SEATTLE — With the Seahawks season ending on Saturday with a 41-17 loss to the division rival San Francisco 49ers, the focus now shifts to the upcoming year.
But before we get into the Seahawks' plans for the NFL draft or free agency, it's time to review a 2022-23 season that exceeded expectations.
Let's start with the team's Most Valuable Player.
MVP: Geno Smith
Could it really be anyone else? The 32-year-old journeyman had a career year (4,282 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, 11 interceptions) when the NFL least expected it.
Smith led all quarterbacks in the league in completion percentage (69.2%) this season. Let's compare Smith's career renaissance to his previous nine years in the NFL to show his meteoric rise.
Smith in 2022: 4,282 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 69.8 completion percentage
Smith from 2013-2021 (17-game averages): 2,613 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, 58.9 completion percentage
The Seahawks don't make the playoffs without Smith. Smith was once believed to be merely a veteran stopgap option before the Seahawks found a better quarterback, but he just might end up being the answer long-term.
Rookie of the Year: Tariq Woolen
This is the most competitive category of the season. There were four Seahawks rookies that played significant roles for a team that made the postseason.
It should be noted that this was an incredible draft from the Seahawks, who drafted four of the top 15 rookies according to Pro Football Reference's Approximate Value, a metric which measures the value of individual seasons.
Kenneth Walker III was the team's leading rusher and flashed brilliance on any given play. Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas were bookends on the Seahawks' offensive line that protected Smith all season.
But the rookie of the year nod should go to Tariq Woolen, who recorded a league-leading six interceptions in his rookie year. Woolen wasn't even the first cornerback selected by the Seahawks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Now he has a legitimate shot at winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Offensive Player of the Year: Kenneth Walker III
We'll follow the NFL's model of not including quarterbacks in the offensive player of the year (for some reason).
With that logic, the award belongs to Walker III, who took over as the Seahawks starting running back in Week 6 when Rashaad Penny was ruled out for the season. From there on, Walker averaged 95.9 yards per game and scored eight touchdowns. That would be a 17-game pace of 1,397 yards and 12 touchdowns -- Pro-Bowl-type numbers.
Walker III had plenty of hype before his rookie season and still lived up to the expectations.
Defensive Player of the Year: Tariq Woolen
See the rookie of the year section above for more reasoning. Woolen made an immediate impact in the secondary, forming what could be an imposing unit alongside Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams.
Most likely to succeed: Pete Carroll
Aside from Smith, Pete Carroll was the Seahawks' biggest winner of 2022. By jettisoning Russell Wilson in the offseason, and improving the team's win-loss record in the following season, Carroll has proven he can win without the longtime Seahawks quarterback.
In 13 years in Seattle, Carroll has led the Seahawks to 10 winning seasons. Two of Carroll's seasons with losing records happened in 2010 and 2011, his first two years at the helm.
Since then, he's been a metronome of consistency, guiding the Seahawks to one of the best marks in the league over the past decade.
Moment of the year: Beating Russell Wilson on Monday Night Football
At the time, the Seahawks eeking out a 17-16 win over their former quarterback and the Denver Broncos seemed like a monumental achievement. Wilson's Broncos were considered a strong playoff contender, while the Seahawks appeared to be living in the basement of the NFC West.
What the last four months of football proved, however, is that the Seahawks were better than we thought they were. The Broncos proved to be much worse than even possible, bottoming out as a 5-12 team with the league's worst offense.
Game of the year: 48-45 win over Detroit (Week 4)
It was early in the year, but this was the most important win of the Seahawks' season.
Seattle had dropped two straight games after its upset win against the Broncos before a road matchup against the upstart Lions in Week 4.
What ensued was an impossible display of offensive football. The teams combined for over eight yards per play. The Lions dropped 45 points and 520 yards in a loss. Seattle matched the Lions punch-for-punch, with 48 points and 555 yards.
In fact, five of the game's 12 touchdowns were 30 yards or longer.
For the fan that loves offense -- and there were three touchdowns in the final five minutes to close this epic matchup -- this was the game that left you on the edge of your seat.
The scintillating win also happened to be the tie-breaker that got the Seahawks into the postseason instead of the Lions.
Individual performance of the year: Kenneth Walker vs. the Chargers (Week 6)
In just his second NFL start, Walker III set the NFL world on fire with a back-breaking 74-yard touchdown run. The rookie took a toss from Smith and ran basically untouched along the sideline to put the Chargers away.
Walker III was already cooking the Chargers' defense before his long fourth-quarter touchdown, but the long score did give his final stat line (167 yards, two touchdowns) a nice cherry on top.
Best quote of the year: "They wrote me off. I ain't write back tho."
Smith, answering a postgame question about proving the doubters wrong after the Seahawks' win over the Broncos, dropped the best quote of the season.
Speaking for Seahawks fans everywhere, thank you Geno for not writing back to the haters.
Best entertainer of the year: Kenneth Walker
Watching Walker III run roughshod through NFL defenses was a joy. He took the baton from Rashaad Penny and earned the starting role in 2023.
At his size and speed, Walker III is one of the few game-breakers at the running back position.
Biggest offseason question: Will Geno return?
This question will define the Seahawks' offseason. Whether the Seahawks sign Geno long-term is the first domino that will guide the team's priorities during the draft and free agency.
Smith stated after the season that he wanted to return to Seattle. Now it's up to the Seahawks to decide if the veteran is worth a significant pay increase, potentially nearing $40 million per year.
Biggest what-if: Jamal Adams' health
In a season full of positives, Adams' absence was notable. He exited Week 1 with a leg injury that cut his season short.
The three-time Pro Bowler has now played in just 25 of a possible 50 games over the last three seasons. If he's healthy for 2023, he'd join a secondary teeming with talent.