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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Seattle Seahawks · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, everybody, welcome to this next installment of Opposition Territory here at
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the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
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in the world. That's right, we are celebrating our ten year anniversary here
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in the month of April. Ten years we have been doing this podcast and
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we've got a great discussion on Opposition Territory this week. We're gonna be concentrating
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and focusing our efforts this week here on Opposition Territory on the Seattle Seahawks,
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this team in the NFC that really did surprise some folks this past year.
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What is this team going to look like in the future? Are they to
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become more and more relevant within the NFC. We've got a great interview and
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discussion coming your way. Let's get to it. It is great to have
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back on the show to get into the Seattle Seahawks team at their offseason,
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what we can expect from them during this two twenty three and upcoming two thousand
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and twenty three season. From Field Goals dot Com, you know we love
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our sp nations sites. We've got the one and only Muki Alexander. Hey,
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don't Mookie, I'm doing good, Jeff. You know where we're a
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couple of weeks away from the draft and I'm sick in the mock drafts already.
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The same he keeps you occupied with football because by the time the drafts
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done and then the schedules out, you're going, Man, I can't wait
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for the preseason to see exactly exactly at this point. I can't wait for
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like OTAs you know, I just I need a little something here aside from
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the mock drafts like you just mentioned. And real quick, folks, if
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you're not following Muki on Twitter at Muki Alexander, He's a very very good
1:55
follow and h yeah. I mean, let's get into the Seahawks team this
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up coming season. But I mean before we do that, Mookie, I
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really want to talk about the Seahawks two twenty two season. Do a little
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reflection here this past season. I mean, before the regular season started,
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I thought the Seattle Seahawks are going to be a team that would probably kind
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of be floundering, might be stumbling their way throughout the season, maybe when
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four or five games or so. And they certainly surprised me, certainly surprised
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a lot of folks out there that obviously didn't happen, you know, which
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I think was even shocking to some maybe within Seahawks Nation. They went nine
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and eight this past year, made the playoffs. They found their quarterback as
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well, which you know, there are teams who are still after years and
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years and years and years trying to find that quarterback for the immediate and even
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foreseeable future. And they made a statement. This Seattle Seahawks team made a
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statement in two twenty two. So I'm wondering if you had to describe this
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Seattle Seahawks team in one word in two thousan twenty two, what would that
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one word be and why? Overachieving? And Okay, I mean that's I
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mean that in a good way, because there were certainly reasons to believe the
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Sehawks aren't going to be any good last year, not just trading away Russell
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Wilson, but also releasing Bobby Wagner and then seeing all these holes and across
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the roster that had to be filled in some still aren't fielded at the moment.
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But you look at the way this rookie class performed, it's an immediate
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overperformance for for year one to have a starting caliber Pro Bowl corner and Tariq
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Woolan lead or tie for the league lead in interceptors at least among quarterbacks with
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six. And then you had Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. So you have
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your first round picket left tackle, a third round rookie at right tackle,
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and they start every game except one. I think Lucas only missed one game,
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but Cross was there for all but a handful of snaps. Lucas only
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missed one game, as I said earlier, and they performed quite well for
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rookies. And then of course you have Geno Smith. And the way that
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Gino performed was above and beyond what we could have imagined, because even in
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his emergency duties last year was unspectacular at best, and there was certainly a
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game against the Saints where just really nothing was going right and it was a
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very underwhelming performance. But Gino performed at a genuinely high and to me,
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a sustainable level. But the rookie class performing as well as it did right
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away gave the Seahawks a chance to compete. And I have to bring up
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Kenneth Walker, of course, who got his opportunity to be a full time
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surrounding running back unfortunately because of Rashad Penny's broken ankle in Week five against the
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Saints. But Walker rushed for over a thousand yards, had what nine or
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ten touchdowns. He also was a Rookie of the Year Offensive Rookie of Year
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runner up behind Garrett Wilson of the New York Jets. So you get high
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level play out of Walker and Woolen and Cross and Lucas, not to mention
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some bit park contributions from Kobe Bryant out of the slot as a corner as
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a slot corner and and boy A Maffe as a pass rusher. And you've
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got yourself a team that, yes, on the surface, if it was
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a normal rookie class or an underwhelming rookie class, it would have won four
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or five games by the end of winning nine. Now, I also use
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another word here and that it's fortunate that they won nine games. And I'm
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not going to downplay what they did, but look at it this way.
