The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Tennessee Titans in Week 16 to move to 8-7. But while Seattle won the game, the matchup still showed off Seattle's flaws. The offensive line was atrocious for much of the game and Geno Smith never had much time to throw nor was the running game able to get going.
But, let's be real. The team has a winning record so there are probably more Seahawks happy with their Christmas Day then those getting lumps of coal. But some Seattle players have not played up to expectations this season.
Of the three players that follow, two did not participate in Week 16. One likely would not have helped anyway. The other wouldn't have even played much if at all. But these are season-long stories, not just one game issues.
Seattle Seahawks receiver/returner Dee Eskridge gets coal in his stocking
We finally found Eskridge's special skill in 2023. But after we learned that skill, Eskridge has done his best impersonation of Percy Harvin and has not played since with a rib injury. Harvin, of course, was part of one of the worst trades in Seahawks history in 2013 because he was a problem in the locker room, didn't seem to want to play, but then showed off his immense kick return ability in the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos.
The same holds true for Eskridge except for the locker room problem. However, it should be noted that Eskridge was arrested shortly after the 2022 season ended on a domestic issue. So maybe not inside the locker room Eskridge is an issue, but it appears off the field he has some personal concerns.
Eskridge is turning into one of the Seahawks' worst second-round picks ever. In his three seasons in the league, Eskridge has appeared in just 24 of a possible 49 games. Six of those absences were due to a suspension handed down by the NFL due to his January arrest. He has played in just four games this year and has zero catches. But he has returned 8 kickoffs for an average of 28 yards a return. His long was 66 yards. Eskridge looks like a potentially dangerous kick return, but he can never be counted on to play.
A lump of coal for Jamal Adams
I will start with the low-hanging fruit. Though, Jamal Adams' play has been relatively fruitless for a few seasons now. The craziest thing is that for some reason general manager John Schneider saw fit to rework Adams' contract before the season in such a way that makes it harder for the team to move on from Adams after this season.
Should the Seahawks release Adams after the season, the team would save a little over $6 million. That's a chunk of change, sure, but it's about $5 million less than before the rework. Plus, Adams would still account for $20,833,334 in dead cap. Maybe Seattle thought Adams was healthier than he truly was before the season because otherwise re-doing Adams's deal is one of the worst moves by Schneider in recent memory.
Adams has managed to play in nine games in 2023. His high with Seattle is 12 games in both 2020 and 2021. But as opposed to 2020 when Adams had 9.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss, he has zero sacks and 7 tackles for loss this year. There is also a good chance he misses the rest of the season with a knee injury. To be fair, Adams has not yet seemed to fully recover from an injury he suffered in Week 1 of 2020 and he likely never will.
While Adams has been atrocious in coverage, as is his usual, he lacks the explosiveness to truly ever be trusted to cover the deepest parts of the field. Teams have taken advantage of him more and more, such as the San Francisco 49ers toasting Adams for a 54-yard touchdown pass in Week 14. Plus, there seems to be an issue between Adams and the team as he wasn't even at the stadium during Seattle's Week 15 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles and the implication was that he would be a distraction had he been with the team.
Riq Woolen gets a lump of coal
What happened to Riq Woolen? He was a fifth-round draft pick in 2022 and then became a first-year Pro Bowler who had a league-leading 6 interceptions. He was also aggressive in tackling and used his 6'4" frame to punish ballcarriers. He looked like one side of a lock-down corner duo after the Seahawks took Devon Witherspoon in the 2023 draft. But while Witherspoon has been terrific, Woolen looks like a shell of his 2022 self.
In 2022, Woolen allowed a quarterback rating of only 48.7, missed only 5 tackles (7.4 percent of his tackle attempts), and just 51.5 percent of pass attempts thrown his way were completed. This year, those numbers have jumped to 73.9 (still relatively solid but slipping over the last many games), 8 (15.4 percent), and 56.5 percent.
Woolen has played this year like a player who fears getting hurt. That slows reaction time and obviously causes less aggression. In the NFL, that would cause most players their jobs. Unfortunately, injuries come with the game, but one cannot be afraid of getting hurt just as a race car driver cannot be afraid of crashing a car.
Woolen is still young enough to be better in future years. Maybe he will end up being somewhere between his 2022 version and the 2023 one. That would be OK, but certainly not a number 1 corner. (Though he did make a nice tackle at the end of Week 16 to finish off the victory.)