing Brown and have drafted several linemen in recent years. The team drafted Ethan Pocic, a center out of LSU, in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Pocic started the majority of the season last year as a guard but moved all around on the interior line. This year, he started just four games and played in only ten.
The Seahawks drafted current left tackle Germain Ifedi out of Texas A&M in the first round of the 2016 draft. He’s moved around the line but been a starter every year with the team. Ifedi was crushed in the first two weeks of the season by Von Miller and then Khalil Mack. Wilson was sacked six times in both of those games.
The team also drafted center Joey Hunt in the sixth round of the 2016 draft. He’s made three starts and played in 20 games during his career. Hunt spent all of 2017 on the Seahawks practice squad.
Center Justin Britt is contracted through 2020. Both starting guards, D.J. Fluker and J.R. Sweezy, are free agents this offseason. Seattle could take the easy way out and plug in Pocic and find a cheap free agent or low draft pick to fill the other spot, but the team should really consider upgrading those spots with better pass blockers. And for Wilson’s sake don’t pick up Ifedi’s fifth-year option.