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We expected the Seahawks to be bad also because of the schedule. So we
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look at the NFC West and think, man, that's that's the top division
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in the NFC, if not all of football. Well, the forty nine
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ers lived up to the billing. They almost made the Super Bowl and they
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ran out of quarterbacks at the end, but the Rams completely fell apart,
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almost literally, and then the Cardinals were a mess, and both of those
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teams figured to be a mess into this year. So only San Francisco figures
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to be at least in contention for twenty twenty three. And then on the
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AFC side, Kansas City, of course won the Super Bowl. But Denver,
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yeah, I know, obviously, obviously you're one of the Russell Wilson
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era didn't go according to plan, and even the Chargers they made the playoffs,
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but they certainly had some where they weren't that impressive. So the NFC
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South, of course, eight and nine was good enough to win that division,
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and Seattle disappointed. We lost all four games against them against Carolina,
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Tampa Bay, New Orleans, and Atlanta. But they certainly benefited, I
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believe, from an easier than expected schedule, and hey, they can't control
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that's that's not their problem. Yeah, absolutely, I think those are two
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great words when we reflect on the twenty twenty two Seattle Seahawks season that you've
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used, and you know, we're not talking about the Broncos we're not here
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to talk about Russell Wilson. It is bizarre though, to see how his
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season went down last year in Denver, and you look at what Gino Smith
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did just being one of the most shocking aspects of this Seattle Seahawks team and
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of the of the NFL as well, winning comeback Player of the Year.
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Amazingly enough on FanDuel, I actually had, I actually had. I'm gonna
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just put this out there for folks. I had two bets. One was
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gonna be sae Quon Barkley and the other was going to be Christian McCaffrey Comeback
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Player of the Year. I'm like, oh, I'm definitely winning money this
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year. I'm gonna win some money this year off the comeback player of the
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Year, and I didn't. So thanks to Gino Smith, who again just
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a guy who came into the season with not that many high expectations but again
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ended up balling out becoming that reliable offensive weapon. And I know you've written
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about it, Mookie, you've talked a lot about it as well, But
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if you can describe what Gino Smith has done not just the Seattle Seahawks offense,
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but maybe for the team overall as they're moving forward here. Yeah,
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Gino was an inspirational story just for a pure on field perspective, the fact
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that he went eight years in between being a full time starter and then he
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comes out and performs at a top ten level, Yeah, and gets a
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big contractive results, you know, with some asterisk there as far as how
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committed Seattle is to Gino on the long term. But still he was written
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off and then he wrote back to paraphrase what Gino said, chapter they win
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over Denver thirty touchdowns to thirty touchdowns to eleven interceptions, over four thousand yards
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passing led the NFL and completion percentage and these weren't you know, you're Sam
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Bradford type of checkdown completions. He made a lot of difficult throws and part
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of why the Seahawks passing off and succeeded is that he was able to replicate
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some, not all, some of what made Russell Wilson so great in Seattle,
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especially the deep passes. Johnny Brickwall, I believe his name on Twitter
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at Brickwall Blitz is his Twitter handle. The very least he did some charting,
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and Gino was the most accurate deep passer in the league, regardless of
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any quarterback. Once you adjust for completion, went to adjust for depth of
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target. Gino was so good on those deep passes that it's almost like Russell
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didn't leave at times. Now, Gino doesn't have as great an arm as
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Wilson does, but that accuracy can make up for it. And the timing
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and chemistry had with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf that was absolutely vital because the
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way the Seahawks operate, they really are heavily dependent on explosive place yea and
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not so much the yards after catch. Fact, they were lasting yards after
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catch this season, so instead of turning a five yard play into forty,
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they try and get all forty and one shot. And Smith did his job
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extremely well there. He didn't make a lot of bad decisions, and he
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got sped up a bit towards the end of the year when the offensive line
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started to struggle and injury started to settle in across both wide receiver and along
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the offensive line. So we got some bad Geno moments, but also the
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schedule got a little tougher. You're playing the forty nine ers defense and they're
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gonna they're good enough to hassle just about every quarterback in the league. Yeah,
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but yes, with Smith, the accuracy at all levels of the field,
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and also what he unlocked in a way that Wilson Dientz is attack in
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the middle of the field. I believe Denver was last in passes to the
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middle of the field or at least intermediate, whereas the Seahawks I think we're
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somewhere in the league average range. So I got to credit Griff Sturgeon there
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for that stat and the offense just opens up so much more. YEA,
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when there's a part the field that you can attack, that is standard for
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most quarterbacks. But for Russell Wilson, and I absolutely believe this has to
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do with his height, He's historically been reluctant to go to that side of
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the field. So for for Gino, he showed great calmness and capodra and
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leadership. And for the Seahawks to thrive the way they did with Gino,
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it's got to leave fans highly encouraged for what he can become. And look,
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if he was written off before it started this season, we also shouldn't
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assume that the way he played in twenty twenty two is as good as he's
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going to get right right now. He's thirty two. He's not a spring
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chicken. But there's still a chance he can get better. There's still a
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chance that he can get better because of the surrounding talents. If that improves,
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because you got a lot of young players, especially on that offensive line,
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If Gino learns from the mistakes he made the last couple of seasons with
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ill advised throws or panic decisions, and if he stays healthy, which is
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again another plus the fact that he didn't get injured, Seattle is well positioned
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to field another at above average, if not the top five offense. Something
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that I've learned talking to a number of individuals on this podcast over the year's
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Mookie is that even aside from talent, aside from the chemistry that a quarterback
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can have with their wide receivers or any NFL player, quite frankly, is
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the relationships that they have with players, with coaches, with the staff relationships.
