If you entered the season believing the Seattle Seahawks were a Super Bowl roster, then it’s clear they have a massive coaching problem.
But I don’t think many of you did. At least that’s not the sentiment I heard from fans in the weeks and months leading up to the season. So, if you were hoping for a team that could surprise analysts and sneak into the playoffs, then pointing the finger at Mike Macdonald feels premature.
This isn’t an effort to curb responsibility of a head coach. He’s got some big problems on his hands. First are the very real concerns about this team on the field (the return of run defense woes!) and second is the challenge faced by any unestablished leader: keeping culture and buy-in alive during a losing streak.
Breaking down where the Seahawks stand in key areas
More than any insight into Macdonald, this is what has become clear through the first six weeks of the season: the Seahawks are still rebuilding, and the head coach was only part of the process.
The first four weeks were reflective of positive change, with the caveat that three games were against teams with quarterbacks who were either a rookie (Denver’s Bo Nix) or have since been benched (New England’s Jacoby Brissett and Miami’s Skylar Thompson). But we still saw the best of Geno Smith, three consecutive games of 100 receiving yards for DK Metcalf, one of the league’s better defenses against the pass, and sound tackling (prior to their game against the Detroit Lions, who’ve looked dominant since then). Derick Hall has emerged as one of this team’s promising young defenders, already leading in sacks, and Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen are still one of the league’s better young cornerback duos.
I mention that to make clear that this isn’t a bad roster…
But did anyone watch the Seahawks lose to the 49ers last Thursday night and not see a personnel gulf between these two teams?
Those aren’t gaps that can be solved entirely by coaching, though the league’s best coaches do more with less. Still, Macdonald was never going to turn this group into the Baltimore Ravens’ defense short several key Baltimore Ravens players.
The Seahawks got here instead with draft misses, few shots at top 10 talent, and salary cap gambles. This is, in part, a roster-building issue. And I say this knowing this team has had gems here.
Seattle has had an interesting experience with this. For three years in a row about a decade ago, Seattle’s front office hit on super star talent in later rounds. They found a Hall of Fame linebacker out of Utah State in the second round (Bobby Wagner), a 10-year starting quarterback in the third (Russell Wilson), an All-Pro cornerback in the fifth (Richard Sherman), a decade-long starting linebacker in the fourth round (K.J. Wright), a tone-setting safety in the fifth round (Kam Chancellor), and they sent a fourth-round pick to Buffalo for one of the most iconic running backs in the league (Marshawn Lynch).
But, far and away, the best teams are built with some blue-chip talent, and many teams have found those talents earlier in the draft than that.
Myles Garrett, Aiden Hutchinson, and Nick Bosa were top five picks. Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Sauce Gardner, Patrick Surtain, Penei Sewell, Ja’Marr Chase, and Roquan Smith are all top 10 selections. There’s a cost to get those picks (it’s losing, and it’s not fun) and it doesn’t always pay off (we can all name first-round busts). But it’s easier to hit on first-round players than not; there’s a reason every fan can tell you where Tom Brady, Brock Purdy, Russell Wilson, and Dak Prescott were drafted, and it’s because it’s less likely, though far from impossible, to find super stars in late rounds.
It’s where Seattle has struggled over the last several seasons. Not only have late first-rounders not paid off (L.J. Collier, Rashaad Penny), but the Seahawks haven’t found All-Pro or Pro Bowl talent with those Day 2 and 3 draft picks at nearly the same clip in recent years. And if you’re going to win more often than not, you need to find those gems.
But who really wants to wait through several seasons of poor play to rack up top-10 talent?
Macdonald will need to help close the gap with excellent coaching and scheme, but Seattle also needs a few players to outperform expectation, and they need general manager John Schneider & Co. to work some magic to find talent or draft picks elsewhere in the meantime. Schneider has used midseason trades before to find long-term starters (Duane Brown, Quandre Diggs) and impactful talent (Carlos Dunlap). He’s previously traded young, successful players (Frank Clark) for first-round picks, which remains an option for this season – though there’s always the delicate balance of trying to limit the talent you’re trading when the goal is to craft an elite roster.
In the meantime, this season isn’t lost. A three-game losing streak feels horrible (Seahawks fans can remember losing four in a row last season), but with 11 weeks left to play there’s room yet for Macdonald – and this roster – to surprise.
But for a city looking for something to cheer for, the winning couldn’t come soon enough.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• Which Seahawks will benefit most from extra days of rest?
• A look at how Seattle Seahawks’ rookie class has fared
• Brock: The word that sums up Seahawks’ loss to 49ers
• What’s the Seahawks’ biggest problem right now? Bump weighs in
• Turnovers, lack of takeaways a glaring issue for Seattle Seahawks