Grading the 2022 Seattle Seahawks: The future is bright
By Jake Luppino
Seahawks HBs/WRs/TEs
Entering the season, outside of the quarterback position, this Seattle offense presented versatility. A backfield of Rashaad Penny and Kenneth Walker III, coupled with the two primary wide receivers in D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and a young tight end core of Noah Fant and Will Dissly was going to present problems for opposing defenses.
The two question marks surrounding this offense were who was going to be delivering the ball to these weapons and how would the offensive line hold up. Well, Geno Smith did an excellent job of spreading the ball around and it seems Seattle found their two pillars of the offensive line in Charles Cross and Abe Lucas.
It was really unfortunate to see Rashaad Penny suffer a season-ending injury in Week 5 against New Orleans. But, it opened the door for Kenneth Walker III to get a taste of what it would be like to be a full-time starter in this league, and boy, did he excel. This Seattle offense finished with a top 9 scoring offense and that was with dealing with a plethora of injuries.
Highlighting the 2022 Seattle Seahawks offense
Rookie of the year candidate in Kenneth Walker III
- 1,050 rushing yards, 9 TDs (both 1st among rookies)
Two 1,000-yard wide receivers
- D.K. Metcalf — 90 receptions, 1,048 yards, 6 TDs
- Tyler Lockett — 84 receptions, 1,033 yards, 9 TDs
Tight end standout
- Colby Parkinson — 25 receptions, 322 yards, 2 TDs
It is only the 2nd time in franchise history that Seattle had two 1,000+ yard receivers and a 1,000+ yard rusher. That is an incredible factoid given the youth that is in this group and is a testament to the ceiling this offense has.
All three tight ends – Noah Fant, Will Dissly, and Colby Parkinson – were a huge part of the game plan and really helped opened up this offense. More importantly, they really improved in the run game as the season progressed. This tight-end group is here to stay and I expect them to improve next season.
While I expect Seattle to add another HB and WR through the draft or free agency, the core of this offense isn’t going anywhere. Shane Waldron deserves a lot of credit for scheming this offense up. I thought he did a great job throughout the year in giving Geno easy opportunities to establish his rhythm.