3 biggest threats for seattle in 2022-Thoughts?

[rgilliam11]

Draft and develop has always been John and Pete's strategy. It takes time to build a team that way. But some kids out of college cannot be developed into good NFL players: Tre Flowers, for a recent example. Free agency can work and some teams have used it to their success but only at key impact positions, though the Seahawks are not one of them. Having a bunch of low level free agents show up for a workout is not a winning strategy. I hope they draft a rookie QB who can develop like Russ and perhaps a great safety or CB rookie high in the draft. This year feels like a purge year for some reason, and some of the people they purged shouldn't have been purged.

 

[TwistedHusky]

I don't trust this team to sign big money FAs - it rarely works out. One of our most successful of those recently was the Adams deal, which coincidentally was also one of the worst deals in the history of this franchise.

We probably also shouldn't trust this team to use early draft picks to turn things around. DK was a good example of an early pick working out for us, but we haven't got a great track record on those since Scott left either.

We do have a reasonable track record of getting solid to very good players in the later parts of the draft, guys like Chris Carson. Not sure you want to plan the entire recovery of the roster based on getting lucky with a 7th rounder but we get a lot of our standout players in the 4th-7th rounds.

So with 2 of our pathways blocked, FO decisioning might be one of the bigger threats. The other is just that the other teams in our division have better rosters, better QBs, and better coaches. That isn't an ideal pond to build a recovery from but it is probably our reality.

 

[keasley45]

We haven't had a major free agent signing in years, and no i don't think Olsen counts. He was clearly on his last legs. In free agency our MO is to go bargain shopping. Bring in a bunch of guys with potential that have never lived up to it. We spend a ridiculous sum of money doing so and end up with mediocre players that never make a splash.

Our Super Bowl team used free agents quite liberally. Bennett, Zach Miller, McDonald and Avril all were essential pieces that came out of free agency. We can even expand the list to Browner, but he was more of a project from the CFL. Without those guys we might not have a ring to our name.

The majority of the players you mentioned that brought us success and were the cornerstones for our early success were deemed mediocre or obscure talents... or at best were seen as having the potential to do well before we got them. The formula hasn't changed. We had success early and have struggled in trying to plug players into a system that was becoming antiquated due to rule changes and talent loss at key positions. It's hard enough to replace the likes of an Earl Thomas, Chancellor, Avril, etc. Harder when the game is changing and you've dedicated time to trying to replace those players in the same system... or a tweaked version of it.

I give the FO credit for admitting they were too committed to trying to make what they had work, rather than changing the approach entirely. Pete said they were stubborn.

So I don't know that its safe to make forecasts about how we might do in this new paradigm, based on how we did trying to piece together something we've now clearly acknowledged we've abandoned.

If anything, it would seem the best baseline comparison might be to when we were building the team from scratch. And this go-round, we have more pieces to start with than we did in 2010.

I also think history will be kinder to our drafts when we see realize the impact players like Brooks, Taylor, Brown, Eskridge, Lewis, etc will have on this new generation of Hawks.

I think the biggest threat will be keeping the team motivated if things start slowly and the wins are as hard to get this year as they were last. But then again, Pete had the guys fired up in week 18 and playing as though they had a playoff birth on the line.

 

[chris98251]

We were at our best with guys that had attitude and something to prove, fill around them with good players doing their jobs and role guys. We have DK as attitude right now, Adams has a Sherman like persona but it has not transferred to the field really, it could Diggs is a guy much like Kam, but we don't see the crushing blows that send a message from him nor anyone else really. No intimidation factor on defense as of last season. The D line doesn't have a Bennett or Avril or even Clemons. They were guys that had to be accounted for and brought energy.

Lynch, he was a special guy, a RB that people didn't have a desire to really tackle since he delivered a blow before he took one most times. Then Angry Doug.

Those are the guys we need to find replacement types for.

Moxie, attitude, breaking the mold and also good players.

Be nice to find a QB with a bit of a mix of Stafford, Farve, Stabler, Hasselbeck make up also.

 

[Spin Doctor]

The majority of the players you mentioned that brought us success and were the cornerstones for our early success were deemed mediocre or obscure talents... or at best were seen as having the potential to do well before we got them. The formula hasn't changed. We had success early and have struggled in trying to plug players into a system that was becoming antiquated due to rule changes and talent loss at key positions. It's hard enough to replace the likes of an Earl Thomas, Chancellor, Avril, etc. Harder when the game is changing and you've dedicated time to trying to replace those players in the same system... or a tweaked version of it.

I give the FO credit for admitting they were too committed to trying to make what they had work, rather than changing the approach entirely. Pete said they were stubborn.

So I don't know that its safe to make forecasts about how we might do in this new paradigm, based on how we did trying to piece together something we've now clearly acknowledged we've abandoned.

If anything, it would seem the best baseline comparison might be to when we were building the team from scratch. And this go-round, we have more pieces to start with than we did in 2010.

I also think history will be kinder to our drafts when we see realize the impact players like Brooks, Taylor, Brown, Eskridge, Lewis, etc will have on this new generation of Hawks.

I think the biggest threat will be keeping the team motivated if things start slowly and the wins are as hard to get this year as they were last. But then again, Pete had the guys fired up in week 18 and playing as though they had a playoff birth on the line.

The guys I mentioned in free agency weren't "obscure players". Michael Bennett was coming off a 9 sack season in Tampa when we signed him. He wasn't just another random schmuck. He was also able to rotate inside in Tampa like he did here. He was quite disruptive even over there. Zach Miller was coming off of a pro-bowl season and was considered one of the top TE's in the NFL at the time. In Detroit Avril was coming off of a 9.5 sack and a 11 sack season. The only guy that was obscure was Clinton McDonald in that group I mentioned. I wouldn't call any of those guys mediocre talents, save for McDonald.

 

[keasley45]

The guys I mentioned in free agency weren't "obscure players". Michael Bennett was coming off a 9 sack season in Tampa when we signed him. He wasn't just another random schmuck. He was also able to rotate inside in Tampa like he did here. He was quite disruptive even over there. Zach Miller was coming off of a pro-bowl season and was considered one of the top TE's in the NFL at the time. In Detroit Avril was coming off of a 9.5 sack and a 11 sack season. The only guy that was obscure was Clinton McDonald in that group I mentioned. I wouldn't call any of those guys mediocre talents, save for McDonald.

Fair, but i dont remember them being top tier, household name, free agent signings. Maybe i'm wrong but i remember both Cliff and Michael being described as underrated and both were signed for modest contracts (1 yr -5mil, 2 yr -13 mil). Contrast that against Dumervill who was locked up long term by the Broncos for 35 mil and Anthony Spencer and Michael Johnson, who's contracts that year netted twice what we paid for Cliff and Bennet. We got those guys on future potential / on an upward trend and at a bargain price relative to the market. They by far outplayed their contracts and thats what i think* the FO has been trying to replicate since.

But i agree 100% that they've not been successful and have wasted the salary cap savings they tend to net on signings that dont pan out for one reason or another.

 

[xray]

Tell that to the Rams

Tell that to Belichick