Seahawks tight ends will be great under Shane Waldron

The Seahawks have lots of skill position players with talent but the tight ends might be the difference between Seattle getting to the Super Bowl or not. Maybe that sounds like hyperbole but trust me, it isn’t. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron knows well how to use tight ends and he has a lot of work with in Seattle.

Forst off, the Seahawks signing Gerald Everett this offseason will turn out to be a brilliant move. Everett played with the Rams for four seasons before coming to Seattle. While with the Rams he was coached by then-passing game coordinator Waldron. Everett was targeted at least 50 times each season between 2018 and 2020. In 2018 and 2020, Everett caught at least 66 percent of his targets.

Everett is going to be a transitional player for Seattle this year. He can come in and help Will Dissly learn Waldron’s system and this will help Dissly be better prepared than he otherwise would be if a former Ram had not joined Seattle.

Seahawks tight ends could be special this year

Will Dissly is entering the final year of his current contract with Seattle. In his first two seasons, Dissly showed that he could be a very good pass catcher after being taken by Seattle out of the University of Washington more for his elite blocking skills. But Dissly also got hurt early in both 2018 and 2019.

In 2020, Dissly played his first full season but then-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer seemed to forget how to use Dissly in the passing game. In six games in 2019, Dissly was targeted 27 times. In 16 games of 2020, Dissly was targeted just 29 times. This is not the way Dissly, who has caught 78.6 percent of his 70 career targets, should have been used.

Waldron uses a lot of 12 personnel which means a lot of two tight ends sets. Dissly and Everett are going to be on the field a lot together. With D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett out wide, Dissly and Everett and second-year tight end Colby Parkinson should have tons of space in the middle.

Dissly’s targets should go up a lot. Everett’s might end up around 60 again. But while Dissly is going to pick up first downs, Everett, who can be moved around a bit more including lining up in the backfield, is likely to have the more explosive plays.

Shane Waldron is going to make the Seahawks offense better and a big reason for this is because of how he will use Everett and Dissly. Russell Wilson is going to have some great statistics throwing to Metcalf and Lockett, sure, but Seattle is going to win a lot of games because of Dissly and Everett.