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The foundation of relationships can then manifest itself into something that is really productive
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and wonderful to look at on the field. If you don't have productive and
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positive relationships with those around you, you are not going to be as successful.
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And I think Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks coaches, players as well
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as the staff, that it all just came together. The relationship just all
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manifested itself in a fantastic way where we saw the productivity really coming out for
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Geno Smith. I can't stress enough how relationships really do matter in this league
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when you see then the production that is accomplished on the field. Yeah.
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Agree. In the end, even as valuable as advanced metrics are and the
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stats are in general, it is still a people business. Yea. And
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Gino wrote a column on the Players Tribute, and if you haven't read it,
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it's an absolute must read. He talked about his relationship with Pete Carroll,
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the city of Seattle, the locker room teammates, they've really got behind
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Gino even from day one, and he's been with the team since twenty nineteen
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now. Because Russell was such an iron man before twenty twenty one, Gino
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didn't see the field at all in twenty nineteen, and then he threw like
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seven passes against the Jets in twenty twenty because Seattle was up by so much.
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But otherwise there weren't opportunities for him to get on the field and play
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meaningful snaps up until Wilson got hurt in twenty twenty one. And I suspect
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that one of our misconceptions about Gino was he was a backup for a reason
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for eight years, because you know, teams just didn't want to take a
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chance. Well, think about where he was after he left the Jets,
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the New York Giants. Yes, he got that one start because Ben McAdoo
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just bizarrely decided to bench Eli Manning. And if he was going to do
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that, I should have just done that a lot sooner and just stuck with
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Gino for the year. And he was also a backup with the Los Angeles
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Chargers and Philip Rivers. Again, not a guy who gets injured. Well,
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if he gets injured, he's gonna he's gonna play through it. But
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there really were not opportunities for Smith to just compete for a starting job.
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When you're behind Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, and Russell Wilson, you're looking
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at the minimum, one Hall of Famer there and two Super Bowl champions,
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right, So this really is the first true chance that Gino has had to
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win a starting job, and he beat out Drew Locke and he shined,
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and in a way, at least for now, because we never know if
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the story could turn somewhere one way or another's validated Pete Carroll's belief in him.
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Yeah, and that is one of the I believe one of the endearing
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things about Pete Carroll is his willingness to try and revive or untapped the potential
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of players who haven't quite met it. Yeah. Sometimes I think he overdoes
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it and they overrely on it. But in this instance, it's sort of
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typifies what Pete Carroll is all about in terms of roster building and what he
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believes are players who are talented, they just need to be in the right
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situation. Yea, and Seattle is not a talentless offense. He's been put
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in a position to succeed because he has a top flight wide receiver dual,
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he has a promising running back right behind him, and now he's got a
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promising offensive line, which is what Sehawks fans have been complaining about for an
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eternity when Wilson was here right exactly exactly. It's going to be so interesting
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to see where Gino Smith goes in the future, where he's able to take
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this Seattle Seahawks offense. But moving along here, Gene, Sorry, Mookie.
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You know there have been some big moves for the Seattle Seahawks during this
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off season, and I really want to get your thoughts on, you know,
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your biggest under the radar acquisition during this offseason for this team. I'm
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wondering what player would that be and why are you choosing that particular player.
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I would go with Evan Brown for an under the radar signing. He was
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a guard for the Detroit Lions last year, but he was their backup center
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two years prior, and he grated well. The film suggests he's much better
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at center than he is a guard, and I stress that he's an under
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the radar signing because the contract is cheap. It's up to but two and
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a quarter million dollars, so that that's nothing. It doesn't even exclude.
