5 players Seattle Seahawks can't afford to lose to injury in 2024
By Lee Vowell
DK Metcalf - Seahawks wide receiver
Seattle has a trio of good receivers and should get a lot more use out of Noah Fant with new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb calling the plays, but the offense would not be the same without Metcalf. Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba can go deep, but they are more slot receivers, and neither has the strength of Metcalf. He can compete for deep balls that Lockett and JSN simply cannot. Opposing defenses are going to scheme more for Metcalf than Lockett or JSN.
Metcalf has also become the alpha of Seattle's receivers room. He led the team - easily - in receiving yards in 2023 as well as yards per reception. Again, he easily led the team. Lockett became more of a possession receiver, but Metcalf was the go-to guy most of the time when games were tight in the fourth quarter.
Metcalf is also just 26 years old and will have a lot more years left to play. A horrific injury would not only affect Seattle's offense this season but could affect Metcalf's elite athletic ability and could reduce Seattle's offensive effectiveness in future seasons. Fortunately, Metcalf has only missed one game in his career due to injury so far. Let's hope 2024 is not the beginning of a different trend.
Leonard Williams - Seahawks defensive lineman
The hope after Seattle traded for Williams midway through the 2023 season was that he would augment the Seahawks bad run defense and help get the team back to the playoffs. Seattle was 5-3 when they made the move for Williams and the team gave up a second-round choice to acquire him. For the rest of the season, Williams did his job well, but the rest of the defense was terrible.
Williams had 4 sacks and 32 total pressures in a Seahawks uniform last year, which, over an entire season, would mean nearly 50 pressures and almost 7 sacks. He is still very good and is the most consistently good defensive lineman Seattle has. Byron Murphy II might be great eventually, but he is a rookie. Jarran Reed is more one-dimensional and more of a pass-rusher. Dre'Mont Jones has yet to have an explosive season in his career.
No defensive lineman on the Seattle roster is capable of the high-level and well-rounded game that Williams has. He will allow Mike Macdonald to keep his D-line more versatile and disguise his looks. Without Williams, Seattle's line becomes much more pedestrian.