Seattle Seahawks Betting Preview 2021

The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the most successful teams in the NFL in the last decade, and that includes one Super Bowl championship. Seattle competes in the NFC West and features one of the best home-field advantages in the league.

Seattle has been a constant playoff participant, but this season will not be a cakewalk by any means. The Seahawks only possess the third-best odds to win their division. Seattle is a team in contention, but one that may have to add to its roster throughout the season to sneak into the playoffs. Quarterback Russell Wilson is the wild card that gives the Seahawks a chance to dominate most of the season, similar to the one Aaron Rodgers had with Green Bay in 2020.

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Seattle Seahawks 2021 Schedule Analysis

The Seahawks are dealt the same hand as everyone else in the NFC West, playing three very good teams twice a season. This doesn’t make anything easy and it really does drop the floor of all of the teams within the division. Do I expect someone in the conference to just drop into a tailspin that ends in an 0-6 or 1-5 divisional record? No, but it’s definitely possible and predicting who that would be will also be tough.

Seattle’s cross-divisional matchups include the NFC North and the AFC South, which is the saving grace of this schedule. The NFC North just got a lot tougher with the announcement that Rodgers is returning, but the Detroit Lions should be horrible and the Chicago Bears could easily keep Andy Dalton in the lineup well too long. The AFC South also has a lot of question marks and there is not a ton to be afraid of outside of a few offenses that could have good years. I like the schedule outside of the divisional opponents for these reasons.

Seattle Seahawks News & Picks

The Seahawks have been relatively quiet from a news perspective this offseason after the Russell Wilson trade talks died rather quickly. Obviously, a trade involving Wilson would shock the league and would also throw the Seahawks into rebuilding territory.

Seattle Seahawks Key Players

Russell Wilson

Wilson is entering his10th season with the Seahawks and it will be interesting to see how he handles a season like 2020. Wilson started out hot and did seem to cool off a bit, even if extraneous circumstances could very well be to blame for this issue.

Wilson does have some weaknesses that often are under-discussed because of his reputation and the fact that he doesn’t struggle too much in any situation. Wilson doesn’t want to run a bunch of complicated route trees and concepts. This is why we see wide receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf as feature players. These two are a perfect tandem for Wilson that make him comfortable with trusting the scheme that relies a lot on one or two guys executing on a route. Will Wilson adapt after defenses had Seattle’s number in late 2020?

DK Metcalf

Metcalf was a polarizing draft prospect and it turns out that the speed and size have been more than enough to make Metcalf an elite receiver. I do have concerns as to just how sustainable this offense is if we see something like an injury to Wilson or the Seahawks add another key receiver to the mix.

Either way, Metcalf is set to explode in Year Three. My biggest concern with Metcalf is that he isn’t a complete player and I don’t know how much this actually matters. The main reason that I do think it matters is the ability to shut him down. All of the best receivers in the league are elite route runners, something Metcalf is not. This makes it a bit easier to cover him.

Seattle Seahawks New Additions

The Seahawks added Gabe Jackson, Gerald Everett and a pair of former San Francisco 49ers in Ahkello Witherspoon and Kerry Hyder in the offseason. None of these guys truly move the needle in terms of our overall expectations of the team. The Seahawks look similar to last season, but I’m not sure that that is good enough with the other teams around them.

In the draft, the Seahawks only had three picks and used the earliest one on an interesting wide receiver prospect — D’Wayne Eskridge of Western Michigan — who should replace David Moore and maybe even bring more explosiveness than anyone that the team previously have had in that role.

Seattle Seahawks Key Subtractions

The Seahawks weren’t super active in free agency and this leads to a boring look into the changes of this team. They lost Shaquill Griffin to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are trying to add more star power alongside No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. After that, the notable departures were Greg Olsen, K.J. Wright and Bruce Irvin.

Divisional Outlook

The NFC West is loaded and we cannot expect the Seahawks to waltz to the playoffs. We can expect them to be competitive in every game and have a lot of close, important games. The 49ers are +175 and the Los Angeles Rams are +200 to win the division while Seattle is +250. While the Seahawks are third, that is more of a reflection of the depth in the division than the team’s roster.

Seattle Seahawks Offense

When it comes to overall points per game, Seattle ranked seventh and there is little reason to expect much difference this season. This team is pursuing the playoffs and the offensive firepower is the way to get them there. The addition of deep threat Eskridge only boosts my confidence in the offense, given that he should present more athleticism on that side of the ball.

Seattle Seahawks Defense

The Legion of Boom was just OK last season at 16th in the NFL in scoring defense and I expect this defense to have slightly less talent. Continuity should keep them alive, but I doubt we see a team that is winning because of its defense. The goal is to create turnovers and keep Wilson in the game, not pitch shutouts with a unit lacking the talent to do so. It’s not super comforting knowing that these tough divisional games will likely all require a high-scoring offense again this season.

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