The Seahawks have an offseason ahead where they will have a lot of options to try to make the team better. Seattle is flush with cap space and draft capital. But the biggest question that will need to be answered is what to do at quarterback moving forward.
Even besides who will play quarterback is what to do with the team around that player. Seattle has a good group of young players who are still trying to find out how good they will be. But Seattle has certain position groups that might require a higher priority in the draft. Such as do the Seahawks want a quarterback at pick number 5 overall or do they think they can get one at number 19?
But getting an excellent defensive tackle like Jalen Carter would be a good pick and help fix a poor interior defensive line. Seattle has the talent to win even more in 2023. Having the right quarterback could make or break the team next year and beyond.
Seahawks option number 1 at QB: Stick with Geno Smith long-term
In many ways, it makes complete sense to bring back Geno Smith. Smith is still young enough (he is 32 years old) to be good for several more years. He knows Shane Waldron’s offense really well and maybe in his second season as a full-time starter, he will be even better than in year one.
But the problems with Smith are that he didn’t get better as the season wore on in 2022; He actually turned the ball over more in the second half of the year than the first. Still, his teammates seem to believe in him and Smith is appreciative of the organization that has given him a couple more opportunities than most other teams would have.
But is the Geno Smith of 2023 more like the Smith of the first half of 2022 or the second half? Because if it is the second half Smith, the team might still be good but likely limited in how good it can be. Seattle has a young team and needs a quarterback that can lead them when overall team talent can’t outweigh inexperience.
Seattle could choose to draft a quarterback high in the 2023 NFL draft and let Smith leave in free agency. If Smith wants $35 million or more, Seattle doesn’t need to spend most of their cap to satisfy him; Seattle has other needs as well. But if Smith would take $25 million, then it likely makes sense to re-sign Smith to a 2-3 year deal and build the team around him.
Seahawks option number 2 at QB: Bring in veteran Derek Carr
There would be some advantages to the Seahawks bringing in Derek Carr. One is that he might – might – be less expensive than Geno Smith. Smith’s value is likely enhanced after his play in 2022 and had a season as good, if not better, than any season Carr has ever had. Like Carr during most of his time with the Raiders, Smith was the quarterback of a productive offense that was a part of a team with a bad defense, and still, Smith succeeded.
Carr also is still young enough to be productive for several years. He will be 32 years old when the 2023 season begins. Carr is also probably going to be extra motivated to prove himself after he was basically given up on by the Raiders this year. He might want to take a reduced two-year deal in hopes of earning his next contract in 2025.
Carr is also well-respected by his teammates and was a leader for the team during some rough times. If Carr came to the Seahawks, he would likely step effortlessly into a leadership role and he has enough experience to know what to expect for each game each week.
The problem with Carr is that replacing Smith with Carr is just at best breaking even. Smith is also well-respected in the locker room. Smith is the same age as Carr. And Smith knows Seattle’s offensive scheme better than Carr.
Seahawks option number 3 at QB: Add Lamar Jackson
Signing Lamar Jackson would break the Seahawks’ cap space and they are very unlikely to do it. Jackson might get franchise-tagged by Baltimore but then the Ravens doing that and not working out a long-term deal with Jackson might create some locker room discontent. The other issue is that the Ravens might not want to give Jackson a ton of money if they feel he is an injury risk moving forward. Jackson has missed five games in each of the last two seasons.
But if Seattle were to sign Jackson, he is probably capable of making them immediately into a Super Bowl contender. While Jackson has been in the league since 2018, he is still only 26 years old. That means, and this is just a crazy guess based on me being too lazy to look it up, as a quarterback who likes to run a lot and is extremely great at it, he should have 5-7 seasons left to play at an elite level.
Assuming the Ravens don’t work out a deal with Jackson and assuming they don’t franchise tag him, both remote yet possible situations, then should Seattle go for Jackson? Of course. Why not. Will he cost a bunch of money? Yes. But does he make, along with the Seahawks’ young roster and excellent draft capital, a Super Bowl contender every season for the next half-decade? Yep.
Here is potentially one way a deal could be done. The Ravens work out a deal with Jackson but with a deal to trade him to Seattle for their first-round choice in 2023 and other picks. Would Baltimore do that? Maybe. Should Seattle do that? Yes. Will it happen? Very unlikely. But Jackson would have to like the idea of throwing to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.
Seahawks option number 4 at QB: Franchise tag Geno and draft a QB in 2024
The final option could be the most realistic. Geno Smith was fantastic in 2022 but can he do it again in 2023 and 2024 and so on? While Seattle did take a chance on Smith this year and that worked out, it could also be that Seattle is able to build a good enough roster around the quarterback to make deep runs in the playoffs but that the quarterback isn’t good enough to help the team win a Super Bowl. Smith was mostly good but failed in key spots and turned the ball over quite a bit.
But maybe Smith has better ball control in 2023 after a season of being a full-time starter. We know he can throw the ball better than most anticipated so why not give him a chance to prove his worth again next year? But signing him to a long-term deal might also hamstring the team financially if he doesn’t play as well.
Maybe the Seahawks should just franchise-tag him for one season and see how it goes with the idea of drafting a quarterback in 2024. Because if you think the 2023 quarterback class is good, just wait. The 2024 class is loaded, as long as the players expected to leave college early actually do so.
In 2024, Seattle might have the chance, with some finagling of draft pick trades, be able to take North Carolina’s Drake Maye, USC’s Caleb Williams, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, or others. All those quarterbacks could be leaders of a young and talented roster and by 2025 Seattle could hold dominion over the NFC for several seasons to come. That is, if all works out perfectly which a 12 can hope it does.