If the Seahawks could get one division rival player, it should be:
If the Seahawks could take any player from a division rival, who should it be?
Ah yes, we’ve reached the sweet days of early July. Too often the only NFL news is bad news, as in a suspension for violating league policy on PEDs or ‘personal conduct’, the NFL’s laughable euphemism for sexual assault. It seems a fun thought experiment might be a nice break from all that, so here we are. If the Seahawks could take any single player from a division rival, who would it be?
I see three considerations here. The first is simple: how good is the player? I mean, no offense to Zane Beadles, but the 49ers have better players. Although he can play guard or tackle… hmmmm… nah, we can do better. We only want the best player from the team. Or close to the best, which leads us to…
The second consideration is what the Seahawks need. I’ll admit, there are plenty of spots where Seattle could use some help – strong safety comes to mind – but even if one of our rivals has a great player, we may have one better. Josh Rosen isn’t taking snaps ahead of Russell Wilson, for example. There are some really promising quarterbacks in the division, but no one is Mr. Unlimited. For the record, I agree with that ranking; the NFC North has one unproven player, the NFC West has two. By season’s end, I think they’ll flip, though.
The third consideration is this: how much does the loss of the player hurt our rival? If they have a solid offensive line, it wouldn’t hurt them as much to lose a top player. For example, the Rams would handle the loss of Andrew Whitworth better than most teams. So now that you know three guys I wouldn’t take, lets get to the good stuff.
Seattle Seahawks
Any of these three players would look great on the Seahawks
Chandler Jones, defensive end. While I gave Larry Fitzgerald some very strong consideration, his best years are behind him. I’d be thrilled to have him on the Seahawks, but at this point in their careers, Jones is the player to take from the Arizona Cardinals. And he fills a major need for Seattle, considering we lost both Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril this year. Jones is coming off his best season, too. He set career highs with 17 sacks and 51 tackles. He sure would look sweet opposite Frank Clark, wouldn’t he?
Joe Staley, offensive tackle. No, I didn’t forget Reuben Foster is a member of the San Francisco 49ers. I didn’t forget he was suspended for two games this year, either. Or that he was arrested for domestic violence earlier this year. The main thing I didn’t forget is the Seahawks already have Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright. So we go to Staley, who was only Pro Football Focus’ second highest rated offensive tackle last year. He fills a much bigger need for Seattle than Foster.
Aaron Donald, defensive tackle. Todd Gurley is one fine football player, but Donald has been the top-ranked tackle in the league for three straight years. The margin isn’t even close, either, as we mentioned in our piece on the Madden ratings. So Donald is the guy we steal from the Los Angeles Rams. Gurley had an off year in 2016, and (fingers crossed) Seattle will get great production from their backfield in 2018. But no one produces like Aaron Donald. He’s easily the most dominant player at his position in the league.
Next: Could Pete be on the hot seat?
That is why I’d have to go with Aaron Donald. The Seahawks have good down linemen, really good, in Naz Jones and Jarren Reed. They have some solid backups too. But let’s be real. Donald is the equivalent of Cortez Kennedy. Yeah, the Rams would still have Ndamukong Suh. I’d rather have the best player at his position than the dirtiest. And this will never happen anyway, but it isn’t a bad dream, now is it?