ESPN Expert Believes Seahawks Had Seventh-Worst Offseason in NFL
The Seahawks haven't made the big splash fans were looking for after they were eliminated in the NFC Divisional Round by the Packers back in January.
ESPN reporter Bill Barnwell recently released rankings of offseason additions for all 32 teams, and after a quiet past few months, the Seahawks received the seventh-worst evaluation in the league. He zeroed in on their first-round pick of Jordyn Brooks specifically.
"While it's obviously too early to make significant judgments about draft picks, Seattle's first-round selection of off-ball linebacker Jordyn Brooks was widely seen as a stretch for both the player and the positional value," wrote Barnwell. "The Seahawks have proved broader consensus wrong in the past - Metcalf and quarterback Russell Wilson come to mind - but Brooks will have to be great to overcome the needs this team had on either side of the line of scrimmage."
Barnwell also thinks that the Seahawks need to bring Jadeveon Clowney back for another season, and suggested who they could release to make that happen. Last season, Clowney started 11 out of 13 games for the NFC West runner-ups, recording 31 tackles and 3.0 sacks.
"A one-year reunion makes sense for both sides, given that the Seahawks are likely to be a playoff contender and Clowney wants to restore his free agent stock on a winner. Seattle has about $15 million in cap space, which is a little more than what he might hope to land on a one-year pact at this point," Barnwell said. "General manager John Schneider could clear out $5.4 million by releasing backup pass-catchers Jacob Hollister and David Moore."
Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps shared with Seahawk Maven earlier this year that the Seahawks offseason additions were underwhelming to say the least.
"I'll tell you this from a Seahawks perspective, the offseason has been lukewarm," Heaps told me. "There are not many moves that they made that gets you too excited outside of Quinton Dunbar trade because there is much upside to that trade potentially."
Dunbar, along with Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker last week, were both issued arrest warrants for an alleged armed robbery incident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dunbar turned himself in to authorities, but was released on $100,000 bail on Sunday afternoon. While he plead not guilty, there is a chance he might never play for the Seahawks.
While most of Barnwell's assessment of the team was negative, he did praise Seattle for re-signing Mike Iupati and bringing in B.J. Finney, Brandon Shell, Chance Warmack, and Cedric Ogbuehi. They were also able to re-sign Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa for second stints with the organization.
"The Seahawks added significant offensive line depth, re-signing Mike Iupati and signing the likes of B.J. Finney, Brandon Shell, Cedric Ogbuehi, and Chance Warmack, before drafting Damien Lewis in the third round. With a thin depth chart at wide receiver behind starters Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, they were able to get a steal by adding Phillip Dorsett on a one-year deal for the veterans minimum," Barnwell shared. "They also added some modestly priced depth at defensive end by signing Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin, and they made what looked to be an excellent trade in acquiring cornerback Quinton Dunbar from Washington for a fifth-round pick."
