5 Seattle Seahawks players on the hot seat entering 2024 season

Right tackle Abraham Lucas

Lucas has to prove he can get and stay healthy this year. He was quite good as a rookie in 2022, but then missed most of last season with a knee injury that former head coach Pete Carroll called "chronic." The right tackle had surgery this offseason in hopes of correcting the issue, but he has yet to practice with the team.

John Schneider recently said that he expects Lucas to play at some point this season, but no one can be quite sure what that means. He will miss at least the first four games because he is starting the season on the physically unable to perform list. Maybe he returns in Week 7? Or possibly in Week 15? If that last situation is what happens then that means another lost season for Lucas and the Seahawks.

He is only signed through 2025. The hope is that next year he will be fully healthy and able to play from the start, but there is no evidence to suggest one should assume that. There is nothing wrong with Lucas's character, of course, but an underappreciated talent is being available to play and Lucas cannot do that currently.

Quarterback Geno Smith

Smith is a good quarterback. The numbers prove that. In his two years as a starter for the Seahawks. Smith has a top-12 Total QBR and led the league in game-winning drives and fourth quarter comebacks last year. In 2022, he led the league in completion percentage and the NFC in touchdown passes.

Smith is not a perfect quarterback. Those don't exist. Even Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes makes mistakes. Smith is good enough to get Seattle to the playoffs, however, as he did that in 2022. Without his fourth quarter heroics in 2023, the team might not have won more than five or six games.

Still, Smith's cap hit edges closer to $40 million next season so he will need to prove not only that he is good enough to be QB1 in 2025, but beyond that as well. He wants an extension, and he might be worthy of one, but he needs to prove he can lead new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's offense to great success first.

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