Do the Seahawks really have that much talent? ESPN says no

ESPN ranked the NFL teams from 1-32 from best talent overall to worst; the Seahawks ranked 11th. There are some issues, however.

The Seahawks have a top-heavy team if we combine all the recent polls. ESPN released its rankings of the most talented teams from best to worst based on Pro Football Focus’s ratings. One issue is how the the list was conceived. Projected starters make up the core of the team, or as the article puts it, “focusing in particular on how the expected starters stack up in our metrics.”

Starters?

The key word there is “starters.” According to the Seahawks part of the article, Jermaine Kearse, who had a poor grade (rightfully so for 2016), will be a starter. Seattle mostly likely will start receivers Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett and Paul Richardson. (If they do not start those guys, blame the Seahawks.) It is odd that PFF says Richardson will start but Lockett will not as Lockett as been a much more durable player. The article would make more sense Seahawks-wise if Lockett had been the starter over Richardson. Leaving that as it is, though, if one replaces Kearse’s grade (48.5) with Lockett’s (73.0), Seattle looks much better.

At running back, the ESPN article starts Thomas Rawls over Eddie Lacy. Lacy is expected to be the starter. Rawls’ grade was 69.7 in 2016. Lacy’s was 77.3. Neither player stayed healthy enough to say one was much more productive than the other.

In the top ten of ESPN’s best teams of 2017 are Seahawks regular season foes Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans (number three!), Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.

NFC West rivals rank below Seattle. The Arizona Cardinals are 14th. The San Francisco 49ers, 30th. Los Angeles ranks 31st. If this part of the rankings is true, the Seahawks should sweep through their NFC West games.

Rankings…

There are several rankings in the offseason, though. NFL.com has eight Seahawks ranked in their top 100 players. If the NFL.com ranking and the ESPN ranking are both correct, then this would mean the Seahawks have a lot of talent at the top end of their roster but not a lot of depth. In translation, this means the Seahawks can make the playoffs but not make a deep run.

The important thing to remember is this is June. Rankings (and maybe this very article) are made to get views. Games will not start until September and final rosters are not set. Only the games matter. Rankings…not so much.