Pro Football Focus finally sees the light of potential Seahawks success

Skeptics are seemingly torn between thinking the Seattle Seahawks will be about the same quality they have been in the last two seasons or Seattle simply underperforming this year. Maybe the fact Seattle has a first-year head coach gives national pundits pause. "How successful could Mike Macdonald be after never having been a head coach before?", they might ask.

A coach can augment talent only so much, though. Plus, if a team does have talent, they are going to find a way to have some level of success, poor coaching or not. Seattle still has excellent players such as DK Metcalf, Kenneth Walker III, and Devon Witherspoon, among others, on the team. The Seahawks can be good.

Still, many betting sites appear to have put the over/under for Seattle in 2024 at 7.5. This means Seattle would have a losing season. This would be the case, should those betting sites be correct, even though Seattle probably upgraded its defensive line, and the offensive and defensive coaching should be better.

PFF implies the Seahawks could be a dangerous team in 2024

Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has not been the friendliest of sites to the Seahawks this offseason, often ranking Seattle's players out of the top 32 at their respective positions. This is based on PFF's own grades, of course, but at times they have included rookies on their lists, and a rookie, of course, has not yet played a down in the league. In other words, the rankings are still arbitrary.

Recently, though, PFF published an article about five teams that might be overlooked heading into this season. Beyond being overlooked, PFF gives reasons why the Seahawks should actually be good. Plus, should Seattle's defense pick up what Mike Macdonald is putting down, Seattle could be good quite quickly.

PFF also points out that while Seattle has a good group of receivers with Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, quarterback Geno Smith might be underrated. In both of the last two years, Smith has received a top-12 grade by Pro Football Focus. Many, including quite a few 12s, appear to believe Smith is not good, but his statistics do not back their argument.

In 2022, Smith led the NFC in touchdowns and the NFL in completion percentage. Last season, Smith led the league in both game-winning drives and fourth quarter comebacks. Bad quarterbacks do not do that. Is Smith perfect? No. He could make wiser decisions on when to take off and run, of course, but Seattle could be in much worse shape at the quarterback position.

Seattle could also improve as the season grows old. Players and coaches will still be getting used to each other at the beginning of the year, but as long as the team doesn't stumble horribly at the start of the season, the Seahawks could be very dangerous in the final third of the year. A playoff spot is definitely within play, and a deep run in the playoffs is possible.

More Seattle Seahawks coverage: