NFL teams need to have their rosters cut down to 53 players by 1:00 p.m. Pacific time today in preparation for the regular season. That means over the next few hours hundreds of players around the league are going to become available. That’s hundreds of potential upgrade opportunities.
Based on what we witnessed during their 0-3 preseason, the Seahawks have several positions that need reinforcements. Here are four things they should be looking for on roster cut-down day.
1
Depth at wide receiver
Going into the preseason we were confident that this was one of the deepest receiver corps in football. Well, after three games of seeing very little of Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf we are much less convinced of it. Freddie Swain has been the team’s No. 3 option for a while but he bombed in August, posting the lowest offensive grade on the team.
Elsewhere, Dee Eskridge only played one game in due to a hamstring injury and it looks like he still needs plenty of developing before he’s ready to contribute in a meaningful way offensively.
Marquise Goodwin is another quality candidate for that WR3 role. However, he did not play during the preseason – giving us nothing to go on heading into Week 1.
Penny Hart was pretty much the only backup receiver who stood out during the preseason – he certainly made the only truly-impressive catch of the bunch.
Meanwhile, rookies Dareke Young and Bo Melton both had a bad case of the dropsies – a common contagion for this entire group right now.
Add it all up and this is a pretty unstable depth chart beneath Metcalf and Lockett. If a strong receiver they like gets waived by surprise, they should jump all over it.
2
Another pair of hands at tight end
More concerning than the unimpressive performance by the backup receivers was the absolute dud of an overall effort at tight end.
On paper Noah Fant is the No. 1 guy here and in Denver he proved he’s capable of making a positive impact as a pass-catcher with Drew Lock. That said, he hasn’t been able to get into rhythm with starting quarterback Geno Smith as of yet and Fant’s timing in general seems to be just a little bit off. Hopefully that will rectify as the season develops.
Further down the line things got even more precarious. Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson had issues with drops and Tyler Mabry did nothing special outside of run blocking.
This may be the Seahawks’ softest spot on offense, so it’s worth seeking out another pass-catching option at this spot.
3
Help at inside linebacker
Off-ball linebacker depth was clearly a concern for the front office even before the preseason began. The current group didn’t do much to alleviate them during these three losses.
We didn’t get to see Jordyn Brooks as the team wisely rested their new defensive centerpiece. Ideally, Brooks being in the lineup will improve the picture here. That said, there’s not much to like on paper right now.
Cody Barton looked sharp late last year but two regular season appearances replacing Bobby Wagner isn’t enough evidence to prove he’s capable of starting for a full 17 games.
As for the rest, there were very few positive plays from the backup linebackers this month. The team has been bringing in free agents at this position for a few weeks now – they even entertained signing Reuben Foster – so fans should expect them to make a move here if nowhere else.
4
An impact EDGE rusher
On paper the EDGE group is Seattle’s weakest link in the chain defensively. During the preseason we saw exactly one strong game from rookie Boye Mafe, who had two sacks and a couple clutch plays in his debut.
Other than that, the tape was pretty unforgiving for a group that was admittedly missing their top guy in Uchenna Nwosu, also resting. X-factors Darrell Taylor and Alton Robinson both graded out poorly and we didn’t even get a chance to see fifth-round pick Tyreke Smith in action.
That leaves a lot more questions than answers here. Boosting the pass rush should be at the top of Pete Carroll and John Schneider’s list.
