The Seattle Seahawks would be a playoff team if the season were to end right now. The problem is that the season doesn't end right now and the Seahawks have the toughest part of their schedule ahead of them. Do we hope Seattle makes the postseason again? Of course! But that doesn't seem overly likely no matter their current standing.
Maybe that is just an overreaction to the awfulness of Week 9. Or maybe Week 9 showed how good Seattle really was this year. We will know more in a few weeks.
But based on what we have seen halfway through the season, there are several Seahawks who likely won't be back in 2024. Some of this is due to money, and some just for poor play. Here are five who probably won't return.
Running back DeeJay Dallas likely will not return next year
I like DeeJay Dallas as he seems to be a fun guy to have on the team and he is versatile on the field. The issue for him is that he hasn't been overly productive in his four years with Seattle nor does the team seem to trust him much to run the ball consistently. He did get a chance to return punts and kickoffs this year and he has done well, but many players can return kicks and punts. In fact, Seattle replaced Dallas on kickoffs at the start of Week 9 and that was before Dallas was injured.
Dallas injured his shoulder against the Baltimore Ravens but was back at practice this week and could play in Week 10. Still, his time with the Seahawks seems limited as he will be a free agent next offseason and Seattle has Kenneth Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, and rookie Kenny McIntosh. McIntosh might be able to play in Week 10 as well. Taking a running back in one of the later rounds of the 2024 draft would seem logical (and cheaper) than to bring back Dallas.
Dallas averaged 34 carries in his first three seasons (he had 34 in 2020, 33 in 2021, and 35 in 2022, so maybe Seattle is paying him per diem?), but he only has five rushes so far in 2023. He has also played only 11 percent of offensive snaps, a career low. Head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider seem to be preparing for life post-Dallas.
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Tight end Noah Fant will likely not be back next year
I will be honest (because why would I lie to you?), if I was Noah Fant I wouldn't want to come back to play for Seattle. Fant is capable of very good things in the right system. He has good speed and he catches well. In an offensive system designed to get the ball to tight ends in better spaces and more volume, Fant could have a breakout year. That is not going to happen in Seattle's system, though.
Fant is also only 25 years old so he has a lot of football left to play. He is having a career year in terms of yards per reception (16.1) and he is catching a career-high 82.4 percent of his targets, But he is also averaging just 2,1 targets per game, a career low. Why Seattle can't involve him more is a good question, but if I were Fant, I would be signing elsewhere in 2024.
Linebacker Darrell Taylor will likely not be return next year
The Darrell Taylor experiment just needs to be done. He is a restricted free agent in 2024 so Seattle could bring him back rather inexpensively, but why do so? Taylor has never been good against the run, and much of that is he simply doesn't seem like he wants to be. Sure, he can get 9 sacks in a season, but he is inconsistent from game to game.
Taylor's snap count percentage is actually higher this year than in his two previous seasons, but he is on pace for a career-low 5 sacks, and he only has 3 quarterback hits in 2023. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Taylor has maintained a run grade of an atrocious 45.1 this year (about the same as his previous two seasons), but his pass rush grade is also abysmal. There's simply no reason to keep Taylor around if he isn't going to help the team.
Safety Quandre Diggs will likely not be back next year
Diggs is having his worst season in Seattle. He's been very good since being traded to the Seahawks in 2019 but in nearly every metric he is trending downward. Per PFF, his coverage grade is his worst since 2020, his tackling grade is his worst since 2019, and his run defense grade is the worst of his career. He is currently graded 63rd among all safeties in the NFL. Diggs has been credited with 9 missed tackles already this season, which is 18.8 percent of his tackle attempts. That's bad.
Diggs is a free agent in 2025, but in 2024 his cap hit goes way up. This year the cap hit is only $11,937,500 but next year it is $21,262,500. Seattle would save $11 million by releasing him, and that's likely just too much savings to let pass. Diggs also could be replaced by Julian Love sliding over to free safety and Jamal Adams moving back a traditional strong safety role.
Defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones will likely not return next year
Seattle was really hoping they found a long-term interior pass-rush beast who could also be decent against the run when they signed Dre'Mont Jones this past offseason. (Not to bring up Pro Football Focus again, but I will and let you know that Jones is graded as the 92nd interior defensive lineman in the league this year - that is in the bottom third of the league.) Jones is trending toward his worst sack total since he was a rookie in 2019 and his lowest number of tackles for loss since 2020.
The Seahawks kind of gave themselves an out on Jones, too. This year his cap hit is just $10,056,666 and his dead cap is $23 million. In 2024, his cap hit goes to $18,176,666 but his dead cap falls to $13,333,334. Seattle would save almost $5 million by releasing Jones. Maybe Jones has a great second half to the year and proves he is as good as Schneider and Carroll thought he was, but there have been no signs so far in 2023 that he is worth the money he is getting paid.