Kept: Gabe Jackson, Ethan Pocic, Damien Lewis, Kyle Fuller, Jamarco Jones and Phil HaynesĬut: Jordan Simmons, Brad Lundblade, Jared Hocker and Pier-Olivier Lestage Defensive End Kept: Duane Brown, Brandon Shell, Cedric Ogbuehi, Stone Forsythe and Jake CurhanĬut: Tommy Champion and Greg Eiland Interior Offensive Line Kept: Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Dee Eskridge and Freddie SwainĬut: Penny Hart, Darece Roberson, Connor Wedington, Travis Toivonen, Cody Thompson, Aaron Fuller and Cade Johnson Tackle

Kept: Gerald Everett, Will Dissly and Colby ParkinsonĬut: Tyler Mabry, Cam Sutton and Ian Bunting Wide Receiver Kept: Chris Carson, Alex Collins, Travis Homer, DeeJay Dallas and Rashaad Penny Kept: Russell Wilson, Geno Smith and Sean Mannion That, of course, means that it’s time for roster cuts, so without wasting too much time, here is the initial 53 man roster for the Seahawks. That drive signifies everything that happened for the season, where Geno performed better than they thought.It was a long offseason, and a shortened preseason gave fans less of an opportunity to see the Seattle Seahawks play fake football, but the regular season is right around the corner. You go out with a plan but then you get performances elsewhere so you ride with it. You find Metcalf for 9, then you get a Penny run for 4, then you find Will Dissly for a 38-yard gain. What are you gonna do? You’re gonna throw the football. Then you go to DK Metcalf for seven yards, then you go to Tyler Lockett for 17 yards, then you get a false start so you’re first-and-15. Here’s an example of one drive: the first play they hand it off to Rashaad Penny. That’s why you keep throwing the ball, because it’s working and you’re getting into favorable down and distances. “Look at the first game of the year against the Broncos - Geno Smith was 23 of 28 (passing). So why aren’t they one of the top rushing teams in the league if that’s who they want to be? I think it’s because once something starts working for you early in the game, you’ve got to go back to the well a few more times. “Pete Carroll wants to play great defense, he wants to run the football, but still take his shots. “You know the philosophy of this team,” Michael Bumpus said Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. The Seahawks were 22nd in rush attempts per game last year, right next to the Chiefs. Seattle brought down opposing quarterbacks 45 times but didn’t pressure passers nearly as consistently as the league’s top defenses. The Seahawks were 16th in quarterback hits (the Jets and 49ers were first and third, respectively) and were 28th in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric. So how about pass-rush win rate? Or something even simpler, like quarterback hits? Both paint a slightly different picture. That efficiency (or lack thereof from Seattle) is reflected more obviously in a few other stats.

But the Seahawks trailed all three in defensive DVOA (Seattle was 21st compared to the 49ers’ first-place ranking, the Jets’ fifth-place rank, and the Bucs’ 13th-place rank), meaning a team like San Francisco was more successful than league average on individual plays, while a team like Seattle performed worse despite recording more sacks.

Seattle’s 45 sacks last season ranked eighth in the NFL, which was tied with the Jets and Buccaneers and one more than the 49ers. Are we not giving the Seahawks enough credit for their ability to get to the quarterback, or is this one a bit misleading? Need a reminder of how bad it got? There were the 223 rushing yards allowed by the Panthers in Week 14, the 235 rushing yards allowed by the Saints in Week 5, and the more than 300 yards of total offense allowed by running back Josh Jacobs in a Week 12 loss to the Saints.īut despite being a defense that, at times, felt so frustrating to watch, this was also a top-10 unit in sacks. Last season saw an improvement against the pass but also an abysmal 30th-ranked rushing defense. They were at least solid against the run… until they weren’t. The defense had been on a gradual decline for years since its Legion of Boom days, but it started to feel like the Seahawks hit rock bottom with the sheer volume of explosive pass plays allowed in 20. That Seattle badly needs to improve its defense isn’t a secret to fans. The Seattle Seahawks’ D was bad… but top 10 in sacks Neither is bad, but both can teach us a lesson about how football is played and which measurements Seattle should track for improvement in 2023. When it comes to the Seahawks, there are two interesting contradictions from last season.

2021 seattle seahawks roster