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It doesn't prevent Seattle from drafting a rookie center later this month, but he
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figures to be the starting center until we see otherwise. Austin blythe Seattle's starting
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center twenty twenty two, he retired and then his backup Kyle Fuller, signed
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with Denver. And even if Fuller it started. We did not want the
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Kyle Fuller experience to go on much longer because of the way his starts win
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in twenty twenty one, so Seattle has had a hard time at the center
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position ever since they traded Maxonger for Jimmy Grant. It's just been a revolving
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door. Outside of Justin Britt who was the starter for three seasons, and
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then after he left, it's just been a struggle, whether it's Ethan Postic
16:17
staying healthy and then of course he ends up having his best year in Cleveland,
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whether it's Kyle full or whether it's Austin Blyth. So Evan Brown is
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still young. I believe that if he can be a quality center, that
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is one of the areas with the Sehawks need to upgrade along the offensive line
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is the interior, particularly center and right guards. So he can play both.
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So the versatility is something that the Seahawks are gonna love. But I
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am looking forward to what he can do as a center, because if Seattle
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can have two quality tackles and a quality center, this is shaping up to
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be one of the better offensive lines that the Seatts to put out in a
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long time. Yes, very much so. And as we've seen, as
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we've seen in the Super Bowl, the last several Super Bowls, but I'm
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just going to use this past super Bowl. Sorry for that's all right,
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that's all right. Look at the look at the Chiefs offensive line and how
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they performed against the Eagles defensive line. But also we've got how the Eagles
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offensive line was able to push the Chiefs defensive line back on those sneaks a
17:15
million times over. And the fact that's the Eagles offensive line got them to
17:18
the Super Bowl by being so dominant in the first place. It is cliche,
17:22
but these games are won and lost in the trenches, and Seattle has
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lost too many games in the trenches over the years, big games at that.
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So you got to invest wisely, and well you got to invest firstly,
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but you got to invest smartly. And I think this is a smart
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investment such that if Brown succeeds in his one year, that could be a
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springboard towards a bigger contract. You brought back my PTSD. Thanks, Mookie,
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appreciate it. But is Brown is that your Is he your favorite offseason
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acquisition, you know, within free agency and within the free agency period or
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what what would be your favorite Seattle Seahawks offseason acquisition, Well, sentimentally,
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it to have to be the Bobby Wagner reunited, all right, bringing back
18:07
Bobby after he looks so out of place being on the Los Angeles Rams and
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foul to see that. But isn't it something that he ends up returning to
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Seattle after the Quandre Diggs interception and then he gestures at Bobby on the sideline
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as he's watching it, and then Seattle makes the playoffs in part because of
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that, and he relentlessly recruited Bobby after Wagner was let go by the Rams,
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and now he's back here for one year up to seven million. I
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suspect his role is going to change a bit from what he was, you
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know, and every down linebacker with Seattle, but they needed the depth there.
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But I'm also not gonna delude myself into thinking he's still in his prime.
18:45
My favorite offseason signing is the Draymond Jones signing from the Denver Broncos,
18:48
not just because at this point I forever one who invest in anything Denver related,
18:55
given the history between these two teams, but also that he's a genuinely
18:57
good interior defensive lineman. He can line up as a defensive end into three
19:02
four. And Seattle's lacked an interior rush for years at this point, and
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I believe that Jones could provide that he's hitting his prime years, and it
19:11
was It's unlike Seattle and John Schneider the general manager, to splash in free
19:15
agency. These other signings that I brought up. Even though Julian Love signing
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two years twelve million, Wagner's one year up to seven million. They signed
19:23
Devin Bush to achieve contract to add to linebacker depth. That is a typical
19:27
Seahawks free agency. They go bargain hunting, but Draymond Jones is anything but
19:33
that. Three years, fifty one million dollars fifty one million is the most
19:37
that the Seahawks have ever signed under John Schneider in free agency. I think
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the previous high was Sydney Rice at forty some odd million. So that's a
19:47
long time ago. We're talking twenty eleven. Yeah, Now, Draymond Jones,
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he wanted to be traded as part of the Russell Wilson deal apparently,
19:56
but Denver said no. So that's how Denver ended up sending Shelby Harris to
19:59
Seatt and I like Shelby. He did well here, but he's also on
20:03
the other side of thirty and he may not be a fit for what the
20:07
Seahawks want to do moving forward defensively. So they let Shelby go, and
20:11
now they bring in Draymond Jones, who's in his mid twenties. He's coming
20:14
off back to back years of at least five or six and a half sacks,
20:18
And if the Seahawks can get any sort of interior rush going, I
20:22
mean, that just opens up so many things for this defense. Because as
20:27
much as I enjoyed the overachieving of last year, the defensive struggles have just
20:33
played Seattle for so long. The post legion of Boom defense has had just
20:37
not been good, not consistent at all, And a major reason for that
20:41
is the lack of a pass rush, both on the edges and on the
20:44
interior. So now with the Jones signing, you have u Chenna Nwosu,
20:47
again a good quality signing from last year, but from the Chargers he had
20:51
I believe nine sacks. You have Darryl Taylor, who got benched early in
20:56
the twenty twenty two season, but he ended up I believe tied for the
20:59
team leading actually, or at least he led the team of nine and a
21:00
half. Now you got Jones in the middle, and you would think that
21:04
in this year's draft, the Seahawks are going to continue to beef up that
21:07
pass rush and also to work on the run defense too, because that was
21:11
also a big liability for them. They really cannot afford to have one way
21:15
players on along the defensive line. And I think Jones is more known for
21:19
his pass rushing than run defense, but he's strong, and if you don't
21:23
have the lead speed jack knifing an offensive lineman back collapsing a pocket setting at
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edge, that's exciting to me. Absolutely. It's what you just mentioned too.
