Seattle Seahawks: 5 offseason needs

Injuries ravaged the Seahawks in 2017 and Russell Wilson still nearly led Seattle to the playoffs. With major decisions on marquee players looming, how can Pete Carroll’s team maximize its window now and set itself up for the future? 

Outside of Silicon Valley, few cities house more innovative companies and minds than Seattle. It’s time for the team run by Paul Allen, the man who helped Bill Gates revolutionize and transform the world with Microsoft, to undergo its own transformation.

With the Legion of Boom aging out of dominance, the Seahawks have slowly morphed more and more into Russell Wilson’s team. They’ve done it in drips and drabs, in part by accident from not having the cap flexibility to take as many big swings as they used to.

Miss on some picks here and lose the cash to improve the team there, and suddenly the Seahawks have lost their depth. When your superstar players get hurt, as they all do eventually, that has serious trickle-down effects.

Is this the year the team finally decides to throw in with Russell Wilson and make the Seahawks like many of the other teams quarterbacked by superstars? Do they need to go whole hog on hog mollies and skill players?

These are decisions Carroll and John Schneider in the front office have to make, but with the 49ers and Rams rising—or if you want to get tech nerdy “disrupting”—in the NFC West, the Seahawks need to adapt and evolve. They need a revolution from within, a new identity.

That’s not the same as saying “blow it up,” but there needs to be clear direction moving forward because this team doesn’t have the guys to be the kind of team it’s been. So they either need to get them, or get a new plan.

Here are five things they need to address this offseason.

Quick note: Trading Michael Bennett is not on the list, but from a distraction standpoint, you’d like to get that done ASAP. It’s clear this isn’t working, so it’s time to move on for both sides. 

5. Improve the offensive line

For approximately the 27th year in a row, the Seahawks need to fix a struggling and untalented offensive line group. Not only does Seattle lack quality players, one of their starting guards, Luke Joeckel will be a free agent this offseason.

It’s weird to say, but they can’t really afford to lose him without a replacement in mind.

Duane Brown will cost nearly $10 million this season and the Seahawks basically have to pay him because they don’t have any other options. They need to replace Joeckel at left guard, upgrade from Germaine Ifedi at right tackle and could certainly stand to find a better option than Oday Aboushi.

When more than half the offensive line needs to be upgraded or replaced, it’s hard to argue there’s a bigger problem with the team.