Can the Seahawks offense recover after trading Russell Wilson?
Wilson's absence from an offensive unit typically among the NFL's elite will be the defining storyline in 2022.
Editor's note: This story is part of KING 5's Seahawks season preview series.
We broke down each position group for the Seahawks' defense and special teams units Thursday as we get closer to the start of the 2022 NFL season.
(Just six days away! This is not a drill.)
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Now we are doing the same for the offense, which will be without longtime franchise quarterback Russell Wilson for the first time since 2011.
Wilson's absence from an offensive unit typically among the NFL's elite will be the defining storyline for the Seahawks' 2022 season.
For a team that has been defined by Wilson in every single way, can they find a way to still be successful?
Let's get to it.
Quarterback
- Starter: Geno Smith
- Depth chart: Drew Lock
- Last season's leader: Russell Wilson (3,113 passing yards)
- NFL rank last season: 23rd in passing yards (3,432) and 10th in passing touchdowns (30)
The Seahawks enter the regular season with just two quarterbacks after cutting former University of Washington star quarterback Jacob Eason at the deadline Tuesday.
At this point, neither quarterback on the roster has put together a season even resembling league average.
Smith, who will replace Wilson as the starter, has bounced around four NFL teams in nine seasons with little success. The 31-year-old's career high in passing yards was 3,046 in his rookie season. Which was back in 2013. Oh.
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Lock, whose uninspiring three seasons in Denver led them to trade for Wilson, hasn't even reached 3,000 passing yards in a single season. He's thrown 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions for his career.
Barring a late-career renaissance or a fourth-year breakout, the Seahawks will be among the bottom of the pack at the league's most important position.
Running back
- Starter: Rashaad Penny
- Depth chart: Kenneth Walker III, Travis Homer, DeeJay Dallas
- Last season's leader: Rashaad Penny (749 rushing yards)
- NFL rank last season: 11th in rushing yards (2,074) and tied ninth in rushing touchdowns (18)
This was shaping up to be an interesting preseason position battle until Walker III injured his hernia, sidelining him for the entire preseason and potentially part of the regular season too.
Now Penny, last year's leading rusher, is cemented as the Seahawks' top back for the time being. He finished the 2021 campaign with 671 rushing yards, seven touchdowns and a ridiculous 7.3 yards per carry average in the last five games.
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But Walker III's presence is undeniable. He was the second-highest running back selected in the 2022 NFL Draft and possesses the combination of size and speed that could make him a star at the highest level.
Homer and Dallas are experienced pass-catching running backs that help fill the gaps in the running back rotation.
Wide receiver
- Starters: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett
- Depth chart: Dee Eskridge, Marquise Goodwin, Penny Hart, Dareke Young
- Last season's leader: Tyler Lockett (1,175 receiving yards)
DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett have caught 665 passes in their careers. Almost all have been from Wilson, a testament to the longtime quarterback's ability to play every single game for the Seahawks.
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The 2022 season will be a big adjustment for one of the best wide receiver duos in the league. Russell Wilson's skillset helped Metcalf and Lockett unlock the best parts of their game. Can they adjust to Geno Smith and Drew Lock this season?
Dee Eskridge hopes to be a productive member of the receiving unit after he finished with just 64 receiving yards in his rookie season. As a second-round pick in last year's draft, there are plenty of expectations for him to develop into a reliable target alongside Metcalf and Lockett.
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Marquise Goodwin is a veteran wide receiver who nearly had 1,000 yards in the 2017 season.
Tight end
- Starters: Will Dissly, Noah Fant
- Depth chart: Colby Parkinson
- Last season's leader: Gerald Everett (478 receiving yards)
Will Dissly hasn't been quite the same since tearing his ACL in Week 6 of the 2019 season. He was on pace for 700 receiving yards and looked like he would have been the third passing option in the Seahawks' offense.
He's suffered another serious injury (patella tendon injury) since and his per-game averages have dipped to just over 15 receiving yards per game.
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Acquired in the landmark Russell Wilson trade, Noah Fant is one of the best athletes at the tight end position. He's 6-foot-4 and weighs 249 pounds but he is in the 98th percentile in the 40-yard dash, 97th percentile in speed score, 97th in burst score, 98th in agility score and 99th percentile in catch radius, according to Player Profiler, a website that tracks individual players' metrics and compares them to their peers. In other words: Fant is better than at least 97% of NFL players in these respective categories.
The Seahawks haven't had an athlete of Fant's caliber at the tight end position in over a decade.
Offensive line
- Starters: Charles Cross, Damien Lewis, Austin Blythe, Gabe Jackson, Jake Curhan
- Depth chart: Stone Forsythe, Kyle Fuller, Phil Haynes, Abraham Lucas
The current depth chart doesn't reflect it yet, but it's a real possibility the Seahawks rely on two rookies as bookends of the offensive line.
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First-round draft pick Charles Cross will be the starting left tackle to begin the season, while Abraham Lucas, a third-round pick out of Washington State University, could eventually beat out Jake Curhan at right tackle.
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The pair of rookies have already impressed in their first NFL preseason, at least.