The Seattle Seahawks consider roster construction to be a never-ending process, so how the team looks in early April is not exactly how it’ll look by training camp, Week 1 or after the trade deadline. The front office is always searching for new talent.
But the post-free agency version of the roster can be a strong indicator of what the team will look like to start the season, so let’s look at where each position group stands with the NFL Draft just three weeks away.
GO DEEPERWhat's next for the Seahawks? Free-agency moves put draft pressure on front officeQuarterback
Starter: Geno Smith
Backup: Sam Howell
Smith is not a quarterback who can consistently overcome suboptimal circ*mstances — few of those guys exist — but he’s demonstrated that when the supporting cast is competent, he can play at a level comparable with the upper-tier quarterbacks Seattle would have to defeat to contend for a Super Bowl. And his 2024 cap hit ranks 13th among quarterbacks, making him one of few veteran quarterbacks whose salary aligns with his performance.
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Because Smith is entering his age-34 season, Seattle acquired the 23-year-old Howell to be his backup. Howell had a rough year as a first-time starter in Washington, posting the second-highest interception rate (3.4 percent) and fourth-highest sack rate (9.6 percent) while ranking 24th in touchdown percentage (3.4 percent) and 28th in EPA per dropback (all stats provided by TruMedia unless otherwise stated). But because he’s young and inexpensive, Seattle doesn’t need to use one of its two top-100 draft picks on a quarterback. Howell has already started 18 games, doesn’t turn 24 until September and costs $2.08 million the next two years.
GO DEEPERCommanders trade QB Sam Howell to SeahawksRunning back
Starter: Ken Walker III
Backups: Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh, Bryant Koback
On handoffs to running backs last season, Seattle ranked 14th in yards per carry, 11th in rush EPA, ninth in success rate and eighth in first-down rate. Play calling and blocking were bigger issues than talent at the running back spot, particularly in the red zone, where the Seahawks were one of the worst teams in the league. Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff will have to fix that to maximize Seattle’s potential.
Seattle lost DeeJay Dallas in free agency, but it has an in-house replacement in McIntosh, a 2023 seventh-round pick who missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Wide receiver
Starters: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Backups: Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, Dee Eskridge, Easop Winston Jr., Laviska Shenault Jr., Cody White
The talent is there for Seattle to be much better situationally in 2024. Metcalf is a mismatch on most days, Lockett has elite spatial awareness and Smith-Njigba proved to be a dynamic playmaker as a rookie who could be trusted with the game on the line. And yet the Seahawks struggled situationally, ranking 23rd in third-down conversion rate and 25th in the red zone.
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Assuming Bobo remains WR4, the preseason battle for the fifth or sixth spot should be entertaining regardless of what the team does in the draft. Schneider views 2024 as a fresh start for Eskridge, Young showed promise as a rookie in 2022, Winston has been with the team for a couple of years now and could have value as a punt returner, and the team signed Shenault on Tuesday with kickoff returns in mind. During the season, though, the focus will be on getting the most out of the top three players in this room.
Tight end
Starter: Noah Fant
Backups: Pharaoh Brown, Tyler Mabry, Brady Russell
Fant had a down year in 2023, but he should be more productive now that the tight end room isn’t as crowded. Brown had a career-high 208 yards receiving in a bad New England offense last season, so he won’t be completely ignored in the passing game, but his acquisition was about replacing what Will Dissly provided as a blocker.
Seattle might add to this position group in the draft because Brown turns 30 in May, Mabry has played only 27 career regular-season offensive snaps in four years and Russell played 16 snaps as a rookie last season.
GO DEEPERSeahawks keep Noah Fant, raising expectations for new-look tight end group in 2024Offensive line
Starters: LT Charles Cross, LG Tremayne Anchrum Jr., C Olu Oluwatimi, RG Anthony Bradford, RT Abraham Lucas
Backups: OT George Fant, OT McClendon Curtis, OT Raiqwon O’Neal, OT Stone Forsythe, C Nick Harris
The competition between Oluwatimi and Harris could run through training camp. At right guard, Bradford put enough on tape last season to enter camp as the starter. But at left guard, Seattle needs another body to compete with Anchrum, a backup for the Rams the last four years. I’d expect Seattle to add a veteran guard and then use one of its first two picks on an interior lineman. After that, it’s on Huff to try to make this unit dominant.
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• Strong iOL class is great news for Seattle
• Best IDL fits + more https://t.co/h7SwSh8hYu pic.twitter.com/oSk3iT0gL3— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) April 1, 2024
Defensive line
Starters: NT Jarran Reed, DT Leonard Williams, DT Dre’Mont Jones
Backups: NT Johnathan Hankins, DT Myles Adams, NT Cameron Young, DT Mike Morris, NT LaTrell Bumphus, NT Matt Gotel
The starting unit here is strong, especially if Jones can stay at defensive tackle instead of moonlighting as an outside linebacker, which he had to do last year after Uchenna Nwosu went down. Jones is at his best when rushing inside against guards, and if he’s consistently doing that, he should adequately complement Reed and Williams, two of Seattle’s most consistent players in the second half of last season.
