My Thoughts Regarding the Turnover of the Seahawks Offense

In what has been a busy offseason for Seahawks GM John Schneider, the Seahawks have already started completely revamping their offense.  Gone are Tyler Lockett, Geno Smith, and DK Metcalf.  In is Sam Darnold, and likely a receiver from the draft or free agency (ended up being Cooper Kupp!).  I'm going to make some bullet point overriding thoughts I have about these moves for each player, go into further detail, and then talk about the outlook for the Seahawks this coming season, despite the rest of free agency and the draft needing to happen.

• We knew Tyler Lockett was going to be cut
  Unfortunately, the NFL is a business, and Lockett was making too much for the production he was providing.  It was inevitable.  There is still a small chance they bring him back on a team-friendly deal, especially since Tyler's real estate business is centered here.  His veteran presence will be missed, but perhaps the Seahawks will bring a cheaper veteran in to training camp.
  
  
• Geno's gone because he overvalued himself
  Sounds like the two sides were far apart in negotiations.  Sure, you can try to find a middle, but it seemed like neither side wanted to compromise that much.  Geno's TD/Int ratio was only 1.4 last season.  That's below league average for a starting quarterback these days.  I wonder if there was any chance of waiting until after next season was over.  But, the rumor is because they couldn't reach a deal, Geno wanted a deal with someone else, then.  I think we had seen Geno's ceiling, which was a winning QB, but not a QB with success in the playoffs.  Might as well try something new.
  
  
• DK Metcalf is a great talent, but has his flaws
  Fortunately for the Steelers and Mike Tomlin, DK's problems are primarily mental.  He sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him.  DK also doesn't have great ball security and occasionally will drop a pass.  That stuff can be fixed.  The Steelers will either make or break the rest of DK's career.  I wish we could've gotten a first for him, but a 2nd will have to do.  Hopefully, we can get a good player from it--more of a Bobby Wagner than a Marquise Blair (Both 2nd round picks by the Hawks).  I'll miss DK's freakish athleticism, but I won't miss his immature attitude.
  
  
• Sam Darnold, the next Matt Flynn?
  Interesting how history sometimes repeats itself.  The Seahawks signed Matt Flynn in 2012 after he had one good game after being mostly a backup.  The Seahawks signed Sam Darnold after he had one good season after being a backup for the last few years.  Perhaps we will take a QB in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft who may be our next Russell Wilson.  I'll certainly be watching out for that.  But Darnold likely is the starter at first, regardless of who we take in April's draft.  But we also thought that about Flynn after we signed him.  I think Darnold will do okay, but the key will be protecting him and establishing the run.  So our next focus has to be offensive line.  

Next season will certainly be interesting.  I, for one, am optimistic.  I just really hope that we get at least two starter-quality interior linemen.  I'm not worried about the defense, which I believe will be even better in 2025.  The offensive side of the ball will largely determine the team's success in 2025.  Funny, no one thought the Vikings would win 14 games under Sam Darnold, yet they did.  I know most in the rest of the country will largely be counting the Hawks out in 2025, but that's fine with me.  They could use a chip on their shoulder.  But first, the draft in April will be huge now that we have a couple extra picks.  I don't think I'll be doing a post before the draft, but I'll do one after, possibly grading the picks and talking about how they might fit into the team.  

What's wrong with the Seahawks Offense? A lot of things

The Seahawks have started the season not quite as well as we would have hoped, starting 1-1 and scoring just a combined 15 points through two games.  The defense has only allowed 21 total points in two games, but that was only good enough for one win.  So clearly, the problems with this team lie on the offensive side of the ball.  Here's what's causing it:

- The offensive line
This might be the biggest reason.  I'd say the Seahawks have perhaps two average quality starters on their line (Britt at center, Gilliam at right tackle).  The rest are way below average, maybe the worst in their league at their positions.  Bradley Sowell may be the worst of the bunch, drawing penalties in both games so far, allowing sacks, and not dominating ANY defensive end on a play.  He was a free agent for a reason: he sucks.  Glowinski, while filling in for Germain Ifedi, hasn't done that well, especially in run-blocking.  Webb has gotten beat by both Dolphins and Rams nose tackles multiple times.  Getting Ifedi back from injury will help, but only slightly.  The Seahawks have believed the last few seasons that they can rely on offensive line coach Tom Cable to "coach them up", but if you have high school level offensive linemen in the NFL, there is only so much a single coach can do.  For too long they have neglected the offensive line, leaving it devoid of talent, and it's costing them.

- The play-calling
Not a huge reason, but some of the runs and designs of the plays so far look insanely amateurish.  The plays they've run look like they were designed by a first year high school coach.  Bevell, the offensive coordinator, for too long has been like an anchor on the cruise ship of the offense, holding them back instead of letting them go.  He was decent when the offense was focused on running the ball and had a decent offensive line that included Okung, Unger, Giacomini, and Carpenter.  But with a bad offensive line, we have to adjust the offense to have more quick passes and outside runs, but Bevell has absolutely FAILED to do that.  He is still running the offense and calling plays as if we still had a decent O-line and Marshawn Lynch.  You give Wilson a coordinator that can utilize him effectively (I personally think Chip Kelly would be perfect), and he would put up MVP numbers.

- The lack of discipline
As my father often points out to me, the offense will almost on a routine basis put themselves in a hole to start or kill a drive by committing penalties.  The biggest bugaboos have been holding and false starts.  Whatever Cable is teaching our line isn't working 100% because they are still committing multiple penalties a game.  In the Rams game, however, it was offensive pass interference that got them.  Regardless, this team in the Pete Carroll era has consistently been undisciplined and always been towards the top of the league in penalties per game.  Quite a difference from the Mike Holmgren years.

- The defense 
Sometimes an offense's best source of offense is its defense.  It was definitely a huge part of their scoring in 2013, the year the Hawks won the Super Bowl.  So far this year the defense hasn't done their offense any favors.  Sure, they're holding opponents to no more than 12 points, but they are not giving their offense good field position, whether it be with 3-and-outs or turnovers.  The offense is routinely forced to drive over 80 yards to score, which would be tough to do for any offense in the NFL.  The most common scenario is the defense will allow the opposition to get a few first downs, usually not enough for a touchdown, but enough to get the Hawks offense backed up in their own end of the field.

- Wilson's ankle injury
Russ's ankle injury definitely hampered him in Week 2, because the Rams obviously knew he wasn't a huge threat to run anymore.  That's basically like losing a starting running back to injury.  However, if you go back to before he got injured in Week 1, the offense was still having trouble, so this issue is not that big of a reason for the offense's struggles.

So the question is, how do we fix these issues?  Like I said, Ifedi returning should help, but this team needs some outside help on the offensive line somehow, at least at left tackle.  Bevell needs to open up the passing game and focus on screens, slants, and heck, even deep passes to get the offense going.  The lack of discipline I feel will always be a problem, but the Hawks usually tone down their penalties a bit towards the second half of the season.  Knowing this defense the turnovers will start coming which will immensely help the Hawks put up more points.  And Russ is bound to be healthy by mid-October at the latest, meaning he should be 100% healthy for games against New England, Green Bay, and Carolina.

One last good thing: There's only one way for this offense to go and that's up.  They can't possibly get any worse so long as Wilson is under center.  I have confidence this offense will turn things around, and it will certainly help to not have to face a front seven as talented as Miami's or St. Louis's.  But keep in mind San Francisco shut out St. Louis and the Jets front seven is definitely top 10.  The offense will come around, but maybe not as fast as we'd like.