Using History to Decide Who Stays and Who Goes for Seahawks
By Aaron Thomas
Defensive End (Average career span is 5.5 years)
Cassius Marsh
The ex-UCLA Bruin has also shown a few flashes on the field, but injuries have tagged him with a small red flag. He is entering his fourth season, which is below the average career span for his position. I see him getting a two or three year deal at the end of the season (if he stays healthy).
Dion Jordan
He is a bit of a conundrum for me because although he was a high pick in 2013, he has played sparingly due to injuries. When he is on the field and is healthy, he can present a blocking mismatch for opposing OTs. He is in a make-or-break season. The only real thing he has going for him going forward is that he is in his fifth season, which is under the league average and may have some more years in him. Other than that, buckle up and see how he does this season. He could be another Dwight Freeney. Or he could be out of the league a season from now.
Linebacker (Average career span is 5.2 years)
Michael Wilhoite
He is entering into his sixth season, but he didn’t really start playing for the 49ers as a regular until his second season. Just like Jordan and a few others, this will be a make-or-break season for him. Sure, he provides leadership at a position of need. However, he needs to show why he was brought here in free agency. The weak-side LB position has always been a “oh whatever” position for the Seahawks defense. They may decide, though, to spend another one-year deal on him at the end of the season.
Arthur Brown
He is entering his fifth NFL season. Brown is another make-or-break guy who was drafted high but hasn’t lived up to his collegiate career. He provides depth at the LB position and could be signed to a one-year league minimum deal at the end of the season.
Kevin Pierre-Louis
Pierre-Louis is entering his fourth NFL season and is under the average career span for LB in the NFL. Although his LB age is low, he may have used up all of his injury-lives in the NFL. We could see this as the last year for KPL, whom I loved coming out of college. He has speed, which Schneider and Carroll covet in their scheme. If he doesn’t get injured, I could see Carroll and Schneider signing one of their own to a league minimum deal at the end of the season.
Defensive Back (Average career span is 5.2 years)
Kam Chancellor
The June 1st deadline came and went and ‘Godzilla’ as I call him, secured his $7 million contract for this season. He is entering his eighth season of hard tackling, stop-a-running-back-in-his-tracks-style of smash mouth football for our beloved ‘Hawks. By DB age, he is vintage (though he’s not old and not antique). This is a polite way to say he’s got some wear and tear on his body.
As much as I love him for all that he’s done for the team and has helped Seattle create a feared defense over the past six years, I don’t see the Seahawks signing him in the off-season.
Again, he is not the youngest of players. The Seahawks brass covet youth over experience because statistically, younger players stay more healthy. Chancellor hasn’t been the poster-child for health over the last seven seasons. I believe he even knows that his time is almost up in this league.
He held out two years ago because he knew that his body was telling him that he may need to get out of the league in a few years. Chancellor needed to secure more money to help sustain him after football.
It will be a sad day to see him go. But for the benefit of the future of the team and the limited cap space, I see him moving on in 2018, either to another team or out of the league all-together. Boy, I hope I’m wrong and we get to see him for at least another 2 seasons.
The other DBs
Bradley McDougald
An undrafted free agent, Bradley has been in the league going on five years. He, just like Whilhoite, didn’t start playing his position full-time until his second season. In DB years, he is only four years in which makes him on the younger side of the spectrum. I can see Bradley challenging Jeremy Lane for his position and making the Seahawks brass think long and hard whether or not they want to keep Lane on for the 2018 season.
DeShawn Shead
He is entering his sixth season but didn’t start to consistently play his position until his second season. Shead is coming off an injury year and is in a make-or-break season this year. If he stays healthy, I can see him getting a two- or three-year deal in the offseason.
There are a slew of other DBs that will most likely get tenured to one-year contracts in the off-season.
Special Teams
Kicker (Average career span is 5.9 years)
Blair Walsh
Walsh is entering into his sixth season, which makes him an average age for his position. The proof will be in the clutch kicking he provides this season which will decide whether he is on this team in 2018 and beyond. He has the kicking distance and accuracy that the Seahawks brass enjoy. Just like his predecessor, if he can hit some game-winning or game-tying field goals (and extra points), the Blair Walsh Project will be less likely of a scary movie and more like a consistent part of our team.
I see him signing a three or four year deal in less than a year from now because he will show that clutch kicking ability.
Tyler Ott is not a kicker and is more of an offensive lineman. I added him in the special teams category as one to watch because the long snapper is so vital to the timing and overall success of the kicking and punting teams. I still wish we could’ve kept Clint Gresham, who is still a free agent and has not been invited to the Seahawks or any other team’s OTAs.
Maybe I missed somewhere that he is injured and cannot play?