Seattle Seahawks studs and duds stand out after the first 8 games

The Seahawks have their share of duds as well

Before I get to the dishonor roll, I need to mention a few players who definitely do not belong among the duds. Neither Tyler Lockett nor DK Metcalf are having great seasons by their standards, it's true. Lockett's catch rate and yards per game are the lowest since 2017. Still, they're hardly duds. Bobo and JSN may be studs, but imagine where this team would be without the two long-term Seattle stars.

Add Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs to the playing decently group. Adams has made some big plays, of course, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who'd say either has had a spectacular season so far. Jordyn Brooks and Tre Brown have played well, too. Better than the Seattle safeties, in fact. All three tight ends have played well, too. But none have had enough impact to be called studs. With nine games left, any of the three could still break out and ball out the rest of the way. If that happens, my money's on Noah Fant, but I expect they'll continue to share the load the rest of the way.

Alright, I can't avoid it any longer, can I? Despite the presence of Evan Brown - and Olu Oluwatimi has played well in limited time too - the offensive line as a unit has clearly been a dud. They played well for a few games after a rough start, but have actually declined since getting Charles Cross back in the lineup. They were great against the Lions and good against the Cardinals. As bad as Arizona is, that's a gimme. So overall, the O-line as been a very large dud indeed. It speaks volumes that the 41-year old Jason Peters has been an improvement. Abe Lucas can't get back fast enough for this team.

As for individuals, I can only name two players that have truly been duds for this team. Those of you who are faithful readers know I'm going with a player I've written about before. I suggested the Seahawks trade him before the season started, so it's no surprise that Darrell Taylor makes my shortlist of duds. Yeah, I know, he came up big against the Cards and Browns. So in two games, he did what Mafe has done in every game.

Taylor has been an absolute zero in all six other games. in the six other games, he has just seven tackles and only one for a loss. He's amassed an astounding total of one quarterback hit in those six games. He's awful against the run and drops into coverage with all the finesse of Al Woods. Yeah, he'll get his sacks in half a dozen games. And he'll completely disappear in the other eleven. There's a reason the Hawksan before Uchenna Nwosu was lost for the season. He's a dud.

The biggest dud of the halfway point has to be Dre'Mont Jones. He was the biggest name signed this offseason and got the biggest average deal of any free agent of the Pete Carroll-John Schneider era, per ESPN's Brady Henderson. So far, he's drastically underperformed for that $51 million deal. Jarran Reed is getting $3 million this year and is seriously outplaying Jones. Mario Edwards is playing for a tenth of Jones' money and is playing better.

At midseason, Jones is on pace to match Quinton Jefferson's numbers from last year. At 5.5 sacks and 13 QB hits, Jefferson had a good year. But he was paid $3.5 million, and the Jets signed him for $3 million this year. By the way, Jefferson currently has 4.5 sacks and 8 QB hits in New York. Consider this: Dre'Mont Jones has half the sacks, fewer QB hits, and the same number of tackles as Jefferson. Now add that he's got $30 million of that contract guaranteed, and you can see why he's the biggest dud of the season so far.

Jones can play better, of course, as can Taylor - although I really doubt it in his case. Geno Smith can improve his game, too. Frankly, he needs to if the Seahawks are going to do anything this year. For Seattle to make the playoffs, a lot of players will need to step up their game. 5-3 isn't bad, obviously, but the Hawks have a lot of work to do. It's time for some more studs to step up.

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