4 Seahawks that are playing for their next contract in Week 18
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks have exceeded expectations in 2022. Even if they finish 8-9, they are better than most thought. Many thought they wouldn’t come close to the playoffs and their chances literally come down to the last game of the season. Seattle is a success in the 2022 season whether they make the playoffs or not.
Still, there is a very real chance – even though the NFL basically showed they couldn’t care less about 12s and the Seahawks by scheduling Seattle’s game at 1:25 pm PT on Sunday and the Packers versus Lions for later on Sunday – that Seattle makes the playoffs. If the team does, however, changes still need to be made. This team can be good, but with the right roster moves, the team could potentially be great.
Several Seattle players are entering their contract year. General manager John Schneider and head coach/Vice President of Football Operations Pete Carroll will make decisions on who to re-sign or keep based on what’s best for the future of the team, of course, and use a lot of what they saw in 2022 to make those decisions. Maybe the following four Seattle players will come down to the size of the contracts, or if they can find better players in the 2023 NFL draft, or performance this year.
Four players who might not be Seahawks after Week 18
Right guard Gabe Jackson
I thought the trade Seattle made to get Jackson prior to the 2021 season was weird. The reason was it flipped a promising young right guard in Damien Lewis to the left side and put a player who seemed to be diminishing on the right. Jackson hasn’t been awful since he came to Seattle but he hasn’t consistently been good either.
Jackson is currently graded as the 63th-best guard in the NFL in 2022, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Lewis is actually 18th, but his development was still stilted by the trade for Jackson. Adding Jackson, set the team back for a couple of years.
The fact is that Jackson is signed through 2023. Seattle will only save about $1.8 million by releasing Jackson. But they need to. Releasing Jackson opens up a roster spot for a player who will very likely help the Seahawks in 2023 and beyond.