Hard truths to swallow about the 2024 Seahawks

Perspective on how the Seahawks’ first season post-Pete Carroll went.

The definition of success varies. For some teams, the dream would be to finish the year positive, but for a team that is considered a contender, finishing with only a .500 would be seen as a failure. So, be careful with the yardstick you use to measure Mike Macdonald’s first season with the Seattle Seahawks.

A rookie coach, with several different pieces on defense, it was necessary to be moderate in expectations. Compare the other rookie coaches: Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots, two of them were fired after just one year. All with negative records.

Of course, when we look at each game, the way some losses occurred, the feeling of dissatisfaction grows. The criticisms are valid and we need to calmly improve for Year 2. But, first of all, we need to know what championship we are competing in.

Mediocrity

With Geno Smith, the Seahawks are 12-1 against teams that finished 5-12 or worse and 16-22 against all other teams. This includes beating Jacoby Brissett’s Patriots in overtime, losing to the Giants at home (which cost them a playoff spot). And the Dolphins game was tighter than it should have been.

The Seahawks are mostly incapable of beating strong teams, teams that make the playoffs. That’s a new problem. Remember when the Seahawks beat the Chiefs just before Christmas in 2018? Or when the team beat the Eagles who would go on to win the 2017 Super Bowl with a Carson Wentz who was playing at an MVP level? I still remember the fantastic win at Gillette Stadium against Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2016. In other words, even with teams with problems, like those in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Seahawks were capable of competing (and even winning) games against strong teams.

Look at their performance in 2024.

Seattle lost to the Detroit Lions without forcing a single incomplete pass. They lost to the Rams with three interceptions (two in red zone), were dominated by the Bills at home, and took two immediate TDs against the Green Bay Packers. The only game they really played well against a strong team was against the Vikings in the penultimate week of the regular season.

Last year, the Seahawks were swept by the Rams and 49ers. The team had actually been on a losing streak against their Santa Clara rivals and had been largely dominated since Geno took over as the starter.

Seattle had 10 wins, but only 2 against playoff teams. The Rams with a reserve team, and the Broncos in Week 1, when they were down. These were also Seattle’s ONLY wins against teams with a positive record.

Understand, this is not just a criticism of Geno. This is the result of terrible roster construction in the Draft and Free Agency. But more on that later.

It’s time for John Schneider to go…

This was the first year that John Schneider had absolute control over the franchise’s decisions. If it was some kind of experiment, knowing what was John’s “fault” and what was “Pete’s”, the result was far from satisfactory.

The worst free agency of Schneider’s era

John Schneider was never a super genius in free agency. Seattle always brought in mediocre players, paying more and never really solving the problem. However, the team did manage to get a useful/cheap player in some of those years, like Al Woods, for example.

Of course, recently Uchenna Nwosu and Julian Love were good deals, and back in the early days, Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril were, too. The team spent a ton of money on Dre’Mont Jones and he didn’t live up to expectations.

In this 2024 offseason, he took it to another level, unfortunately, in a negative way. See below the team’s signings:

TE Pharaoh Brown – backup;

C Nick Harris – traded;

S Rayshawn Jenkins – backup;

OT George Fant – IR (2x);

LB Tyrel Dodson (CUT);

Jerome Baker – traded;

OL Tremayne Anchrum Jr (CUT);

DB K’Von Wallace – IR;

NT Jonathan Hankins – backup;

WR Laviska Shenault (CUT);

Connor Williams – retired;

Jenkins came in to start and was one of the worst on defense. He ended up coming back after IR and playing as a dimebacker since he couldn’t win Coby Bryant’s spot. Hankins was supposed to help the rotation against the run game, but he was never a big part of it. You can chalk it up to bad luck that George Fant was placed on IR twice and Connor Williams retired mid-season, but there’s not much to justify it other than that.

He re-signed Noah Fant after a year with no TDs. That didn’t change much in 2024, he was just a checkdown player; it didn’t make sense to re-sign but he did it. Pharaoh Brown was a disaster as a blocker, having the same holding penalties (4) as three offensive linemen players combined (Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, and Laken Tomlinson) without bringing anything positive in the passing game, only taking targets and snaps away from rookie AJ ​​Barner.

Seattle decided to go with Baker and Dodson as LBs. This choice cost Seattle several poor games against the run; with Tyrice Knight unable to crack the starting lineup. The LB decisions resulted in Seattle having to spend a fourth-rounder to trade for Ernest Jones.

The renewal of Leo Williams was the only positive point of the entire offseason.

Questionable coaching staff choices

The team’s main problem was the unbalanced offense, and this was 100% JS’ decision. Watch Mike Macdonald’s interviews when he arrived in Seattle. In all of them, the HC talks about being physical on both sides of the ball.

This would not be something he would have with Ryan Grubb. Just watch a dozen of Washington’s games. An offense totally focused on the pass that resulted in Michael Penix reaching several marks in passing yards. In other words, the hiring was the GM’s responsibility.

In fact, Grubb was let go after the season ended.; A move to make him the scapegoat for the GM’s neglect of the offensive line. I think Grubb is a promising guy; he just didn’t have the ability to go straight from college to OC in the NFL. He needed to spend some time adapting to another role like Passing Game Coordinator, QB Coach, or something like that.

There were good choices on the Coaching Staff, like Leslie Frazier, Jake Peetz, Kirk Olivadotti. However, other important positions didn’t have the same success. Charles London, QB Coach, arrived after coaching Will Levis. Mack Brown became TE coach without ever having worked with the position.

Would you trust John Schneider to choose the QB of the future of the franchise?

Work on trades

As mentioned in a topic above, JS never stood out in free agency. Where he made his name was in trades, even if some went wrong along the way (Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham, JAMAL YIKES ADAMS). Two of those trades saved his season: Ernest Jones and Roy Robertson-Harris.

However, he made mistakes in the trades in 2024.

It all starts with a trade with no explanation whatsoever for Sam Howell. The team spent:

– Jimmy Johnson Chart: 96th pick (late Round 3);

– Football Perspective Chart: 148th pick (mid Round 5);

For a QB who can throw more interceptions than Geno Smith and does this:

Schneider also traded Mike Jackson for Michael Barrett, a player so important that he didn’t even make the roster. I know many will argue that MJ would’ve been cut, so getting anything for him would be a positive. However, the Panthers were desperate for a CB since they had lost their starter and Jackson filled the void. Seattle could have taken advantage of the situation and gotten something more.

Nick Harris was traded back to Cleveland after Luke Wypler’s injury. The most Seattle got was a swap of 2026 draft picks. The team traded Darrell Taylor for the same amount as Trevis Gipson, who has more inactive games than tackles.

Up until the Ernest Jones trade, if you look at it in detail, Seattle paid more than the Titans did and still sent a player who paid for basically his entire contract (Jerome Baker).

Neglecting the offensive line

“Guys get overdrafted at guard position and, in my opinion, they get overpaid.”

The center they signed was Nick Harris, who was later traded for a sixth-round pick in two years (as discussed above). It wasn’t until the beginning of the season that the team signed Connor Williams, a quality veteran who was recovering from a serious injury and ended up retiring midway through the year.

For guards, they only brought in veteran Laken Tomlinson, who was coming off two dismal seasons with the Jets. Furthermore, the team spent a third-round pick on Christian Haynes, who failed to overcome the league’s worst OG in many ways, Anthony Bradford. And when Bradford was placed on IR, Haynes was unable to beat out Sataoa Laumea, who had been inactive all season.

The OL should be the main focus this offseason!