Now that the Seattle Seahawks season has concluded, players from the team are speaking out about what went wrong in 2017.
Seahawks wide receiver Paul Richardson went on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Thursday to give his take on what changes the Seahawks need to make to become a legit contender next season.
When asked by Herd if outspoken players contributed to the lackluster season, Richardson said it wasn’t locker room talk that left the Seahawks without a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2011.
“I think we do have a lot of strong personalities on the team,” Richardson said. “A lot of guys are encouraged to be themselves and be outspoken, whether it’s politically or other league issues. But I don’t think there was too much.”
He continued: “I think we just needed more leadership on the field and guys that were doing it. And we missed tough guys. We missed Kam Chancellor, he leads the defense. We missed Cliff [Avril]. We missed key leadership that probably would have helped us out a lot this season.”
Seattle could find themselves without their two vocal defenders again next season.
Avril, who was placed on Injured Reserve with a neck injury, recently said he intends to play football again if he can. However, he remains focused on his recovery at this time. Chancellor also suffered a season-ending neck injury against the Cardinals on Nov. 9 and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has been reluctant to disclose information on either player, saying he’ll give Chancellor and Avril time to make a decision on their playing careers.
Richardson, who will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, will need to recruit some vocal players to lead Seattle next season. Perhaps, the Seahawks could start with him. The Seahawks wideout is coming off his best year with 44 receptions for 703 yards and six touchdowns.
