The Seattle Seahawks will hopefully take another jump forward in 2023 from being mediocre to getting closer to being a Super Bowl-contending team. If that happens, it's because many of the players we expected to be good heading into the season were good. And some players likely exceeded expectations.
But just like the Seahawks baseball brethren in Seattle, the Mariners, we can see how a fairly young roster doesn't meet high expectations based on the previous season's success. Young guys sometimes have trouble duplicating what they did in a previous year because opposing teams are adjusting to them.
Of course, let's hope that doesn't happen with the Seahawks in 2023, but we also shouldn't assume they are going to be better this year. We also shouldn't assume the players we think are good will be productive. The three that follow I hope are great, but each comes with some reasons to press the breaks on high expectations.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba - Seahawks wide receiver
I think that Smith-Njigba is going to be an excellent receiver for the Seahawks, but I am just not sure if that happens right away. It is difficult for rookie receivers to come into the NFL and be high-level impactful. While Smith-Njigba has great hands and excellent quickness, it likely will still take him some time to adjust to simply how fast and how physical NFL cornerbacks are, even ones who cover slot receivers.
Smith-Njigba does have several things going for him, of course. He won't be expected to be the alpha in Seattle for quite some time, if ever. He is clearly WR3 currently and he will see a bunch of one on one coverage and this should allow him to shake free often enough. But expecting him to come in year one and get 800 yards receiving and 8 touchdowns might be a bit too high.
His targets will be more limited because he plays with Metcalf and Lockett. He's having to learn a completely new offensive system, of course, and once real games start he will see a jump in energy from his competition as they won't be wearing a Seahawks jersey, like in training camp. Heck, even preseason isn't a true barometer for how physical an opposing CB will be once the real games start. Smith-Njigba is going to fix Seattle's WR3 issue, but it just might not happen right away.
Dre'Mont Jones - Seahawks defensive lineman
Dre'Mont Jones is by far the most general manager John Schneider has spent on a free agent since he came to Seattle in 2010. Before Jones, the highest contract went to edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu. Nwosu signed in the 2022 offseason and the total of his contract was $19,055,000 with an average of a bit more than $9.5 million per season. Jones signed with the Seahawks this offseason and the total of his contract is $51,530,000 over three seasons with an average of $17,176,667.
But because Seattle is trusting Jones with such a large contract, they are also going to expect great things from Jones. Can he be one of the best interior linemen in the NFL? He's paid like it. Jones is the sixth-highest-paid defensive end in 2023 and 2024, currently, and moves up to fifth-highest in 2025. Therefore, he needs to produce like a top-six defensive end.
In 2022, Jones' snap count with his former team, the Denver Broncos, jumped from 59 percent of available snaps to 81 percent of his available snaps (meaning the snaps he could have played when healthy). But his raw statistics didn't go up very much. He played 716 snaps in 2022 and in 2021 he played 616. His total pressures in 2022 were 45 and in 2021 they were 40. He played more but on a per-snap average, he produced less last year.
Seattle also signed Mario Edwards, Jr. this offseason and he might sub in at times for Jones on obvious rushing downs. But for Seattle to be very successful, Jones needs to better against the run this year than he was last year. Oh, and 10 sacks or so would be nice as well.
Tariq Woolen - Seahawks cornerback
Tariq Woolen surprised many national talking heads with his play in 2022. As a rookie, Woolen came in, played mostly excellent outside corner, and had 6 interceptions which tied for the league lead. But teams started to figure him out a bit by the end of the season. They clearly had not watched tape on him earlier in the year because they seemed surprised by his speed. Woolen also didn't mind being physical either.
Still, teams worked Woolen a bit more with crossing patterns and this seemed to confuse him in scheme and he tracked behind receivers more later in the year. Sometimes, like his magnificent play against the Kansas City Chiefs when he batted a pass down in the end zone, Woolen's speed allowed him to catch up to a receiver after they had passed him. But expecting that to happen instead of just play fundamentally sound corner is a mistake.
Plus, as the season wore on last year, Woolen struggled more with his tackling. He doesn't mind hitting someone, but again, sometimes fundamentals got in the way. In Week 17 against the New York Jets, Woolen missed 3 tackles. In Week 14 against the Carolina Panthers, he missed 4 tackles. Thise two games alone equaled his missed tackle total for the first 12 games combined. Plus, five of Woolen's worst games in terms of receiving yardage allowed came in the second half of the season.
Woolen also didn't have an interception after Week 13 and only had 2 after Week 6. My point in all of this isn't that Tariq Woolen is going to be bad in 2023. Hopefully, he is still great. But maybe we should expect the second half of 2022 Woolen to be the normal Woolen we see. That's still a good corner, but just not the great corner some thought he might become.