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Depth is the question here. The 32-year-old Hankins is a classic space-eater in the middle, but this will be an important year for guys like Young and Morris, Day 3 picks in the 2023 draft. Morris missed all but one game with a shoulder injury, and Young didn’t do much in 195 snaps on defense. If those two take a step in Year 2, Seattle’s defensive line could be much better than it’s been the last two seasons. But even if Seattle is optimistic about Young and Morris, there’s still room to target a game-changing interior lineman with one of its top two picks.
Outside linebacker
Starters: Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe
Backups: Derick Hall, Darrell Taylor, Joshua Onujiogu, Levi Bell
Nwosu is the team’s best outside linebacker, and replacing him was a struggle last season. Having him healthy with an emerging Mafe in 2024 is reason for optimism.
GO DEEPER'He's been balling': As Seahawks OLB Boye Mafe slowed the game down, his play took offLike defensive tackle, depth is what could prompt Schneider to snag a pass rusher in the draft. Hall is a powerful player but didn’t produce much as a rookie after Nwosu’s injury gave him the opportunity to play more often. Since 2021, Taylor ranks 32nd in sacks (21.5) and 65th in pressure rate (10.7 percent) out of the 122 players with at least 750 pass rush snaps. But his inconsistency as a run defender is why Seattle may draft an edge defender to compete with him in 2024 and potentially succeed him in 2025.
Inside linebacker
Starters: Tyrel Dodson, Jerome Baker
Backups: Jon Rhattigan, Patrick O’Connell, Drake Thomas
Baker was a consistently serviceable linebacker for six seasons in Miami — the Dolphins’ books just weren’t clean enough to retain him at his previous price point. Dodson, on the other hand, didn’t become a starter until this past season, so even though he played well for Buffalo in 2023, he’s more of an unknown commodity than Baker.
And because neither of them is under contract beyond this season, linebacker is a position of need in this draft. Seattle could use someone to push Dodson and Baker for one of the two starting jobs and be a viable long-term option. The question is whether that type of player exists in this draft class.
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Cornerback
Starters: Riq Woolen, Devon Witherspoon, Tre Brown
Backups: Mike Jackson, Artie Burns, Lance Boykin, Andrew Whitaker
Woolen was a Pro Bowler who led the league in interceptions as a rookie. Witherspoon made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and ranked fifth in passes defensed with 16. Brown is a feisty corner who is aggressive at the catch point. It’ll be interesting to see what coach Mike Macdonald and his staff can do with that room, because if they can get the best version of the three projected starters, this group has the potential to be very, very good.
But similar to the situation with Taylor, faith in the current players shouldn’t prevent Seattle from upgrading this room in the draft (and Brown, Jackson and Burns are free agents after this year).
GO DEEPERSeahawks post-FA mock draft: After a trade, Mike Macdonald gets his chess piece on defenseSafety
Starter: Julian Love, Rayshawn Jenkins
Backups: K’Von Wallace, Coby Bryant, Jonathan Sutherland, Ty Okada, Jerrick Reed II
Love, Jenkins, Wallace and Bryant all have similar skill sets, which might be what Macdonald is aiming for with this new-look safety room (Love and Wallace will be free agents next year). They’re all arguably at their best when closer to the line of scrimmage but can play deep in certain situations.
Much like cornerback, the success of this unit will be reliant on Macdonald’s staff getting the absolute best out of all the starters. But even if that happens, the ceiling here isn’t as high as it is at cornerback, which is why Seattle might have an eye on safeties in the draft.
GO DEEPERMike Macdonald’s vision for the Seahawks’ defense starts with one thing: VersatilityReturners
Kickoff: Eskridge, Shenault
Punt: Winston
Eskridge returned eight kicks for 224 yards last season, including a 66-yard return against the 49ers on Thanksgiving. Out of the 30 players with at least eight returns last year, he ranked second in return average at 28 yards per runback. The 2021 second-round pick hasn’t contributed much as a receiver, but the new kickoff rules increase his value.
GO DEEPERMaking sense of NFL's new kickoff rule and what it means for next seasonShenault had only nine returns over the past two years, but he averaged 27.7 yards on those attempts. The new rule might result in teams using two returners at the same time, meaning Eskridge and Shenault could share the job.
Winston hasn’t returned punts in the regular season since 2021, but he was basically the primary backup to DeeJay Dallas last year, and he had a 21-yard return in the 2023 preseason finale. He’s also the player Schneider mentioned when asked at the owners’ meetings about the punt returner job.
(Photo of Jerome Baker: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
Michael-Shawn Dugar is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Seattle Seahawks. He previously covered the Seahawks for Seattlepi.com. He is also the co-host of the "Seahawks Man 2 Man" podcast. Follow Michael-Shawn on Twitter @MikeDugar
