3 massive changes the Seattle Seahawks must make in the offseason

Seattle needs to start over at quarterback

Geno Smith was surprisingly good in 2022. As a veteran quarterback, though, the expectation should have been that he improved his numbers in 2023 or at least became more consistent. But Smith, due to play-calling or just a general lack of high-end ability, has been atrociously inconsistent. Every time Smith has had a game where he has had at least a 103.9 quarterback rating, he has immediately preceded that with a game where he has a game with a quarterback rating of 84.1 or less.

Most of his important numbers are down in 2023. His touchdown percentage per pass is 3.7 compared to 5.2 in 2022. Smith's interception percentage is 2.2 compared to 1.9 last season. His completion percentage is 5 points lower going from a league-leading 69.8 in 2022 to 64.4 this year. While the offensive line isn't perfect, his sack percentage is lower in 2023 than in 2022 - 6.3 to 7.4. So pressure in his face is no worse than last year.

But Smith also isn't being helped much by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron's play-calling or pre-game scheme. Waldron seems to either have a decent game-plan coming into games and then the other team adjusts and Seattle cannot adjust to that, such as both Rams' games this year, or Waldron doesn't have his unit prepared well enough and Seattle falls behind.

Either way, the Seahawks have a young roster and need a young quarterback to grow old with. Maybe that means 2024 is slight step back, but that could mean 2025 is much better and Seattle is a championship contender by 2026. Taking a quarterback in the first-round seems like a must at this point.