Why the Seahawks and Russell Wilson finally split. Hint, it’s the drafts.

2015 started well and 2016 had players the Seahawks should have held on to

In 2015, the team did well drafting pass-rusher Frank Clark at the end of the 2nd round and return specialist/deep threat Tyler Lockett at the top of the 3rd round. Lockett has been a staple of Seattle football for years and he carved out a role as a top threat for Russell Wilson.

After that, though, Seattle had six picks. None worked out in Seattle. Mark Glowinski has had a somewhat decent career but most of that has come after he left for Indianapolis in 2018.

In 2016 the Seahawks 1st round pick was Germain Ifedi. Seattle took Ifedi in an effort to get back to running the football well. Ifedi at the time did not seem like a bad selection and no one got up in arms at the pick. In fact, 12s pretty much breathed a sigh of relief as it was refreshing to see the team not trade back as fans had been accustomed to.

The problem with Ifedi became abundantly clear, though, after he was the worst-graded tackle by PFF in his rookie year. After 2016, Ifedi looked like he was too slow to keep up with quicker edge rushers. After Ifedi’s rookie year, it seemed he had the entire fan base calling for him to be moved to guard. The move to guard didn’t happen until he signed with the Bears as a free agent in 2020. And actually, Ifedi has made for a pretty good guard.

In Ifedi’s last year in Seattle, he had 13 penalties. In his first year in Chicago, Ifedi had only 5.