In the waning days of the Pete Carroll era, the Seattle Seahawks were facing a twin dilemma. They weren’t playing especially well. And they were getting old. When Russell Wilson’s play at quarterback began to fall off as well, there was no more pretense that staying the course was a legitimate option.
There are plenty of reasons why any team goes through periods of failure, but the most common one is poor drafting. The once magical tandem of Carroll and general manager John Schneider that had performed so brilliantly from 2010-2012 suffered through a long, slow decline.
Names like Christine Michael and Rashaad Penny, Malik McDowell and L.J. Collier constituted a collection of first-pick fiascos, and there weren’t a lot of gems discovered later in the draft to balance them out.
Seattle Seahawks have rebuilt their roster around a lot of very good young players
The bottom line is that Seattle grew increasingly reliant on its veterans, whether homegrown or imported, with diminishing results. Those mediocre drafts left a very thin core of young talent on which the franchise could build.
That began to change in 2022, while Carroll and Schneider were still collaborating on the draft. Despite a few misses along the way, things are looking far brighter today.
As of this writing, almost 40% of the Seahawks’ roster is under 25. That is the highest total in the NFC West. And it goes beyond the mere numbers. Those younger players are among the best and the brightest on the team. Starters and team leaders who figure to be wearing College Navy and Action Green for years to come.
A sensational core of receivers, led by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and including Tory Horton, AJ. Barner and Elija Arroyo are all under 25. So are three starting offensive linemen – Charles Cross, Anthony Bradford, and rookie Grey Zabel. (The other two starters are 25 and 26, respectively.)
Kenneth Walker III and fullback Robbie Ouzts haven’t turned 25 yet. Neither has backup QB Jalen Milroe. Starting quarterback Sam Darnold is just 28.
Over on defense, things aren’t quite as rosy, but Seattle still has team leader Devon Witherspoon at 24, while promising youngsters Tyrice Knight, Byron Murphy II, and Nick Emmanwori are all under 25 as well.
Six other starters on both offense and defense are either 25 or 26.
Of course, a handful of older veterans remain. Players like Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed, and recent acquisitions like DeMarcus Lawrence and Cooper Kupp, are all on the far side of 30. But these are the outliers on Mike Maconald’s version of the Seahawks.
After those fallow draft years, Seattle's scouting and personnel departments have roared back to life. 31 of the 38 players drafted since 2022 are still with the team. That’s more than 80%, which is a very strong showing. That figure, on its own, is nice. It suggests the team is adding at least eight new players per year through the draft, along with whatever it may find on the free agent market.
That in turn means the entire roster turns over in five-year cycles, and that is sustainable provided a decent number of those draftees turn out to be quality professionals. As mentioned above, the under-25 crowd in Seattle these days includes many of the team’s best players.
So instead of being old and faltering, the Seattle Seahawks are now young and talented. That may not guarantee that they win big, but it is a much better situation than existed just a couple of years ago.