Seahawks offseason is officially done but was it a good one?
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks finished OTAs on Thursday. Pete Carroll is almost always positive but should he be based on offseason events?
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is ever the optimist. And that is one reason, myself included, that many 12s really like the coach. Carroll is team-first and doesn’t like to call out his players. In many ways, he’s the boss we all want to have.
But Carroll is also dealing with a team in transition. Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett and Paul Richardson? Gone, gone and gone. Earl Thomas is holding out. Kam Chancellor might retire. And Cliff Avril was released. Lots of Pro Bowl players have left.
But after the end of mandatory workouts on Thursday, Carroll still had hopes. And Thursday is really the end of the offseason. In six weeks training camp starts and this will mark the beginning of the 2018 season.
So why is Carroll hopeful? There are many reasons, even for a pessimist.
There are a lot of rookies to like
2018 could have been the best draft the Seahawks have had in several years. Don’t let those national pundits fool you. They are wrong a lot of the time. Seattle got a lot of what it needed, at least on paper.
Rashaad Penny not only picked up blocking schemes quickly, he also weighs 230 pounds. I am not joking about the blocking. Lots of rookie running backs can run and catch. What hurts them is their inability to pick up blitzes. Penny seems to be doing well with that which means he could play earlier rather than later. Plus, did I mention he weighs 230 pounds and is also really fast?
Will Dissly also weighs a bunch for his position. The tight end is 270 pounds and a mean-blocker. For a team that wants to run the ball a lot more than it has, Dissly might be a huge lift.
And lots of people are raving about Shaquem Griffin, including the guy he could replace as the eventual starter, K.J. Wright. Griffin, except as we all know his missing hand, is a physical freak. He will be a good player for many seasons in the NFL.
Special teams
The Seahawks missed the playoffs last year, of course. One big reason for that was kicker Blair Walsh. Seattle will be better with Sebastian Janikowski. And Seattle appears to be better at punter, too. We all know that Michael Dickson is going to win the position over Jon Ryan.
Plus, as I wrote earlier, the NFL’s new kickoff rule might help Seattle win a couple of games. Two wins might be the difference between making the playoffs and not.
The offense looks good
Seahawks fans were not completely overjoyed when Seattle announced Brian Schottenheimer would be the new offensive coordinator. But so far in OTAs, the offense looks better than the defense.
The team has made a concerted effort to get better on this side of the ball, clearly. The offensive line should be better. David Moore looks like Seattle’s third best receiver in practice this offseason. And the running back room might be the best it has been in years with Penny, Chris Carson and others.
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So maybe 2018 will be a good year for the Seahawks. On paper, they are worse than the Los Angeles Rams. But games aren’t played on paper. That would just be weird.