Coming into last season, the aura surrounding the powerful Seahawks seemed to be gone after their heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl.
This season, coming off the retirement of star back Marshawn Lynch, it will be a telling season for Russell Wilson. The young QB has grown immensely in each offseason and I would expect this year to be the biggest leap because of his dedication to preparation. What could hold him back is the patchwork offensive line he will be working with.
Like last year, the offense is spending the offseason working on things that take some time to develop. Like chemistry:
Why Not Us? @Seahawks
Photo Cred: Jenna Puterbaugh pic.twitter.com/q4BS1f35on
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) April 13, 2016
Seattle spent some time in Southern California this week developing chemistry with the spot that concerns me the most: offensive line. Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reports that some, but not all, of the lineman made the trip.
I think that's Will Pericak. Left to right I think it's Webb, Glowinski, Pericak, Sokoli and Sowell. https://t.co/bdNtgnOO2N
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) April 13, 2016
The Hawks schedule is very managable without it being a cakewalk. Being generous to the other teams, I put Seattle at 10-6 to finish the season. You want to find that perfect balance between being tested throughout the season, but not beaten up. Seattle may have gotten that.
The NFC West is arguably the toughest division in football with the powerhouses Arizona and Seattle at the top with Los Angeles and San Fransisco as nagging wild cards. So a 10-6 probably isn’t going to get them a division title, but most likely a wild card spot. With an emergence of any sort of offensive line, that win total could jump up a few spots pretty easily.
Glancing at the Seattle roster, Russell Wilson looks to be lacking a lot of talent around him, but the thing to remember with a leader like this is the effect he has on other players. Great players can have no effect on their teammates (or a bad effect), but a leader like Russell Wilson or Tom Brady or Peyton Manning has the ability to pull some stuff out of you that you didn’t even know was there. That will only improve with time, which bodes well for Seattle’s championship hopes.
Wilson has helped his seemingly no-name receivers develop rather quickly. It’s much harder for that to translate to the offensive line, but if the talent is there I believe he can coax it out.
Even without it, we’ve seen bandaid Wilson can put over the line struggles, which he excels at, but do you really want to put your franchise out there all vulnerable?