4 Seattle Seahawks on the hot seat entering 2023 training camp
The Seahawks exceeded expectations in 2022, but these four members of the organization have to prove themselves in 2023.
By Lee Vowell
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.