We are almost here, 12s! The Seahawks kick off the 2022 season against the Broncos. Here are three Seattle players that will have the most impact on Week 1.
I probably say this every football season but it is difficult to believe that the Seahawks first game is just a week away. The offseason in the NFL is really long but with enough important things, like the NFL draft, to keep building anticipation for upcoming seasons that are still a ways off.
But now Week 1 is a week away and Seattle still has a lot of questions that need to be answered. How good will the quarterback play be? How about the cornerback play?
And the most important question in Week 1 is can the Seahawks defeat former quarterback Russell Wilson and his new team, the Broncos? Here are three Seattle players will have a definite say in whether the team wins or loses.
Three Seahawks that could be the most impact in Week 1 of 2022
Quarterback Geno Smith
Woo-hoo, Lee! Really going out on a limb here, right? But here’s why I have Smith on this list. He might have a game where he keeps passes to around 25, doesn’t have a turnover and leads a plodding Seahawks offense. But I am hoping there is more to him than this.
In the three games he started for the Seahawks in 2021, Smith only threw 24 passes in one of those games once. Seattle just didn’t seem to trust Smith to do much. Instead, Smith was mostly stuck throwing relatively short passes while handing the ball off a lot and trying to turn the ball over.
This put Seattle in a position to try to win two close games against two decent teams, the Steelers and Saints, and it almost worked until Smith had some late-game poor play. There was simply a lot of pressure on him to do Russell Wilson-type things (that is, pull out a miracle late in a game) and Smith isn’t Wilson.
The Seahawks need to let Smith be a bit freer earlier in games and see if the offense can score enough early where the defense and run game and clock-control the game after halftime. If Seattle’s offense looks a lot like the three games Smith started in 2021, the Seahawks are going to lose a lot of close games in 2022.
Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross
The guy who is going to protect Geno Smith’s blindside is going to be ultra-important in Week 1. But feel free to flash forward five years and I will probably be writing the same thing for Week 1 of 2026. Charles Cross has looked spectacular in the preseason and appears to be very worthy of being chosen number 9 overall in the 2022 NFL draft.
At least, and this is extremely important, Cross did well against players who mostly were fighting for roster spots and backup positions. Can he be very good – not just average or slightly above-average but actually good – versus the great edge rushers of the NFL? He will need to be from Week 1 through forever.
If Cross isn’t very good once real games begin, the Seahawks are in massive trouble. Part of the reason Seattle might be successful this season is based on the unknowns that are the team’s rookies. The Seahawks are going to have young players everywhere on the field but those young guys also have raw high-end talent.
For Seattle to defeat the Broncos, or any other team in 2022, Cross is going to have to keep the quarterback clean. He was fantastic in college while playing in the SEC against a bunch of players who will be good pros. Cross gave up one pressure in the preseason. He seems to be a great pick for the Seahawks. Now he needs to prove it when the real games begin.
Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor
The Seahawks know what Russell Wilson can do. And can’t do. That doesn’t mean that Seattle has the talent to exploit Wilson’s weaknesses, however. Denver has a new coaching staff that is offensive-minded and should be able to put Wilson in positions to succeed. The Broncos also have good receivers capable of beating even the best defensive backs.
But the most obvious way of beating a good quarterback who holds on to the ball a bit too long is to make him pay for that mistake. Lots of other teams over the past few seasons have done that to Wilson when he was the QB of the Seahawks and Seattle needs to do that against Wilson in Week 1. Darrell Taylor is a huge key to Seattle’s pass rush.
It’s weird to think Taylor is entering what is really just his second season but he is. He was drafted in 2020 but missed the year. This means 2021 was for all intents and purposes his rookie year and Taylor hopefully learned a lot. He was very productive early in the season with 4 sacks in his first five games. After that, however? Just 2.5 sacks in 11 games.
Taylor has loads of talent and enough to be a 10-sack player. He could get there in 2022. Boye Mafe is capable of being good too but he is a rookie. Uchenna Nwosu has been a solid edge rusher in the NFL for four years but not spectacular. For the next two years, at least, the Seahawks are going to rely on Taylor to be the key to the pass rush. If he can be great against the Broncos in Week 1, Seattle has a very good chance to win the game.