NFL preview 2017: Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are back at 100 percent heading into 2017, and that could help them make some serious noise in the NFC this season.

The NFC West has always been a bit mediocre over the years, and last year was a special case where three of the four teams in the division didn’t even garner a .500 record. The Arizona Cardinals fell off from their big year in 2015, falling to 7-8-1, while the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers combined for a total of six wins between them over a cumulative 32 games.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks finished with a 10-5-1 record, which earned them a division title for the third time in four years. They fell to the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round in a poor performance, but can at least say they fell to the conference champions, who almost pulled off a huge victory in Super Bowl LI.

Now, it’s in the Seahawks’ hands to improve upon that record and make some noise in a pretty wide-open NFC. They should have no excuses for why they didn’t do so, should this season go awry quickly.

Last year, the Seahawks put together a pretty great year considering the setbacks they had to deal with. They had Earl Thomas go down for the year, while Russell Wilson was dealing with injuries throughout the year, and still pulled a division title.

This season, a big piece that the Seahawks’ offense needed to upgrade was their offensive line. While they didn’t go out and sign a superstar to help protect their quarterback and help their running game, they at least made an effort in that area.

The Seahawks signed Luke Joeckel, the second-overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, who hasn’t lived up to the hype in his career on the offensive line. However, it’s an improvement upon what they had previously, which Wilson still made work. The big loss is left tackle George Fant, who was expected to hold down the blindside before tearing his ACL.

The other problem was in their run game, which was obviously impacted by the loss of Marshawn Lynchn. They finished the 2016 campaign at 25th in the league in rushing, a big decline from their talented backfield the year before, and are looking to improve things with the addition of Eddie Lacy. While Lacy isn’t Lynch, he and Thomas Rawls will provide a solid combination in the rushing game, with a nice mix of size and speed.

One guaranteed positive for the Seahawks is the return of Thomas from his broken leg to the Legion of Boom, giving their secondary a major boost. Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor will keep Seattle’s defense one of the scariest to go up against for the next four months.

Things haven’t changed much for the other teams in the NFC West, and the Cardinals are really going to be the Seahawks’ lone threat in the division, if there is one at all. They have a fairly-difficult schedule with their non-division opponents in this upcoming season, going up against a competitive NFC East and a tough season-opener with the Green Bay Packers.

The team could go all sorts of directions, but playing in a conference filled with a ton of question marks will surely bode well for the Seahawks this year, and they could make waves throughout the year against some talented teams.

X-Factor

The return of Thomas to the Seahawks’ secondary will be huge, and it’s something many are forgetting about when they think about the team’s chances in 2017.

Thomas was one of the league’s best safeties before his injury, and his absence from the team for most of last season was noticeable if you watched the Seahawks defense for the rest of the regular season after their win over the Patriots. However, with his return comes a ton of questions for the talented safety, and it could impact the rest of the Legion of Boom, as well.

A broken leg is a serious injury to return from in any sport, let alone when you’re a safety in the NFL. We don’t know how this could impact Thomas’ performance or confidence towards the beginning of the 2017 season as he returns to the field in a real game environment, and it may become a massive target for teams like the Packers with early season games against Seattle.

The success of the Seahawks defense almost completely hinges on how Thomas performs in his return, and if he can’t pick up the slack right away with his teammates trusting him, it could be disastrous for the Legion of Boom.

Best case

There’s a ton of positives that could come out of the year for the Seahawks, and they find themselves as a team in control of their own destiny in the NFC West.

The team has no lingering injuries to worry about, have improved their running game and have a wide-open conference to work with this year. While they do have some tough battles to try and survive in, especially early in the year against the Packers, they have an easy enough schedule to possibly finish with a 13-3 year as one of the NFC’s best teams.

Best case scenario, they pull off that record, win the division and could land in the NFC Championship or another Super Bowl if the seeding plays into their favor. They don’t have a ton of threats, and as long as they stay healthy, this best case scenario is very possible.

Worst case

While there’s a lot of potential for the year for success, there’s also a big chance that injuries impact things more than the Seahawks may have previously thought they could.

Thomas and Wilson’s health could provide some serious issues for either side of the ball throughout the year, and the worst case scenario sees both of them have injury problems return and linger from last year. Add in the offensive line struggles from last year and the potential for those to continue, and it may not look too promising once the middle of the year rolls around in Seattle.

If that is the case, they could fall apart in some key division games against the Cardinals and pivotal other big games, and potentially fall down to a wild card spot if they even make the postseason at that point. For a team with so much possible upside, there’s the same potential that things quickly deteriorate for the Seahawks.

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Final word

Much like last year following Lynch’s departure, there are a ton of questions surrounding the Seahawks, mainly having to do with filling gaps and bouncing back from a disappointing finish to the previous season.

However, the Seahawks tend to do well when it comes to facing adversity and exceeding expectations that fans have both in Seattle and across the league. Wilson is reportedly back to full strength, the team’s defense looks to be back to normal and their offense as a whole seems to have improved.

If everything goes well for the Seahawks, the sky is the limit in 2017. On the same boat, however, things can go awry at a moment’s notice in the NFL, and the Seahawks are walking on thin ice in some areas of their game that could take things off of the rails quickly.