21:33
It's all about the trenches. I mean, of course, it's a
21:37
passing game, quarterback to wide receiver, quarterback getting the ball down the field.
21:41
It's a passing game for sure, but you are not going to do
21:44
anything in this league without having some sort of dominance in the trenches. And
21:48
I think we're seeing the Seattle Seahawks doing this understanding that there is that formula
21:55
that needs to be in place in order for Geno Smith or whether it's Metcafford,
22:00
whichever running back. It's going to be you know, getting the ball
22:03
on first second down. You know, for them to have success, it's
22:07
got to be in the trenches. And you got to stop offenses in this
22:10
league also, and you mentioned the draft, Mookie, and you know,
22:14
the NFL draft is of course, as we know, so important, just
22:17
so many teams, not just teams that are looking to rebuild, but just
22:21
teams that are looking to sustain some type of success you know that they have
22:25
been having. So I'm wondering, what what what kind of draft do you
22:29
want to see from this Seattle Seahawks front office as this team is looking to
22:33
remain competitive in the NFC West. Well, what I'm hoping for the Seahawks
22:38
is that they don't draft to win now, try and draft to win.
22:42
You can take what you get now, but really build the next great contending
22:48
team and build for three four years ahead. So the Seahawks really control a
22:53
good portion of this draft in the early stages. They have five picks in
22:56
the top ninety. That's incredibles. They got ye the verse pick a fifth
23:00
overall. I mean the Eagles manager know this. They got the tenth pick
23:03
because of the trade with New Orleans as a highway robbery trade they got.
23:07
So Seattle's picking fifth, they're picking twentieth, they're picking thirty seventh, and
23:11
fifty second, and then I think seventy eighth or somewhere in the third round.
23:15
I can't remember the third round order exactly, but still I think that
23:21
even though they've signed Geno Smith to a three year up to one hundred and
23:25
five million dollar contracts, the emphasis there on up to because it's really like
23:30
three year seventy five million, and it seems that they have outs after one
23:33
year. They seem very enamored with Anthony Richardson out of Florida, and I
23:37
believe that he's the only quarterback that the Sehaks would consider taking it five.
23:41
Part of it is they're not really gonna have much of a choice. We
23:44
know that at least two of those quarterbacks, CJ. Stroud and Bryce Young
23:48
are gonna go in the top two or top three, and then it comes
23:51
down to Will Levis and Anthony Richardson. I don't think Seattle is all that's
23:55
interested in Levis. He maybe ends up in Tennessee or the Raiders or wherever.
23:59
But if richards drops to five, and that is a big if,
24:02
because I wouldn't be shocked if the Cardinals traded down from three and whichever team
24:07
replaced them ends up taking Richardson. If they have a decision where Richardson is
24:11
on the board, I believe that they would take him. And that would
24:14
be a bit unprecedented for the way that Carol and Schneider draft because usually they
24:18
like, yeah, college players who've got major accomplishments, and Richardson was phenomenal
24:22
the combine. He's got great physical traits. But you know, even with
24:26
the acknowledgement that Florida was not a good team overall, and Richardson can't control
24:32
that, He's still a one year starter with not overly impressive stats, no
24:37
All SEC honors, no preseason SEC honors, none of that. And if
24:42
Seattle takes him, they're really buying into we can take his raw traits and
24:48
turn them into a franchise quarterback down the line. In other words, if
24:52
they take Richardson, he's not starting day one, but they can have use
24:55
for him because he's such a gifted athlete. Needs a phenomenal running quarterback.
25:00
Can do sort of like what the Bears did with Justin Fields. When Fields
25:03
wasn't starting day one in Chicago. I think it was Andandy Dalton at the
25:07
time. And you can package. You can create some Anthony Richardson goal line
25:11
packages where he takes a handoff in a wildcat type of formation, or he
25:15
does a read option and he can take off. Same thing with what the
25:18
forty nine Ers did with Trey Lanson his rookie year. We're seeing more and
25:22
more teams do that. Even the Eagles with Jalen Hurts before he was just
25:25
getting ready to mention. Yeah, yep, yes, So I can see
25:29
them taking Richardson. I was initially thinking, now, they're not going to
25:32
take him because they normally like players who have got tangible accomplishments in college.
