Seahawks may need to find successor to Doug Baldwin sooner than later
With Doug Baldwin’s future suddenly in doubt, the Seahawks may need to make wide receiver a top priority in free agency and the draft.
The Seahawks missed the healthy version of Doug Baldwin last season. We’ll take a deeper look into that in a moment. The concern now is Baldwin’s health for the 2019 season. Will he be ready in time? Will he be 100 percent, or as close to 100 percent as NFL players can be? There’s even the concern Baldwin could retire. For all these reasons, the Seahawks should make wide receiver a much bigger priority that they expected this offseason.
As for Baldwin’s health and its impact on 2018, there’s no disputing that. Even a cursory look at the Seahawks passing attack proves this. It isn’t about the three games he missed as much as it is about his health throughout the season. True, Seattle was 2-1 in contests without him in the lineup. Yet in two losses, he was only targeted once in each game. The Hawks lost those by a total of five points. The main issue was the lack of a running game against the Broncos and the inability to stop the Rams. A healthy Angry Doug could have overcome those troubles.
This is a good time to clarify something. The Seahawks cannot replace Doug Baldwin through free agency at this point. They can definitely find a good receiver. It just isn’t likely that any player still available could fill the very large role of Baldwin. But Tyler Lockett was basically receiver 1A last season as it is. So any potential replacement would need to fill the number two receiver role at best.
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Potential future Seahawks include one from the past
A few potential future Seahawks have to include Jermaine Kearse. No, he isn’t a number one receiver, and perhaps not even a solid number two. Would his return be good for the team though? As Lee Vowell wrote last week, there are a lot of positives to this. As Karley Silbert wrote, a reunion could be good for both parties. It may be time for the 12s to get their “Welcome Back Kearse” signs ready.
Jordy Nelson paid a visit to Seattle last week. Again, Lee Vowell had this covered. As Lee wrote, Nelson is not the same kind of receiver as Baldwin. He certainly isn’t as fast as he once was, but they haven’t started calling him White Molasses yet, either. He’d definitely be cheaper than Baldwin, too.
One name that we haven’t mentioned yet is Demaryius Thomas. Like Nelson, Thomas is a big receiver at 6’3″. I’ll admit, he’s about five years past his days as a number one receiver. But like Nelson, he’s still dangerous, and can still use his frame to outplay defenders for the ball. He still caught 59 balls last year between Denver and Houston, 10 of those in the red zone. He won’t ever make 100 receptions again, but no one will for Seattle. He’s worth a look.
One last possibility is Chris Hogan. Hogan fits the mold of Baldwin far better than any of the previously mentioned players. As is the case for so many Patriots players, Hogan filled a specific role for the team. The emergence of Josh Gordon didn’t impact Hogan’s targets, but did make him a bit more expendable. In his three years in New England, Hogan was targeted 58, 59, and 55 times. He didn’t grade well as an outside receiver last year either, according to Pro Football Focus. That would either have to improve, or he’ll need to spend more time in the slot.
dark. Next. A look at Tyler Lockett's great 2018, and what's ahead
Just a few weeks ago, our own Colby Patnode wrote for the Seahawks to become a better passing team, they would have to invest in more weapons to do so. As I mentioned, none of these free agents can replace Angry Doug Prime. Hopefully, none will have to. But the wide receiver position has suddenly become a much bigger priority for the Seahawks than we thought.