One proposed trade could push the Seahawks to the bottom of the NFC West
By Lee Vowell
This season was not a fun one for 12s. Sure, the Seattle Seahawks finished with a winning record of 9-8, but this season was more about lost opportunities. Seattle could have won its last two games, for instance, and clinched a playoff spot. That clearly did not happen and head coach Pete Carroll lost his job, in part because the team missed the postseason for the second time in three seasons.
Seattle also finished third in the NFC West. They were nowhere near the quality of the first-place San Francisco 49ers. Plus, the Seahawks lost to the second-place Los Angeles Rams twice in a year where the Rams were not expected to win five or six games in most preseason predictions. Assuming the Rams are even better next year as they played a bunch of rookies, then why would we expect the Seahawks to finish better than third in the NFC West in 2024?
The Arizona Cardinals finished last this year and they were without their starting quarterback for most of the season. Many thought Arizona might not win more than two games but they managed to win four. That is not a huge jump, but the Cardinals played hard for their new coaching staff and they were a late Seahawks touchdown away in Week 18 from finishing 3-2 in their last five.
Seahawks could finish in last in the NFC West in 2024 if proposed trade goes down
But Bleacher Report published a recent article where they proposed some different trade options for a handful of teams. One of those trades was the Minnesota Vikings moving Justin Jefferson to Arizona. Jefferson is arguably the best receiver in the NFL and would push DK Metcalf to be the third or fourth-best receiver in the NFC West (Brandon Ayuk and Deebo Samuel are pretty good for the 49ers, for instance).
The Cardinals would have to give up some draft capital, of course, but even if they gave up a first-round pick in 2024 for Justin Jefferson, Arizona would still have five picks in the top 90 of the 2024 NFL draft. Jefferson would be an immense talent to add to a team that is likely to add a lot during the draft as well.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks traded their second-round choice away in a trade that brought Leonard Williams to Seattle during the 2023 season. Williams is likely to leave in free agency.