Seahawks three biggest story lines for Tuesday, 2/20/2018

The Seahawks news is a bit slower this time of year. After the season ends and before the draft, most news is just a guess of what happens next. Here are some guesses and other stuff for Tuesday.

Will Seattle franchise tag Sheldon Richardson?

There is a bunch of speculation that the Seahawks will stick the franchise tag on Richardson. The defensive tackle is relatively young (he is 27 years old) and good. From Tuesday through March 6, NFL teams can tag players with impending free agency to keep them from getting to the open market.

Richardson is one of these guys. The issue for Seattle is if they can afford Richardson. He is expected to want at least $12 million a season in a long-term deal. If the Seahawks franchise him, Seattle will probably have to pay a one-year salary of around $14 million. Currently, Seattle cannot really afford to spend that kind of money without making significant changes.

Of course, Seattle also might not be able to afford to let Richardson go. Plus, Seattle might lose Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett this offseason too. That would be bad for 2018.

Doug Martin gets released by the Buccaneers

Clearly the Seahawks are in need of another running back. Chris Carson will be back next year. Hopefully, Mike Davis will be too. Eddie Lacy and Thomas Rawls will not.

Martin is one option for Seattle. According to Field Gulls, Martin is a viable option for Seattle if he can brought in at a low cost. Martin, though, has averaged just 2.9 yards per carry each of the last two injury-riddled seasons. Not great.

But he shouldn’t be expected to the starter in Seattle, either. So some veteran depth might help.

Seahawks schedule in 2018 is not fun (on paper)

Brady Henderson of ESPN writes that Seattle has the fifth toughest schedule in the NFL next year. But that doesn’t mean anything really.

As Henderson correctly points out, remember when the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants were both supposed to be losses for Seattle on the road in 2017? And both were wins. The Washington Redskins in Seattle was supposed to be a win, and the Seahawks lost.

On any given Sunday…

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