Three real reasons the Seahawks could miss the playoffs

The Seahawks defensive line can’t improve the pass rush

Just in case you haven’t heard, the Seahawks traded away their best pass-rusher. Yep, the wondrous Black Elvis himself, Frank Clark, is now with the Kansas City Chiefs. I’ll admit I did write an article stating the Hawks will be better off overall after all the moves this trade engendered. I stand by that. But it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong – and that’s just today.

But what if the pass rush doesn’t hold up without Clark? That could easily happen. Ziggy Ansah may not be the player we hoped. After all, he’s suffered a litany of injuries over the past few seasons. I expect he’ll be healthy, but he is still recovering from shoulder surgery. Seattle is depending heavily on Jarran Reed to duplicate his stellar 2018 season. Consider that Cortez Kennedy, one of the best to ever play defensive tackle, only hit double digits in sacks once.  You see how difficult Reed’s task really is.

The Seahawks are depending on a lot more sacks from a lot of other players, of course. I think a combination of prodigal son Cassius Marsh and whoever wins the battle between linebackers Barkevious Mingo and Shaquem Griffin can compile a dozen sacks.  Of course, they could also combine for three or four. Mychal Kendricks was excellent in his four games last year. But he’s awaiting sentencing. He’ll likely get a light sentence, but depending on the timing, he could possibly miss most of the season. If Seattle thought that was likely, they wouldn’t have re-signed him. I think the pass rush will be better, but there are certainly a lot of worrisome pieces here.