Seahawks 2021 Awards: Offensive Player of the Year

Amid a difficult seven-win season in which the team finished last in the NFC West and missed the postseason, which offensive player shined the most for Seattle?

Author:
Corbin K. Smith
Publish date:
Jan 15, 2022 4:30 PM EST

Following a 38-30 win over the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, the Seahawks have officially transitioned into offseason mode after a disappointing 7-10 campaign.

While the franchise didn't live up to lofty expectations coming off of an NFC West title and a 12-win season in 2020, several players still starred in all three phases for Seattle. Over the next two weeks, the Seahawk Maven writing staff will be naming their selections for end of season awards, including most valuable player, most improved, assistant coach of the year, and many more.

Continuing our awards showcase, who deserves the honor as Seattle's Offensive Player of the Year for 2021? Our panel makes their picks:

Tyler Lockett

Nick Lee: Even with three straight 1,000-yard seasons on his resume now, Lockett continues to be one of the most underappreciated receivers in the league. Despite the offense going through lulls with the injury to Russell Wilson and otherwise sputtering, Lockett put together arguably his best season in Seattle. He set a career high with 1,175 receiving yards, becoming just the seventh player in franchise history to surpass 1,100 yards in a season, along with scoring eight touchdowns. He was the most consistent and productive part of Seattle's offense, even excelling when the offense was underperforming most of the season.

Colby Patnode: The injury to Russell Wilson skewed everybody's numbers this season, but despite this, Lockett still managed to put up over 1,100 yards and used a late flurry of scores to finish with eight touchdowns. He became the second Seahawk to record 1,000-plus yards in three consecutive seasons, joining Hall of Famer Steve Largent in the Seahawks record books. He also didn't drop a single pass, making him the only receiver in the league with more than 950 receiving yards to accomplish such a feat this year. Without his star quarterback for three games and catching passes from him at well below 100 percent in at least three others, this may have been his finest season.

Rishi Rastogi: Really, this is one of the easier choices to make for Offensive Player of the Year given the rather inconsistent showings from superstars Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf. Lockett’s career-high 1,175 yards led the team as he became just the second receiver in franchise history to achieve a third straight season of over 1,000 yards. Now progressing well into veteran status, Lockett remained a consistent and steady target for Wilson and capped off an impressive season with two touchdowns against the Cardinals in the season finale.

Rashaad Penny

Corbin Smith: Typically, I wouldn't pick a player who played in only 10 games for such an award. But despite the excellence of Tyler Lockett on the outside, the Seahawks were at their very best when Penny exploded onto the scene as the NFL's best running back and turned in a historic stretch late in the season. Starting the final five games, he ripped off eight runs of 25 or more yards, tying for the NFL lead for the entire season. He finished with more than 130 rushing yards in four of those starts, including a career-high 190 in the season finale, while adding six touchdowns. He joined iconic back Shaun Alexander as only the second back in team history with three games of 135 or more rushing yards and a touchdown in the same season. In terms of NFL history, he became only the 10th player ever with four or more games of 130 yards, one touchdown, and a 6.5 yards per carry average in the same season.

Ty Dane Gonzalez: Sure, this might be a strange pick considering I went with Tyler Lockett for team MVP. But for the sake of acknowledging one of the most spectacular, out-of-nowhere individual stretches in recent memory, Penny is the choice here. With injury after injury, and his rookie contract set to expire at the end of the year, the former first-round draft pick was on the verge of NFL irrelevancy. He didn't make his first start until Week 11 and quickly suffered a hamstring injury on the first play from scrimmage, seemingly bringing his tenure in Seattle to a fitting end. Three weeks later, however, Penny was back on the gridiron for a start against the Texans and exploded for 137 yards and two scores on 16 carries. He didn't look back from that point forward, posting league-highs in rushing yards (671), touchdowns (6) and yards per attempt (7.29) from Week 14 to 18. Penny, frankly, left jaws on the floor with his storybook finish—mine included. He completely reshaped the trajectory of his NFL career in a month's time and has suddenly become a top priority for the Seahawks this offseason after helping them find a winning formula on offense.