25:37
But Richardson just might be that exception to the rule and you can always expect
25:41
the unexpected with Seattle. So absent Richardson, I believe that they would invest
25:45
in the defensive line a little further. Jalen Carter could be an option,
25:48
but the all the red flags swirling around Carter, whether off the field or
25:55
on the field, with his conditioning in particular, I am not sold that's
25:59
The recent Seahawks drafts would also align with them taking Carter. They could take
26:03
Tyree Wilson, a Texas Tech, at number five. Overall, they could
26:06
trade down from number five if they wanted to and take some other defender.
26:08
If Will Anderson gets to number five, that could be an edge rusher who
26:12
would also really be a difference baker on this defense, So that would be
26:18
ideal. From number five number twenty, the floor is kind of open for
26:22
them. They can take an interior offensive lineman. They do need another right
26:23
guard because Gabe Jackson got released. They could take a tight end because the
26:29
tight end room is deep in theory but also not that great and kind of
26:33
injured right now. No offense in a contract year. Will Disley's coming off
26:37
the season ending injury again, and Kolbe Parkinson only just got into the offense
26:41
and the scheme of things and he's in a contract here. Yeah, so
26:45
if he can get a Michael Mayer in the first rounds, he could be
26:48
that quality receiving end, blocking tight end, but the Seahawks have have been
26:52
searching for really since Graham departed. You could get a wide receiver, but
26:56
from what I'm understanding, this is not a great class for wide receiver,
27:00
at least in terms of depth. I would cheat and take Marvin Harrison Junior,
27:03
but since he's not eligible, I guess Jackson Spith and Jabobble would be
27:07
the number one option receiver, but he could very well be off the board
27:11
at twenty. So you get to Za Flowers or somebody else, and then
27:14
you get to second and third round. And I still think that they would
27:18
look at investing in linebacker because of the lack of depth there, continuing to
27:22
invest in the interior the defensive and offensive lines. If they go running back,
27:26
which is a need, I would prefer they go third round or later,
27:30
because it doesn't make sense economically in today's NFL to invest that much draft
27:36
capital in running backs in day one or round one or round two. You
27:41
already drafted walking round two. You don't need another round one, round two
27:45
running back. You just need somebody who can start in a pinch and be
27:48
effective. You don't need two future All pros a running back. There's only
27:52
one ball and it's a passing league, so the running back class appears to
27:55
be reasonably deep. You can get him in any round, as cliche as
27:57
that sounds, and I believe that's what they're going to do. Take a
28:02
running back in the third or later. But as far as what I want
28:07
them to do with their draft, invest in the trenches some more. And
28:11
I still want them to take a quarterback, even if it's not Rigidson necessarily.
28:15
So if they take a project quarterback in round two or round three or
28:18
later than that, that's totally fine with me. You could compete with Drew
28:22
Locke for the backup job, sort of like a fallback plan in case Gino
28:26
has a hard regression or something happens to him. An insurance policy, Ye,
28:30
yes, you need an insurance policy. As we've seen with San Francisco,
28:33
they ran out of insurance. They were down to quarterback number four.
28:37
So this is a huge draft, and it sounds like an obvious thing to
28:41
say, but off the back of last year's success, to have this much
28:45
draft capital, and I expect them to acquire more draft picks. I expect
28:48
them to trade down at least from one of their first round picks, maybe
28:52
trade down some more in the second round or third round to get as many
28:53
players as possible. If they can nail this draft, they can improve upon
29:00
nine and eight squad real quickly. Assuming that they can have a draft that's
29:03
anywhere nearly as good as last year. But even if they don't, if
29:07
you have more players, it's harder to have a total whiff rates if you
29:11
got thirteen picks a right compared to okay, you've got eight or nine right,
29:15
exactly exactly. Again, folks were talking to Mookie Alexander from field goals
29:22
dot Com, Great sp Nation site. Foul them on Twitter at MOOKI Alexander
29:26
And to close us out here, Mooky, kind of two part question here
29:30
for you. You know, as you're looking to the twenty twenty three Seahawks
29:33
season, you know, where do you see this Seahawks offense trending? I'm
29:38
gonna ask you about the defense, but offense first, where do you see
29:41
this offense trending? I seen them trending upward. Of course, this is
29:47
all down to health, yep. And we've seen that the healthiest teams tend
29:52
to be the ones that are standing standing last in the postseason. The Eagles
29:56
are pretty healthy entering the Super Bowl, and so with Chiefs that the very
30:00
few players of consequence were missing from those games. But if we assume health,
30:07
I have to assume improvement for this offense. I assume that Charles Cross
30:10
and a Lucas are going to get better, and that Damian Lewis at left
30:11
guard is going to continue to be a steady player of that position, and
30:15
that Evan Brown will be an upgrade over Austin Blythe, and that Phil Haynes
30:18
or whomever at right guard will be an upgrade over the versions of Gabe Jackson.
