The Seahawks season is now officially over and roster decisions need to be made. Based on Seattle’s Wild Card loss to the 49ers, some players involved might not need to be back. This all plays into who Seattle should choose in the 2023 NFL draft, and with their abundant cap space, which free agents of other teams to possibly sign.
Seattle currently has the fifth-most cap space in the league in 2023 at $47,517,763. None of that, of course, includes Seattle signing any of its own free agents. It also doesn’t include, obviously, those players Seattle might currently have under contract but chooses to release. My point is, the cap space Seattle is projected to have next season will change quite a few times.
Seattle has two important decisions to make this offseason. One is whether to continue down the path of retooling the team with young players and that could mean drafting a quarterback. The second part is whether to keep some of the current veterans on the team and try to build around their experience. Either way, here are four players who may not be back based on how the season ended.
Player 1: Seahawks cornerback Michael Jackson may have lost his job
Jackson has gotten better as the season has gone on. At least, a bit he has. The problem is he started off so poorly. His coverage skills are decent for someone who would be a backup on most teams but he can’t tackle consistently well and that is getting the Seahawks beat.
To be fair, Jackson did have a nice pass breakup on a fly pattern against the 49ers. Again, he is a decent start in spot duty. But Seattle needs more from its cornerbacks. With Tariq Woolen set at one outside corner for the foreseeable future and Coby Bryant likely playing in the slot, Seattle likely needs to draft a cornerback to play opposite Woolen.
Jackson might even be worthy of keeping on the roster, but he shouldn’t be a starter. Against the 49ers, Jackson received a tackling grade of 29.5, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). His season grade was 49.0 but four times he had game grades of under 30. That’s horrible. Bad tackling could mean giving up big plays and Seattle’s defense still does that far too much.
Seahawks linebacker Cody Barton may have lost his job
I’ll be honest, I thought Barton might hold up well against the 49ers. After sliding over to middle linebacker in Week 18 after Jordyn Brooks was injured in Week 17, Barton was really good against the Rams. But the 49ers are a much better team than the Rams and San Francisco took advantage of all of Barton’s weaknesses. Most glaringly, Barton is not good in space and he was burned against San Francisco.
If the Rams are healthier, they can do a lot of the same things that the 49ers can do. In 2023, Los Angeles probably won’t have the same bad luck with injuries that they did in 2022. The 49ers are going to be good for a while. Christian McCaffrey is signed through 2025. So if tight end George Kittle as well as receiver Deebo Samuel. Kittle, Samuel, and McCaffrey all toasted Barton in the Wild Card game.
Seattle simply needs a linebacker with more speed than Barton. It also doesn’t help, however, that even when Barton was close enough to make a tackle against San Francisco, he missed often. In fact, Barton whiffed on three attempted tackles which were 27.3 percent of his attempts. Getting beaten by McCaffrey, Kittle or Samuel is going to happen but those plays can be and should be limited and tackles must be made when a linebacker has a chance.
Before Week 13, Barton had only missed 3 tackles. From Week 13 on, Barton missed 8. That is 12.1 percent of attempts and that is the reason teams lose games. Barton, a free agent, needs to be released this offseason.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith may have lost his job
I am not saying the Seahawks need to replace Geno Smith. He is excellent in the locker room as other players respect him and he appears to truly be a team player. After the 49ers game, Smith said he wants to retire as a Seahawk as the team took a chance on him and he wants to repay that. But Smith, because he was much better than expected this year, might be offered a big contract or two this offseason as he is a free agent.
While Smith was Pro Bowl-worthy this year, there are some major concerns with him. Smith simply needs to be better with the football and stop having so many turnovers. He had 8 interceptions and 3 fumbles in the final 8 games of the season. And for those who watched the games, at least two other of Smith’s passes would have been pick-sixes except for penalties of the defense (one of which was very questionable).
Seattle has the number 5 pick in the 2023 NFL draft. While Seattle’s defense needs a lot of help, especially along the interior of the defensive line, a great quarterback can make a decent team much better. Russell Wilson did that for years in Seattle.
Should Seattle re-sign Smith for likely $25 million-plus a year or should they choose a quarterback? If CJ Stroud is available at number 5, for example, he might be too much to pass up. Seattle simply doesn’t know if they will get the Smith of the first half of 2022 or the second half moving forward.
Seahawks defensive lineman Poona Ford may have lost his job
Poona Ford should have been drafted when he came out of college in 2018. The Seahawks signed him as an undrafted free agent and Ford has been a mostly very good run-stopper. In 2022, Ford also set a career-high for sacks with 3. He can get to opposing quarterbacks some, but he doesn’t consistently do that well. So Ford needs to be consistently very good against the run. This year, though, Ford was graded higher in pass rush than in run support, per Pro Football Focus.
Against the 49ers, Ford was just atrocious. Ford played 34 snaps against the 49ers, 15 on rushing downs and 19 on passing downs. Ford didn’t record a tackle but did miss on two. Ford was in on 35 tackles this season and missed on 5 or 12.5 percent of the time. That isn’t good enough. Ford is now 27 years old but he was thoroughly outplayed by the 35-year-old Al Woods this season.
Ford was also massively overpaid this year. He made $8,325,000 with a cap hit of $10,075,000. Ford didn’t produce anywhere near earning that contract. If he returns to Seattle but gets paid about half of his 2022 salary, that might be OK. That would be around the going rate for a player of Ford’s experience.
But Ford is also a free agent and the Seahawks need to take an interior defensive lineman who is more versatile than Ford. If Jalen Carter is available at number 5, for example, Seattle should draft him and immediately plug him in as a starter. Seattle can find a run-stopper in free agency who is probably less expensive and as productive or more than Ford was in 2022.