For the Seattle Seahawks to be even better in 2023 than in 2022, they need some of the guys who were unexpectedly good last year to be just as good, if not better, this coming season. Seattle appears to have talent all over the roster, but that means Seattle is only potentially good. "Potential" is what you have before you show you can actually do the job.
On the list that follows I also have a new addition. He hasn't yet had the chance to show he will either fit in or not with the team, of course, but the NFL doesn't give redshirt years. You can either do the job or not. If you can't, you won't have a job for very long.
And those on the hot seat extend beyond the guys between the sidelines. Some coaches still need to show they are worthy of keeping their jobs into 2024. For a team to succeed, all part need to work, obviously. So here are four members of the franchise that could be on the hot seat this season.
Seahawks inside linebacker Devin Bush
Welcome to Seattle, Devin Bush! Bush seems like a player who enjoys playing the game and likes to hit people. I hope he does well and changes viewpoints on him that he was likely a first-round bust for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019. The proble, it appears, is that he is limited. He can play the run well enough (hopefully!), but he hasn't shown he can cover well or rush the passer much. While being a run-stopper is great for an inside linebacker, you kind of need them to be more versatile than that as well.
The Seahawks basically gave Bush a prove-it deal for 2023. He was signed to a one-year contract this offseason worth up to $3.5 million. That number is low for a linebacker who can get to 130 tackles and pick up 4 sacks or so. Bush physically seems capable of that in the correct system. But if Bush misses a bunch of tackles and gets close to 100 combined tackles (a really low number in Seattle's system) and is horribly in coverage then Bush will be overpaid even at that $3.5 million.
Bush is basically playing for his next contract this coming season and he can earn big dollars if he does really well. This is especially true if he can show that the issue he may have underperformed in Pittsburgh was more of a Steelers issue than a player problem. Or he could be out of the league by 2024 if he isn't very good in 2023.
Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor
Darrell Taylor is a one-note player currently. He either gets home in the pass rush or he doesn't accomplish much else. He's awful - so far - against the run and he doesn't cover well. He's a third-down edge rusher only until he proves otherwise and his game didn't grow in 2022. Seattle great Cliff Avril said late in the 2022 season that Taylor needs to learn the "understanding (of) how to rush" opposing quarterbacks.
But after two full seasons of playing and one season of sitting out while injured and learning the game, shouldn't Taylor be further along than he seemed at the end of last year? Is this a coaching issue or a Taylor issue? He's physically capable of playing well at times - he had 9.5 sacks in 2022 - but he is incredibly inconsistent in his production. He was great at the beginning of 2021 and go at the end of 2022 but not good at all in between.
Taylor, because he had to miss his rookie year trying to overcome an injury he suffered in college at the University of Tennessee, is a restricted free agent next offseason. The Seahawks can bring him back fairly inexpensively or place a tender on him and another team can sign him and give up a draft pick to Seattle. Seattle has also drafted edge rushers fairly high in the last two drafts so Taylor might already be losing his place in the edge rush rotation.
Or Taylor could take the next step forward this season and get to 12-plus sacks and play the run a lot better. He has the ability to do both those things, but does he have the mindset? Does he just want to be a guy who gets sacks and nothing else? If that's true, he isn't going to be back in Seattle beyond this year. Or he could be a Pro Bowler if he finds some consistency and versatility in 2023.
Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt
By most reports, Clint Hurtt is a well-respected coach who worked his way up the chain and eventually became an NFL defensive coordinator with the Seahawks in 2022. Prior to that, he was Seattle's defensive line coach under former DC Ken Norton. Under Norton, the Seahawks defense consistently underperformed compared to expectations and after four seasons on the job, he was fired.
In his first season as DC with Seattle, Hurtt faced a lot of issues that would have been difficult for even more seasoned DC. The Seahawks had young players or new additions in multiple places and Hurtt had to try to quickly mold the unit into a productive and cohesive one. Seattle eventually started three new cornerbacks, a new edge rusher, and a new linebacker in Week 1. Plus, while Jamal Adams was expected to be a big part of the scheme last year, he got hurt in the first game and missed the rest of the year.
But a couple of concerns happened with the defense early in the season. One is that it seemed to take Hurtt a few weeks to adjust to losing Adams. Adams is a unique safety who can be extremely disruptive to an opposing offense if he's healthy, but for Seattle to rely so much on Adams, who has list of injuries from recent seasons, was a mistake. The other problem was that while the defense was very good against the run in 2021 the group was suddenly extremely bad in 2022. Hurtt seemed to have no answer for it.
Now the defense has more overall talent than it did heading into last year. Hurtt should have the pieces in place for unit to take a gigantic step towards being actually good. But how he schemes and leads the group could go a ways toward determining if he is still the DC in 2024.
Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith
I like Geno Smith as a quarterback and think he did as well as he thought he would in 2022. Still, many 12s voice their negative opinions on social media about Smith. The QB somehow seems more decisive than Russell Wilson did early in Wilson's tenure as the starting QB with the Seahawks. This could be that while Smith and the offense had to carry the team for much of last year, Wilson's offense never had to do that in his first four years at the helm.
Smith still led the NFC is touchdown passes (30) in 2022, and he led the entire NFL in completion percentage. He was consistently accurate on short and deep throws all season long. The reason Seattle couldn't compete with the San Francisco 49ers last year wasn't Smith; Seattle simply wasn't good enough overall to beat the 49ers.
But while general manager John Schneider re-signed Smith for three more years this offseason, the contract is basically front-loaded and Seattle could get out from under the contract next offseason if Smith isn't good in 2023. The Seahawks did show trust in Smith by offering him the deal and not taking a quarterback with the number 5 overall choice in the 2023 draft, but that doesn't mean Seattle will feel tied to the contract if Smith has a down year.
Not only for 12s who doubt Smith already, but, more importantly, for Schneider and Pete Carroll, Smith likely needs to show once again he is ready to lead the Seahawks offense for 2023 and beyond. He's got more weapons, the blocking should be better as the season wears on, and he has more help in the backfield. Here's hoping Smith is even better than last year, but he will have to prove it on the field once the real games begin.