If you’ve been watching the NFL for the past 12 years, then you’ve probably noticed one thing in particular. The Seattle Seahawks, led by Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll were one of the most popular and liked NFL teams around. Vegas NFL odds outlets loved them, NFL odds fans couldn’t get enough of them, and all of the top NFL lines experts always put them right up there in every list of favorite teams in the NFC to at least make it to the playoffs.
Those were the good old days in Seattle.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, which is exactly what happened to the Seahawks this offseason as they had to see their franchise QB Wilson and their defensive leader Bobby Wagner pack their bags and leave, signaling the end of an era for Seattle.
Now, as coach Carroll and his team prepare for what’s to come in 2022, their first season without their star QB at the helm of the team, let’s break down how the upcoming NFL season might end up shaping up for the Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks Last Season Performance
If anybody would’ve known that last season was going to be Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner’s last with the Seattle Seahawks, maybe the team would’ve performed a little better. Yet, after finishing out the season with a 7-10 record that saw the Seahawks miss out on the playoffs for only the 2nd time in the last nine years, Wilson and Wagner’s last season in Seattle was more of a bust than anything else.
Still, even with 2021 being the last season for both players on the team, they still managed to make it to the Pro Bowl as well as safety Quandre Diggs and left tackle, Duane Brown. This helped to show that even with the team having a weak season, that didn’t stop their top performers from once again being at the top of all the performance rankings in the league in their respective positions.
Seattle Seahawks Off-Season Changes
Do we really need to spell it out? Russell Wilson leaving Seattle for the Broncos was one of the biggest and most shocking moves in all of the NFL this offseason. After being the team’s franchise QB for the past few years, a tenure that included a Super Bowl win, as well as many other accolades, Wilson’s departure from the team, came as one of the biggest surprises and blows for the Seahawks. This move, for a team that was gunning for the upcoming 2022 season to be one where they could once again take flight came as the biggest stomping on their plans ever.
Now, if that was that for Seattle, the Seahawks could have probably managed a bit better, but not to be outdone by Wilson, another team legend, LB Bobby Wagner decided to also pack his bags and leave, signing a massive 5-year, $65 million deal with divisional rivals LA Rams. In typical Billy Mays fashion, the Seahawks had a “but wait, there’s more” moment when they saw their starting CB D.J. Reed hit the road as well, inking a deal with the New York Jets to become their No.1 option at cornerback for the foreseeable future.
Talk about a shaky offseason, right?
Seattle Seahawks Key Additions
One positive note from Russell Wilson leaving the Seahawks is the boatload of players and future draft picks that the team was able to obtain from the Broncos. Two of the most important additions that came from said trade were QB Drew Lock who is slated to be the new starting passer for the Seahawks and TE Noah Fant, who will surely be a definite upgrade for Seattle in the tight end department. Aside from that on offense, the addition of C Austin Blythe, RB Ken Walker III through the draft as well as RT Abe Lucas and LT Charles Cross will definitely help give Seattle’s offense a new facelift.
On defense, after the departures of Bobby Wagner, Carlos Dunlap and DJ Reed amongst others have been met with the additions of OLB Uchenna Nwosu from the Chargers, DT Shelby Harris from the Broncos, as well as CBs Artie Burns from the Bears, Justin Coleman from the Dolphins, and rookies Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen, to try and fill in the gaps left by the departing stars.
Seattle Seahawks Key Subtractions
Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, and D.J. Reed, three team leaders, three stars in their own rights, three pivotal pieces of the Seahawks organization, and lastly, three players that all left Seattle during this offseason. Of course, the biggest loss for the Seahawks comes from the departure of franchise QB and bonafide team legend Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a packet of players and a boatload of future draft picks.
The hit that the team took by seeing Wilson pack up and leave is one that no team can ever prepare for, especially with Seattle now having to resort to Drew Lock, Geno Smith, or Jacob Eason as their options for starting QB.
Aside from that, defensive leader Bobby Wagner leaving for the team’s divisional rivals LA Rams, and starting cornerback D.J. Reed packing his bags to join the New York Jets have been the two other biggest blows the team has had to endure before the start of the 2022 season.
Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Analysis
While the east coast has Bill Belichick as their oldest and most respected coach, the west has Pete Carroll. Even if Carroll is the oldest coach in the NFL, edging out Belichick by less than a year, this man seems like he has never met a stop and chill button in his life. His defensive style of football, mixed with a masterful knowledge of how to bring trick plays into the mix to spice up the game has made him one of the most influential head coaches in the league.