30:22
We saw at the end of his time in Seattle that Kenneth Walker with
30:26
a better offensive line will be less boom or bust because with every sixty or
30:30
seventy yard run he had a lot of negative rushers are no gains unsuccessful runs.
30:34
As football outsiders with tournaments as far as x percentage yards gained towards a
30:40
first down, the only thing that gives me pause is the depth at wide
30:42
receiver. I think they really need to work on that. So Metcalf and
30:45
Lockett are given as far as to adjust their productivity. But Metcalf hasn't missed
30:51
a game yet in his career, but he did get dinged a couple of
30:53
times with his knee, and Lockett did miss a game with a broken finger,
30:56
and the one game he missed, Seattle's offensive pretty much nothing until it
31:00
was garbage time, And that's been a fear of mine is that whenever Locket
31:03
gets hurt, Seattle's offense, even when Wilson was here, really tends to
31:07
struggle. So if you can get another receiver, not saying you got to
31:11
get another future number one, but somebody can move the chains, doesn't have
31:14
to be a deep threat, somebody who's a reliable possession receiver like Bobby Ingram
31:18
for Seahawks fans back in the day, that would be that would be really
31:22
swell as far as I'm concerned. So I think they do need to invest
31:26
a wide receiver and then at tight end. One thing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron
31:30
did an excellent job of is using the tight ends that they had combined over
31:34
a hundred catches, and that's just not something that Seahawks have done over the
31:37
years with Wilson. And they also didn't necessarily have that sort of depth at
31:41
the position outside of the Jimmy Graham years, right, So I expect good
31:45
things from this offense to continue. And for Gino, of course, I
31:48
got to mention Gino Smith to continue to play at the level he did in
31:52
twenty twenty two. Even if there's a slight drop off. I mean,
31:55
that's still an above average quarterback and if he stays the same, that's still
31:59
good enough to win in this league. If he improves, then he's got
32:02
a shot a bit at pushing for for an All Pro vote or at least
32:06
stay in the Pro Bowl for whatever that means at this stage. Right,
32:08
but you get the general idea to be among the best quarterbacks in the league.
32:13
What do you think about the Seattle Seahawks defense and where they are likely
32:16
going to be trending in two thousand and twenty three as we're as we're running
32:20
a little bit low on time here like you, what do you think about
32:22
where they are going to be heading, what their trajectory is going to be.
32:29
Well, it's hard to be worse than last year, certainly, that's
32:34
a low bar to clear. But the improvement, the improvement on that side
32:37
is really dependent on are they going to stick to what schemes that they've been
32:42
trying to run over the last couple of years. They are a three four
32:45
defense, but they've got four three concepts in there. They've got a lot
32:49
of nickel fronts that they were running last season with Sean de Sai as an
32:52
assistant coach and now he's your defense acqua decordinator. Yep, yep. It
32:57
felt like they were basically sinking their own battleships came out pre snapped way too
33:00
often. But there is a talent deficit on the defensive side of the ball
33:05
that's got to be addressed, especially the lack of depth at linebacker. Wagner
33:08
is not in his prime, Cody Barton's gone, and he was kind of
33:12
a lightning rod for criticism, but the Seahawks some a little bit undeserved too,
33:15
but they just don't have great linebacker depth off ball, and then the
33:21
pass rush really has to get better. And some of it is schematic,
33:23
but also some of it is talent, and that talent deficit a killion games
33:29
the secondary. That's going to be something to keep an eye on, because
33:31
I don't know if Jamal Adams is going to be ready for the start of
33:35
the season. Is he going to be the same after rupturing his quality.
33:37
He's got multiple serious injuries since he came here. And if the Russell Wilson
33:40
trade has so far been great for Seattle, the administrade has ended up being
33:45
not equally as disastrous, but pretty pretty damn disastrous in terms of his unavailability
33:51
and the picks that they gave up to get him. Quandre Diggs. Hopefully
33:53
he can continue to bounce back from the ankle break from two seasons ago.
33:57
He had some struggles last year, but he got better as a Sea wall
34:00
and he's still one of the team's best playmakers in terms of just getting to
34:02
the ball and preventing throws from even being attempted in the middle of the field.
