The Seattle Seahawks season appears to be going down the drain a bit. Not only has the team lost five of their last six games, but the other NFC West teams appear to be getting better as the season grows old. Well, maybe not the San Francisco 49ers, but they have a better overall roster than Seattle.
Seattle currently sits in last place in the NFC West, but they are only one game behind the first-place Arizona Cardinals. While Seattle could finish with only seven wins or so, they could also go on a run and make a play to win the division. The season is not completely over yet.
For that to happen, though, several players need to either step up their games, play more consistently, or play at all. If they fail, they might need to look for new jobs next season. Four of those players are as follows.
Four Seattle Seahawks players who might be looking for new jobs next season
Quarterback Geno Smith
Smith is not anywhere close to being the worst quarterback in the league, but he does lead the league in interceptions so far this season with 10. He has led the league in some positive statistics over the last couple of seasons, though. He led the NFL in game-winning drives and fourth quarterback comebacks in 2023 and the league in completion percentage in 2022. A Seahawks team with Smith behind center is not going to be a truly bad team.
The issue is that Smith might not be able to elevate the team to more than the sum of its parts either, however. In Week 9, Smith threw three interceptions in total, but two of them were horrible throws. If he doesn't throw those picks, Seattle probably wins the game.
Seattle could save $25 million by moving on from Smith next offseason. Doing so would likely mean a complete rebuild by Seattle, though. Sam Howell might start for a season, but the Seahawks would need to draft the new long-term quarterback. Seattle saves money by releasing Smith, but the team might not come to playoffs again until 2027.
Edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones
Is Jones a defensive end or an edge rusher? Is the fact that he moves around between the two simply a case that he is a master of neither and the Seahawks are desperate to find anything that Jones can do well consistently? He will have one good game - he had five pressures including a sack in Week 7 against the Atlanta Falcons - followed by a game where he does nothing (he had no pressures and no tackles in Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills).
Jones is also relatively terrible against the run. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Jones is the seventh-worst-graded edge rusher in the NFL in 2024, and that is out of 114 edge rushers. His cap hit is a ridiculous $25,645,418 next season, and the team would save nearly $11.6 million by releasing him. He needs to be released.
Tight end Noah Fant
Fant is not a bad player. He is catching a career-high 84.4 percent of his targets, though he is still only averaging 10.6 yards a catch. The tight end also has not scored a touchdown since 2022. He is big enough and athletic enough to be a red zone threat, but either the team does not know how to use him that way, or Fant is incapable of developing his skillset.
The problem for Fant is that he does not offer enough production to match his cap hit in 2025, the final year of his current deal. His cap hit in 2025 is $13.5 million. If the team were to release him next offseason, Seattle would save $9 million. Unless Fant sees a huge uptick in production the rest of the season, he should be released to make cap room for a team that has little of it in 2025.
Right tackle Abraham Lucas
There is not really a question of if Lucas is capable of being an upgrade at right tackle for the Seahawks. The issue is whether he can play consistently. He has not played this season so far after having offseason knee surgery, and he missed a chunk of 2023 with the knee problem. The hope was that he would be back by training camp, then that was pushed to the preseason, and the team is still waiting.
Head coach Mike Macdonald recently said that there "is a chance" that Lucas could return by Week 11, but 12s have heard such positivity surrounding Lucas before. Plus, even when he does return, how long will he keep playing? If he cannot finish the season, Seattle must find his long-term replacement next offseason.