Three key position battles for the Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks Position Battle No. 3: Tight end

The Seahawks have spent a lot of cap space and draft capital on tight ends this offseason. Seattle is making a slight scheme change and is planning on utilizing the 12 personnel group. This change would give Seattle 1 RB, 2 TEs, and 2 WRs on the field at any given time. So, who will be the two starting tight ends for Seattle in 2020?

The tight ends group:

• Greg Olsen
• Jacob Hollister
• Will Dissly
• Luke Wilson
• Stephen Sullivan
• Colby Parkinson
• Tyler Mabry
• Dominick Woods-Anderson

The competition looking at this grouping really lies between Greg Olsen, Jacob Hollister and Will Dissly. I really like Colby Parkinson and Stephen Sullivan. However, I view both of them as backups for now, with potential in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised given the scheme change and durability concerns if Seattle keeps 5 tight ends on the roster in 2020.

Greg Olsen

Olsen made it clear, he came to Seattle to be a starter. He has no issue helping others around him, but he will not be on the team in a pure mentor role. He has more to prove and he believes the combination of his route running, sure hands and Russell Wilsons’ accuracy, could be something special in Seattle.

Last season he registered only 3 drops on 82 targets. To put into context, he played with two QB’s who could hardly throw an accurate pass 10 yards down the field. Cam Newton was injured and overthrew nearly everyone. Kyle Allen was completely erratic with both underthrows and overthrows. Not ideal circumstances for a pass catcher. So long as Olsen can stay healthy, he should be able to consistently provide a safety net for Wilson.

The biggest draws to Olsen would be his lack of blocking ability and durability concerns. He is more or less a big slot receiver. He has ranked in the bottom third amongst tight ends in blocking numerous times in his career. For Olsen to play and play well, Seattle will need to use him almost solely as a pass-catcher. Olsen has missed 18 games over the last 3 seasons as well.

Jacob Hollister

Jacob Hollister was an absolute steal, last year. Seattle sent a 7th round pick for a player who ended up with 41 receptions, 3 touchdowns and only 1 dropped pass. He left such a high impression on Seattle that they placed a 2nd round tender on him. This more or less told other teams to keep their hands off.

While Hollister is great in terms of pass-catching, he again falls short in terms of blocking. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly is not from lack of effort. It is just not his bread and butter. His one year cap hit is just over $3 million, which would make him a very expensive player if he ended up as the backup.

Will Dissly

Dissly has been a star for Seattle when on the field. The guy can flat out play. One of the most impressive facets would be his blocking ability. I remember when Seattle played the Saints last year. Dissly took star DE Cameron Jordan 1v1 numerous times and succeeded. To put into context how impressive this is, Jordan had 15.5 sacks last year.

Dissly is also a reliable pass catcher and red zone threat. In the 6 games Dissly started, he accrued 23 receptions on 27 targets, including 4 touchdowns. He didn’t have a single drop either. The chemistry between Russell Wilson and Will Dissly is incredibly strong.

However, Dissly has struggled mightily with health. He has ended both the 2018 and 2019 seasons on the injury reserve. He has played a total of 10 games out of 35 possible games (including playoffs).

The team is undoubtedly concerned about his health and ability to play long term in the NFL. He has All-Pro potential if he can stay healthy. The team will need to juggle whether his upside is superior to his injury concerns. This is especially true if he were to take a starting spot away from a developing talent like Hollister.

Conclusion

Olsen and Hollister are nearly identical players at this point. The Seahawks didn’t pay Olsen $7 million to ride the bench. I for one think Dissly can be a top 5 TE in the NFL if he can remain healthy. To me, his star power shines much brighter than the questions surrounding his injury history.

That being said, given the durability issues surrounding both Olsen and Dissly, Hollister is more important than ever. I originally thought he could be a cut candidate, but looking through the injury history, Seattle would be wise to keep him very close.

My Pick:

Starters: Greg Olsen and Will Dissly

Backup: Jacob Hollister