34:07
And then at corner, who's going to be the other corner rather than
34:09
Tarik Wollen Right for now, it's Michael Jackson, and he was a surprise,
34:15
surprisingly good player last year, or at least surprisingly serviceable. But they
34:19
could take another corner in the third round, which is they're kind of their
34:22
sweet spot the third or fourth round. Take another project, a guy who's
34:24
six one six, two long arms, plays the ball, round, plays
34:29
the ball well, maybe a former wide receiver in college, and then figure
34:31
out, can you play corner? Can you be physical? If you can
34:36
get another standout corner on a rookie deal, then you pair that up with
34:40
an improved pass rush. That's the way that the Sea's defense can improve.
34:44
But basically, for Pete Carroll. He is known as a defensive mastermind.
34:50
His whole career has been in defense, even as an assistant coach, but
34:53
he's really got to re earn that reputation. In fact, the offense has
34:57
not been the issue as much as the defense in recent years that they haven't
35:00
been winning playoff right, So with the defense, I am less optimistic despite
35:05
my going review of the team as a whole. It's kind of a I'll
35:07
believe it when I see it because it's not just getting the players, it's
35:12
does the scheme fit and does the scheme fit against certain teams and their ability
35:16
to stop the forty nine ers type offenses, which they they've just been torn
35:20
apart year after year because they don't know what they're following. They're they're biting
35:24
hard on play action, they're blowing assignments. So hopefully another year for some
35:30
of these players, the greater chemistry can help them. But for the Seahawks
35:35
defense, they just need more talent. Need more talent in addition to having
35:39
a more sounds scheme and not having to figure things out six seven weeks into
35:44
the season, like whatever you get in week one, that better be what
35:46
we see in week eighteen. Yeah, you know the odd, but the
35:50
odd adjustment or two not be historically bad for the first month of the season
35:54
and then figure it out mid season. By then it's too late. It's
35:57
gonna be interesting to see what Sean Decide does or the Philadelphia Eagles. And
36:01
I gotta tell you, Mookie, it was great talking to you and I
36:05
always love having you on our opposition territory shows a plethora of knowledge when it
36:08
comes to the Seattle Seahawks again, folks, Bookie Alexander from field Goals dot
36:15
Com over at sp Nation and come back join us down the road. I
36:19
would love to have you back on the show, my friend. Yes,
36:22
I'm looking forward to the draft. I'm looking forward to being on your show
36:24
again. It certainly remains to be seen if this Seattle Seahawks team is going
36:30
to be some sort of contender, not just in the NFC West, but
36:34
in the NFC in general. Of course, as we know, it's a
36:37
quote weaker type of conference within the NFL. Of course, there's only two
36:40
conferences, the FC in the NFC. However, I think that what they
36:45
are building in Seattle, and it's taken some time to get there, there's
36:50
some good, positive things happening for this team, for this fan base in
36:52
general. Now, a lot of people on the Twitter dot com have said,
36:55
oh, Geno Smith's it was just an anomaly. Looks, I don't
37:00
care if it was an anomaly. Maybe he doesn't have the same type of
37:02
year in twenty twenty three that he had last season. However, the fact
37:06
remains is that he was a productive football player and quarterback behind center, he
37:10
was able to be coached, and the relationship that he has with that offensive
37:15
staff out there, there is something to be said for that. And in
37:19
fact, you know, the more and more we talk to football folks on
37:22
this podcast over the years, the more and more, and I hope for
37:24
our listeners as well, the more and more it becomes absolutely apparent that relationships
37:30
matter in terms of how on the field play no matter what sport, what
37:35
that on the field play is inevitably going to look like relationships matter, and
37:39
at the end of the day, that's really what it's all about. Yes,
37:43
talent is going to get you far. Talent certainly is going to get
37:47
you far, but relationships, when you get to that level, when you
37:50
get to the pro level of sports, it's going to take things further for
37:53
you. So that being said, folks, Seattle Seahawks is going to be
37:57
very interesting to see what they do here in two twenty three, and that's
38:00
gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory again. I'm Jeff Warren.
38:04
You can follow me on the Twitter dot com at Jeffrey Underscore Warren. Follow
38:07
the show at Philadelphia PST. If you are still on Twitter, I'm actually
38:12
thinking I may be taking a little break at some point here in the near
38:15
future. We will have to wait and see if that does happen. However,
38:19
if anything does happen to your podcast speed wherever you are listening to us,
38:22
you can always head on over to our website, Philadelphia Sports Table dot
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com. You can check out all of our podcasts over there as well.
38:28
If you're listening on awful podcasts, give us a rate and review. We'd
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greatly appreciate that We've got some great content coming for you. This week here
38:35
in Aprils, we are celebrating and recognizing our ten year anniversary of doing the
38:38
Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. Take care, folks, We'll catch you next time.