The Seattle Seahawks had the worst offseason in the NFL, according to Bill Barnwell at ESPN.
Among the things that Barnwell lists Seattle got wrong were Will Dissly’s incomprehensible new contract, using an early-round draft pick on a running back and trading the best player in the history of their franchise.
“You’ve probably heard about the Russell Wilson trade by now. One week after Pete Carroll publicly said that the Seahawks had “no intention” of trading Wilson, the Seahawks sent their franchise quarterback to the Broncos for Drew Lock, Shelby Harris, Noah Fant and five draft picks, including two first-rounders. The Seahawks simply didn’t get enough for a superstar in the prime of his career, and while I held out some hope that they would then go after a viable replacement under center, they’re about to head into 2022 with Lock and Geno Smith as their two quarterbacks.”
As for what they should have done differently, Barnwell was to the point:
“Well, they could have kept Wilson and fired Carroll. If the relationship between quarterback and head coach had deteriorated to the point where one had to go, Seattle made the wrong choice.”
That’s a heck of a hard-to-swallow pill, but he’s right on the money.
Based on the reactions we’ve read this offseason, some fans have gracefully accepted that the Seahawks are going into a transitional phase and will have reasonable expectations this coming season. Others seem to be in denial about just how important Russell Wilson was for this franchise and how ugly things may get without him around to patch things up.
We try to take am honest agnosticism into any season and not rush to judgement before a team has played a single snap. That said, Barnwell isn’t the only analyst we trust who says the Seahawks have gotten worse than any other club in the leauge since the 2021 campaign ended.
Not long after the Wilson/Denver trade, Pro Football Focus came out with an updated offseason improvement index. The Broncos were at the top of that list, while the Seahawks were dead last.
Football is an exceedingly complex game, especially at this level. Some things are easier to read into than others, though.
Until they find their next Russell Wilson – or more realistically their next Matt Hasselbeck – things are going to be tough. Whether or not Pete Carroll’s staff survives this transition will depend almost entirely on how long it takes for that search to bear fruit and how many games he can win in the meantime.
