Three biggest worries about Seahawks in 2018
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks begin 2018 with more question marks than in previous years. How much do 12s need to worry about this year’s team?
First of all, let me say it is easy to overreact to preseason NFL football. So what if the Seahawks went 0-4 this preseason. Last year the Cleveland Browns went 0-16 in games that counted but were 4-0 in the 2017 preseason. So make of that what you will.
Still, Seattle just seems…I don’t know. Different might be the right word. Off or something, maybe. In preseasons past, if Seattle were to go 0-4 12s could shrug it off. And ok, this preseason Seattle did lead at half against the Minnesota Vikings – a good team – when it was still mostly starters against starters. Still…there’s room for worry. And here are three reasons why.
The Seahawks simply have less proven talent on the team
We know Pete Carroll likes young players. But we don’t yet know that the young players the Seahawks have are really that good. We think they are. And we sure hope they are. But are they good? We have no idea.
Gone are former Pro Bowl players Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Jimmy Graham and Sheldon Richardson. Plus, Paul Richardson was pretty good in 2017 too. That is a lot of talent to replace. And even with most of those players until week 10 of last year, Seattle still just went 9-7.
Younger players like Shaquill Griffin and Chris Carson have shown moments of potential to be great. But there is no way of knowing whether those moments will translate into consistent play over the course of a season or several seasons. Maybe Griffin and Carson and others will be great. But maybe they won’t.
And we know that Sherman and Chancellor and Avril were great but no longer on the team, of course.