Three Seattle Seahawks that cannot be counted on in 2023
By Lee Vowell
The Seattle Seahawks have made some good moves in free agency so far this offseason. The team should be better after the signings of defensive linemen Dre’Mont Jones and Jarran Reed. The players Seattle has lost in free agency, such as Rashaad Penny and Cody Barton, are replaceable.
The Seahawks also have a lot of high draft capital in the 2023 draft. Seattle currently has four picks in the top 53 overall. That means Seattle could draft three or four immediate starters that are expected to do really good things at the professional level.
Seattle also exceeded expectations in 2022 and bring back most of the roster, only with the added free agent signings and the good draft picks. Seattle should be better in 2023 and even better (after the young guys get an even better feel for the NFL) in 2024 and beyond. But there are a few players that Seattle will have on its roster in 2023 that are huge question marks. Here are three that the Seahawks shouldn’t completely count on for being consistently productive.
Seahawks cannot count on receiver Dee Eskridge
Seattle had three draft picks in the 2021 NFL draft. So far, the best of those players has been sixth-round pick Stone Forsythe. It’s not like Forsythe has been great because he hasn’t. But Forsythe has at least been available to play for the most part. In contrast to fellow 2021 choices Tre Brown and Dee Eskridge, Forsythe has been the Lou Gehrig of the Seattle football team. But Eskridge was the highest choice in 2021 and as a second-round pick should have been much better than he has been so far.
Eskridge has played 20 out of a possible 34 games in two seasons, and in some of those games, he hasn’t been fully healthy. But when he has been on the field, he has not produced. He has 17 career receptions for only 122 yards. That is 7.2 yards a reception which is incredibly bad. Eskridge has caught just 51.5 percent of his targets.
It says a lot that many observers of Seattle football say that one of the team’s main needs is finding a WR3. Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf are great receivers but they still need help. Well, the Seahawks are supposed to already have a WR3 in Eskridge, but at this point, it might be a better expectation that he is completely out of the league in two years than that he ever produces in a Seahawks uniform.