12s have seen the Seattle Seahawks make more moves this offseason than in any year since 2010. There is a new coaching staff, and new starters at many positions. How quickly players can learn and execute the new schemes could decide if Seattle has a successful 2024.
Seahawks fans are not going to expect their favorite team to be much worse off this year, though. Many rightfully feel the team should be better. That is why changes are made, after all: To improve.
There will be a lot of pressure on the new Seahawks to keep up what has mostly been a winning tradition over the last decade. Anything less than getting close to a winning record might mean many new members of the organization will be on short stays. One player on this list, however, might simply be held back by the players around him.
Laken Tomlinson - Seattle Seahawks left guard
Seattle rebuilt its offensive line this offseason, and the team needed to. The Seahawks were 31st in terms of pass-rush win rate in 2023, and not much better against the run. Seattle's O-line has not been very good for many years. For the offense to work a maximum efficiency under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, the offensive line has to be better.
No longer with Seattle are 2023 starters Damien Lewis, Phil Haynes, and Evan Brown. Either Christian Haynes or Anthony Bradford will take Haynes' spot at right guard, Olu Oluwatimi is expected to start at center, and Tomlinson should start at left guard. Tomlinson is a veteran who has been quite good at times during his career, but in the last two years, he has digressed.
There is a chance that the 32-year-old Tomlinson is simply old for an offensive lineman and his peak years are long gone. He might not help Seattle much at all. The issue is that Seattle does not have a proven backup at left guard and the entire line would suffer if Tomlinson is bad. He is certainly expected to be as good as Lewis was over the last four years. Any more digression and Seattle might wish they had just kept Lewis.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba - Seahawks wide receiver
JSN is becoming a fan favorite in Seattle and with good reason. He has a natural charisma, appears to be a team-first player, and is good at his job. He was underused by former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron at the beginning of last year and limited in his routes by Waldron's play-calling. Eventually, Smith-Njigba's role expanded and Waldron learned that JSN was pretty good down the field as well.
Smith-Njigba was a first-round pick in 2023, of course, and first-round draft picks are expected to develop into foundational pieces for their teams. Receivers have it a bit tougher than most positions, it seems, as it takes a bit longer to acclimate to the speed and power of NFL defensive backs. By year two, a receiver should be expected to be highly productive.
The problem in 2024 for JSN, and what might keep him from reaching maximum productivity, is that he still plays on a team that features DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. JSN almost certainly won't see as many targets as Metcalf, and he will be splitting targets with Lockett. Smith-Njigba might become one of the best receivers in the league one day, but that is unlikely to happen this season.
Christian Haynes - Seahawks right guard
Many 12s rightfully hope that Haynes will be a Week 1 starter in his rookie season and be a starter at that spot for the next 10 years. He has the size and tenacity to want to be great and to take on any defensive players who get in his way. It helps if offensive linemen have a bit of a mean streak and Haynes definitely has that.
Making a jump from being good in college to immediately good in the NFL is a tough transition, however. Sure, Haynes started 49 games in college, but that starting experience also does not confirm that Haynes will be a good pro. He might, but that isn't simply because he started a bunch of games at UConn.
In fact, no offense to UConn, but had Haynes started 49 games at Alabama, for instance, he might be even better prepared for the NFL than the ones he started at UConn. The competition wasn't consistently great for Haynes. Still, he should eventually be an upgrade at right guard but he might not show that straightaway.
Tyrel Dodson - Seahawks linebacker
Seattle is taking a big chance on Dodson based on how well he did in 2023 after taking over a starting spot midway through the season. The linebacker would still not have played much had the starters for the Bills stayed healthy so Buffalo had a higher value on other players than Dodson. Yes, he received the highest grade for any inside linebacker in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), but that doesn't mean Dodson will be good again in 2024.
Dodson also has to meet the standards of two important matters. One is that he will be the green dot in head coach Mike Macdonald's defense so Dodson will go from backup in Buffalo to a leader on Seattle's defense. He will need to clearly communicate the defensive play-calls for the unit to be successful.
The second part is that Dodson will directly be replacing Bobby Wagner. Wagner was good enough last year to be named Second-Team All-Pro. He is also a future Pro Football Hall of Famer and one of the best players in Seahawks history. Dodson will need to play well for 12s not to wish Seattle had just re-signed Wagner.
Mike Macdonald - Seahawks head coach
Just as Dodson is replacing long-term Seahawk Wagner (except for the one season he played for the Los Angeles Rams), Macdonald will be replacing the best head coach in Seahawks history, Pete Carroll. Seattle needed to make a change as Carroll's defensive scheme had gotten stale and he did not appear to know how to fix the issues. Macdonald has shown to be a very good defensive coach with a completely different philosophy than Carroll.
With Carroll, 12s could assume Seattle would win about half its game, or slightly better, every season. Except for 2021 when Seattle went 7-10, Carroll led his teams to winning records every season since 2011. Macdonald inherits the same amount of talent, if not a bit more, than Carroll had when he was asked to step away from coaching, so should Macdonald lead his team to a losing record, many 12s will not be happy.
It takes a bit of time for new systems to be implemented and then for the players to know the scheme so well they play without thinking too much. Macdonald's first year could be bumpy just because of all the transitions that have to take place. The problem is that in pro sports, seats get hot quickly for a coach not doing as well as his predecessor.