4 players Seattle Seahawks gave up on too early

Former Seahawks receiver Golden Tate

Golden Tate is in Seattle Seahawks news again because of a recent appearance he had on KJ Wright's podcast, KJ All Day. On the podcast, Tate goes in depth about why he left Seattle. It may have had to do with some rumors about Tate having an affair with quarterback Russell Wilson's then-wife. Tate disputes that ever occurred, but it does appear Wilson had something to do with Tate not being welcome back in free agency after the 2013 season.

Whether or not Wilson gave general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll his opinion, Schneider and Carroll should have been the big boys in the room and decided to keep Tate. Seattle was eventually switching away from being so run-heavy and was going to feature Wilson more with the offense. To truly succeed, Seattle would need very good receivers. Maybe this move to throwing more wasn't going to happen in 2014, but likely by 2015, and no NFL team thinks just one season ahead; It's usually at least two.

Seattle already had Doug Baldwin on the team in 2014, but he hadn't yet proven himself to be a great receiver. Second on the team in receiving yards after Baldwin's 825 was Jermaine Kearse with only 537. Tate might not have been a 1,000-yard guy with the Seahawks in 2014, but he definitely would have given the offense more reasons for an opposing defense to be afraid. In 2015, Seattle threw the ball a lot more (running back injuries factored in as well), and Baldwin went over 1,000 yards and Tate likely could have had at least 900 himself.

Tate, though, left Seattle and signed with the Detroit Lions. Between 2014 and 2017, Tate had three 1,000-yard receiving seasons and he made the Pro Bowl in 2014. Would he have been a little expensive for Seattle to re-sign? Maybe. But he wasn't brought back to the Seahawks because of Russell Wilson and that was a mistake on Seattle's part.