Anybody would think that living through an exodus of stars like the one Seattle lived through this offseason would be enough for Carroll to start feeling the heat, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead of sulking and worrying about what’s to come in the 2022 season, Carroll and his coaching staff did what they usually do, get back to work and make the best of what they have.
For the 2022 season, many NFL experts and fans are not shying away from showing clear signs of concern about what’s to come for Seattle, but with Pete Carroll at the helm, the Seahawks should pan out just fine.
Seattle Seahawks Injured Players at The Beginning of The Season
The Seahawks, as if they haven’t had to deal with plenty already, have also had to keep up with some of their most important players showing different types of injuries that have kept them from being able to join the squad in the offseason thus far. While the hopes around the team are that all of their injured players at the moment can be active and ready for when the preseason rolls around or in a worst-case scenario, for week 1 of the regular season, the timetables for said players continue to shift.
On offense, players like WRs DK Metcalf, Bo Melton, Dareke Young, as well as 3rd string RB Chris Carson, rookie RB Ken Walker III, and starting RG Gabe Jackson all present injuries that have their playing status questionable for week 1 as of now. On defense on the other side, both starting safeties, Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams join 2nd string safety Marquise Blair and 2nd string SLB Ben Burr-Kirven as the most important injured players in the squad as of right now, heading into the preseason and week 1 of the 2022 regular season.
Seattle Seahawks Offense
Instead of talking about Russell Wilson’s departure, let’s focus on what the Seahawks will be working with this season. Taking over at the QB position, all signs point towards former Broncos QB Drew Lock as the best-placed candidate to start for the team from week 1 and moving forward. Given that Lock is coming off being an actual starter for Denver, unlike Geno Smith and Jacob Eason that don’t have nearly as much starting experience as Lock, it’s obvious that the starting QB job will most likely be going to the former Bronco.
On the receiver core, the Seahawks should be off pretty good with monster WR D.K. Metcalf hopefully being back for week 1 in full health as well as veteran, proven team star WR Tyler Lockett ready to once again show why he is one of the most reliable receivers in the league.
The Seahawks will also benefit from having new tight end Noah Fant, who came to the team thanks to the Broncos trade for Wilson as a very good and reliable weapon for their passing game. On the ball rushing responsibilities, all eyes will once again be on Rashaad Penny as the starter, with Ken Walker III and Chris Carson all bidding for snaps as well.
Lastly, the addition of LT Charles Cross, as well as C Austin Blythe, will surely help Seattle’s offensive line continue to be one of the more decent lines in the NFC.
Seattle Seahawks Defense
Imagine you’re the Seahawks’ defense. You are known all over the league as one of the most solid and feared lines around. You are the heiresses of the legendary “Legion of Boom”. There’s nothing that can go wrong, right? Well, after having defense leaders Bobby Wagner, D.J. Reed, and Carlos Dunlap all leave through the free agency market, the Seahawks needed some sort of quick and strong pick-me-up to keep the ball rolling in the best way possible.
But not all is bad for Seattle, two of their most important pieces in this new-look defense are coming back again. Strong safety Jamal Adams and free safety Quandre Diggs will be back to command Seattle’s secondary, which got an enormous boost through the draft after the team went on the offensive and picked up a couple of very good options for the cornerback position, especially now that they have to fill the spot that Reed left after signing with the Jets.
Pete Carrol is known for being a defensive-minded coach, which usually ends up working out pretty well for his defensive line, so expect this line to be the main focus of the team’s success this season.
Seattle Seahawks Special Teams
The special teams unit in the Seattle Seahawks has always been a very solid and important part of all of Pete Carroll’s schemes. As a firm believer that all units on the team need to play at the same level of intensity as well as intelligence, for the Seahawks, the special teams core has never been an issue, nor should it be in 2022.
Placekicker Jason Myers, as well as punter/holder Michael Dickson and long snapper Tyler Ott, make up one of the best kicking cores in all of the NFL, usually ranking in the top 5 and even top 3 lists of said units. Add to that what punt returners Freddie Swain and Penny Hart alongside DeeJay Dallas, Penny Hart once again and Dee Eskridge can bring to the table and it’s a given that this is one unit that needs no tweaking whatsoever for the upcoming season.
Seattle Seahawks Prediction for 2022 Season
If it was up to Pete Carroll and company, the 2022 season would go off without any real troubles or tribulations, even after seeing pivotal players in their team like Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, and D.J. Reed leave. But, sadly, all signs point towards that not being the case for the Seahawks this season as they will have to do battle in the always tough NFC West division as well as the NFC as a whole too.
The Seahawks still have some players that can become game-changing leaders for the roster in 2022, but the panorama for the team is not necessarily the most pleasant and promising. A lot of changes are headed Seattle’s way and with them, trying to scrape up the best results with what they have to work with.
Dealing with the departure of players like Wagner and Reed will leave holes in the defense but it’s Wilson’s departure that will surely put Pete Carroll and his team to the test to see how they can rebuild and try to shine once again in 2022.
While I don’t see the Seahawks flunking this season, that doesn’t mean that they will be making it to the playoffs or giving the other three teams in their already stacked division a real run for their money. Expect some decent playing from Seattle, but, with that said, do not expect this team to be a contender this upcoming season.
Seattle Seahawks Final Thoughts
If you’ve been a fan of the Seahawks before Russell Wilson, when they had Matt Hasselbeck as QB, then you’re going to be just fine now that the team is going back to a time when Wilson was not in the equation for the team. Yes, seeing the team without their legendary QB will be something interesting to witness, but at the end of the day, Pete Carroll and his football philosophy have proven over and over again that there is no challenge too big for him and his team to overcome.
With that said though, 2022 will be a rough year for Seattle. We’re talking about a team that will need to come together stronger than before to get past what’s coming to them. The defense once again needs to become Seattle’s most important unit on the field.
Metcalf, Lockett, and Penny on offense need to step up even more and lead this team on the point-scoring side of the game and Pete Carroll needs to be able to keep the boat afloat until the storm finally cools off. After all that, better times will once again come for the Seahawks.
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Seattle Seahawks Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Much Did Russell Wilson Leaving the Seahawks Hurt the Team?
The breakup between Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks was something that nobody was expecting yet everyone ends up feeling a little bit hurt from it. It’s never a good time when a player that has been a staple for a franchise leaves to find new challenges in their career. Look at Manning with the Colts, Brady with the Patriots, Rivers with the Chargers, and now, Wilson with the Hawks. Those are all perfect examples of players everyone thought would retire with the same team they started with only to see them take their talents somewhere else.
But coming back to Wilson and Seattle, this is definitely a scenario where the Seahawks came out as the clear losing side of the breakup. Not only did Seattle lose their most important player, as well as their offensive leader, but also, they now are tasked with finding a suitable replacement for Wilson in a rather thin QB market. So, how much did Wilson leaving hurt the Seahawks? A lot, much, much more that can be accounted for right now.
2. Who Will Start as The Seahawks’ New QB?
After losing Russell Wilson during the offseason to the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks had to move fast to find a suitable replacement for the former starting QB in the Hawks’ offense. Of course, finding someone that could fill in for Wilson is more than a gargantuan feat all in itself which is why the Seahawks have had to do with the best they could find in a scarce QB pool.
Drew Lock, who just happens to be Denver’s starting QB from last season is looking like he will be the starting QB for the Seattle Seahawks for the foreseeable future. While, Wilson’s backup last season, Geno Smith could’ve also made a claim for the starting position, given his volatility when it comes to game time and his true lack of starting experience, the team seems better off in the hands of Lock for the moment being.
3. When Will Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll Retire?
If you were to look at Pete Carroll in a picture or in real life, probably, you could not tell that the man is 70 years old. Yes, you read right, 70 years old. After a career that has spanned over 50 years in both college football as well as the NFL, including being the head coach of the Seahawks since 2010, Carroll has not shown any signs of stopping in his tracks whatsoever.
Pete Carroll has shown that his aggressive, tricky and exciting coaching style can survive any of the tests of time in the NFL, with his Seahawks teams continuously being one of the biggest threats in the NFC, especially for teams like the Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals, the other squads that share the NFC West division with Seattle. As of right now, Carroll is slated to continue coaching at least until 2025, which is when his latest contract will be due.
Will he think about retirement then? It could be a possibility, but from the looks of it, the chances of retirement coming his way are scarce at best.
4. Who are the Seattle Seahawks’ biggest rivals?
Every single team in the NFL holds some kind of rivalry with other squads in the league, it’s a given in professional sports and it’s one of the factors that make pro sporting events that much better to watch and experience. The Seattle Seahawks are not the exception to that rule as they hold some very interesting rivalries that are not only limited to their divisional rivals but with other teams from the NFC and one team from the AFC.
In the NFC, the games between the Seahawks and Rams are usually must-watch showdowns, especially with the level of competitiveness that both teams bring to the table when they meet up on the gridiron. The same happens with fellow NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals as well as with the Green Bay Packers from the NFC North division.
Lastly, coming in from the AFC West division, their biggest rivals are none other than Russell Wilson’s new team, the Denver Broncos which will make their week 1 game in Seattle that much more dramatic.
