Ranking the five most important Seattle Seahawks heading into 2023

The Seattle Seahawks already had a decently talented roster prior to the 2022 NFL draft. Then the team seemed to strike gold with its rookie class last year. The 2023 class also appears to be very good, but they haven't yet proven it on the field, of course.

On this list of most important Seahawks for this year, I do have a player from last year's class. If all goes well, I could have one or two from the 2023 class if I do this same list next year. That's the hope anyway.

But while Seattle has a lot of young talent, several veterans are still the most important pieces on the team. If all of the five players that follow have excellent seasons, so will the team overall. But if a couple of them fail, the team won't make the playoffs. Here are the five most important players in 2023 for Seattle.

Number 5 - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf

As great as Metcalf, or teammates Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, can potentially be in 2023, he is still reliant on a quarterback to get him the ball. Metcalf has to get himself open on every passing down, and constantly work throughout the game to create news ways of creating space, and yet still, per 2022 numbers, he will only be targeted 24.7 percent of the time his quarterback gets a pass off.

That's why DK Metcalf ranks fifth on this list. But other than all that was previously said, DK Metcalf ranks higher than Lockett and Smith-Njigba because of his ability to consistently use his size and speed to make explosive plays. The problem is that Metcalf hasn't had any more explosive plays than Lockett. That's no slight to Lockett, either. He has found a way to make himself into one of the best receivers in the league through his route-running and immense ability to catch the ball.

Metcalf should have a huge year this coming season, though. The reason is that defenses will still have to focus on Lockett, of course, but if Smith-Njigba is as good as advertised, his ability to get open underneath is going to create more opportunities deep for Metcalf. Metcalf also caught fewer red zone targets in 2022 compared to his career average, so if he bounces back a bit in 2023 he could have 14 touchdown passes.