Seahawks Not Getting Bang For Buck From Highest-Paid Stars
Scuffling against better competition, the Seattle Seahawks dropped their third game in four contests as the San Francisco 49ers bullied them in their own building on Thanksgiving night in a 31-13 throttling at Lumen Field.
Blown out for the second time in a month by one of the NFL's elite teams, Seattle hasn't looked anything close to a viable contender, falling to 6-5 on the season and nearly out of the playoffs all together with six games left to play. Outscored by 50 combined points in the past four games, there's been no shortage of problems contributing to the slump, including poor offensive line play and major issues with penalties on defense.
But from a big picture viewpoint, while other issues have factored into losing three of the past four games, the Seahawks haven't been able to hang with the best of the best primarily due to the insufficient production from their highest-paid veterans. From quarterback Geno Smith to defensive tackle Dre'Mont Jones, none of the players carrying a top-six cap hit on the roster have performed like top-10 players at their respective positions, putting a hard cap on their ceiling to this point as a fringe playoff team.
Under center, after signing a three-year extension worth up to $105 million in March, Smith hasn't been able to replicate his breakout numbers from a storybook Comeback Player of the Year campaign. After throwing 30 touchdowns and completing 69.8 percent of his passes for Seattle in 2022, he's on pace for only 22 touchdown passes, already has thrown eight interceptions, and has seen his passer rating plunge 12 points from 110.9 to 88.2.
In Smith's defense, as coach Pete Carroll noted, he hasn't had the support around him on offense this year. The Seahawks have started eight different offensive line combinations in 11 games, leading to persistent pressure, a lack of a consistent run game, and limitations on what the team can run scheme-wise. And on Thursday, he gutted through an elbow injury at well under 100 percent.
Still, while the situation hasn't been ideal for him, the buck always stops with the quarterback and Smith's clear regression has had a tangible impact on Seattle's offense plummeting to 19th in points per game.
“It’s been hard. It’s been harder on him," Carroll said of Smith's play compared to last season. "I think it was smoother last year for him. He did a fantastic job of playing this week under the circumstances. If he was a little bit off here or there; it’s understandable for what he overcame. I thought he did a great job to overcome and be out there competing with us and for us. We need to help him. I always say that, because it’s not just one guy, it’s everybody working together. Being precise and on point and come through and make the play and make the block to help him out.”
Now dealing with an elbow injury, Geno Smith has endured a frustrating 2023 campaign after signing a massive extension, though some of his struggles have resulted from poor circumstances around him.
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On the outside, DK Metcalf remains on pace for over 1,000 receiving yards, but the same cannot be said for the incredibly consistent Lockett, whose streak of four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons is very much in peril right now. Already with five games under 38 receiving yards in 2023, he has been a non-factor in far more games than usual, while both he and Metcalf have combined to score just seven touchdowns so far.
Injuries have been part of the equation, as Metcalf missed the first game of his career earlier in the season with a hip injury and frequently has sat out practices nursing multiple ailments. Though he hasn't missed any games as a result, Lockett also has been dogged by a hamstring injury for more than a month. But with both players carrying cap hits north of $11 million, neither has produced like a top-10 or even top-20 receiver this season.
As Carroll indicated on Friday, the Seahawks have to do a better job of "maximizing the personalities" on offense, including Metcalf, Lockett, and tight end Noah Fant, playing to their strengths in terms of route running and scheme from a game plan perspective.
“You see a guy’s special stuff and try to make sure that it shows up as part of the game plan," Carroll said. "Tyler [Lockett] has got them. DK [Metcalf] has got them. Noah Fant… they have stuff that they can add to it.”
While it's easy to point the finger at Smith, Metcalf, Lockett, and the rest of Seattle's offensive stars amid a disappointing stretch, the franchise isn't receiving an acceptable return in investment from its highest-paid players on defense either, starting with general manager John Schneider's big free agency catch in Dre'Mont Jones.
Coming to the Pacific Northwest from Denver on a three-year, $51 million deal, Jones has flashed at times, including five pressures and three quarterback hits in a win over the Browns last month. But while his 29 pressures rank 20th among defensive tackles, he only has 2.5 sacks in 11 games and has disappeared in the biggest games, producing one pressure and one tackle in a blowout loss to the Ravens and failing to register a quarterback hit on Brock Purdy on Thursday night.
If Jones was still on a rookie contract or had been signed to a mid-level deal, such numbers would be more tolerable. But with a cap hit exceeding $10 million this year, Seattle expected for him to perform like an elite interior pass rusher up front and so far, he hasn't come close to playing at that level.
Making the contract look worse, the Seahawks had to watch another free agent prize defensive tackle in Javon Hargrave dominate them with 1.5 sacks and three pressures for the 49ers on Thursday night. So far, the veteran has eight more quarterback pressures and three more sacks than Jones in comparison, doing a far better job earning his massive paycheck as a disruptive force in the middle.
Away from Jones, Seattle has more than $27 million in cap space tied up at the safety position this season between Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Julian Love. Whether evaluating that trio statistically or by film, none of them have performed like top-10 players at their position, at best performing like average starters this season.
In the second season of a three-year contract signed in March 2022, Diggs hasn't necessarily had a poor season for the Seahawks and opponents still rarely test the seams or posts with him manning center field, the ultimate sign of respect for a free safety. However, he only has one interception and one pass breakup so far and his 14 missed tackles ranks first among safeties. Those aren't the numbers expected of a safety with the fifth-highest cap hit at the position this year.
Coming off a torn quad tendon, Seattle has had to ease Adams back into action and he recently missed a game to take care of his knee. When on the field, there have been some encouraging signs for the former All-Pro, including recording two tackles for loss against San Francisco on Thursday. But he has yet to record a sack or an interception on 376 snaps and he's battled his own issues missing tackles, still far from rounding back into his prior form.
If anything has been evident in this recent skid, teams such as Baltimore and San Francisco have received vintage performances from Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffrey among others to handle Seattle with ease. On the flip side, the Seahawks haven't had any of their stars rise to the occasion and elevate the team around them, making them look like little more than a middling playoff team that can beat bad teams and can't hang with the great ones.
As is the case with any struggling NFL team, the players deserve some of the blame and the coaches also need to do a better job accentuating the talents of their stars. Through it all, Smith still believes Seattle can fix things and get back to playing winning football against quality opponents.
"We need to find a way. We got a lot of talent. We got a lot of good players on this offense. We got the right coaches," Smith said following Thursday's loss. "So we got to believe, continue to stay consistent in our work, and then we just got to work harder and find a way."
With six games left to play, including a rematch with the 49ers in two weeks, Smith and the Seahawks indeed still have time to turn things around. With a young nucleus headlined by cornerback Devon Witherspoon, edge rusher Boye Mafe, and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba poised to continue improving as the season winds down, there's still plenty of reason for optimism both short and long-term for the franchise.
But if the Seahawks are to have any chance at beating the likes of the Cowboys, 49ers, or Eagles in coming weeks to help salvage their season and position themselves to do more than just make a wild card pit stop like they did last January, their big name stars such as Lockett, Jones, and Adams have to start playing up to their contracts as game-changing difference makers instead of average starters. Until that happens, Carroll's squad has earned the pretender label.
