3 pivotal traits the Seattle Seahawks must adopt for 2023 success

Seattle Seahawks have to adopt trust

Head coach Pete Carroll knows talent when he sees it. There's no way a coach would have been as successful as he has over his 13 seasons in Seattle if he didn't know who to put on the field. But even if players are on the field, there could be trust issues. Take Geno Smith in 2021 when he came in after Russell Wilson got injured. In the three games Geno played, he was OK but Seattle was afraid to ask him to do too much. This was the trend to begin 2023 as well until Geno proved he could successfully guide the offense.

But now Seattle has drafted potentially another great class in 2023 and many of those players will play early in their careers. There was a hint in minicamp that maybe Seattle wasn't completely going to trust Devon Witherspoon to start in Week 1 because they had Witherspoon playing quite a bit in the slot in some practices. This would leave Mike Jackson to begin the season at one corner spot opposite Tariq Woolen.

Seattle needs to learn to trust Witherspoon quickly, however. His ceiling is likely much higher than Jackson's and the only way for Witherspoon to be great sooner than later is to play him early and let him make mistakes. Witherspoon probably won't make too many and could help offset any by taking the ball away from the opposing offense.

Seattle probably needs to trust Geno Smith even more in 2023, too. Smith has more weapons at his disposal - receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and running back Zach Charbonnet - so let Smith be even more control of the offense. Is he a perfect quarterback? No. Few QBs are anywhere close to perfect. But Smith might be a perfect fit for the Seahawks offense.

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