Reasonable expectations is the name of the game for Seahawks fans heading into the 2022 season. In the absence of Russell Wilson, it’s difficult to see the team competing for a playoff spot come January. However, there are reasons to be hopeful about the future of this team.
ESPN analyst and Seahawks fan Mina Kimes was a guest on Bump and Stacy earlier this week and talked about what she’s focused on for this coming season.
Instead of hoping for a high win total or a playoff run, she’s interested in seeing how certain pieces develop as the year goes on. She specifically mentioned three important rookies to watch.
“Nobody has any delusions, I think, that this is a team that’s going to make a deep playoff run, but you want to see the pieces in place so that next year if they draft a quarterback or go after one in free agency, it feels like the foundation is set for you for the next playoff team… You’re focusing on players and their development, and watching Seattle, there’s things to be encouraged by, there’s things to be frustrated by. I mentioned the two offensive tackles, aside from the false starts by Charles Cross, obviously really encouraging signs from both him and Abe Lucas both in pass protection and run blocking… On the other side of the ball, defensively I think Boye Mafe, who’s their second-round pick this year, has definitely flashed some of that explosiveness and motor you saw in college.”
It’s still too early to tell, but it appears Seattle set a strong foundation at three key positions in the 2022 NFL draft; namely offensive tackle, EDGE and cornerback. If the rookies at those three spots show improvement throughout the year it will be a good indicator for future success.
The missing ingredient of course is a franchise quarterback – all other progress will be moot if they can’t find a quality starter in 2023, either in the draft or via free agency or a trade.
