The next phase of Mike Macdonald’s debut season as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks begins Wednesday when the rookies report to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center for training camp. The veterans will follow suit Tuesday before the first camp practice, scheduled for July 24.
Position battles are among the most intriguing elements of training camp, so here is one thought on the outlook of each position group (all stats provided by TruMedia unless stated otherwise).
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Quarterback
This feels like a make-or-break year for Geno Smith, who turns 34 in October and has a 2025 cap hit of $38.5 million, projected to account for nearly 15 percent of the salary cap. Smith played well in 2022, and although he wasn’t as statistically productive in 2023, there’s reason to believe he’s still a starting-caliber quarterback.
He’ll need to prove it to this new coaching staff, though, because between age and price tag, something seemingly has to budge next season, meaning it’s likely Smith will either prove he’s more than a stopgap and be signed to a reworked deal, or he will be released in favor of someone like Sam Howell or another, younger option.
Offensive line
An ideal starting five would be left tackle Charles Cross, left guard Laken Tomlinson, center Olu Oluwatimi, right tackle Abraham Lucas and one of either McClendon Curtis, Anthony Bradford or rookie Christian Haynes at right guard. Time will tell whether that’s an upgrade over last year’s lineup, but that’s a major piece of this puzzle.
Seattle has the skill-position talent to have a top-five offense. However, that’s an unattainable goal without an above-average offensive line. The unit is critical on every snap, but the performance in the red zone and on third down in particular could push the offense from very good to elite, and that’s where the Seahawks have been lacking in recent years.
Running back
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb has a bit of a conundrum on his hands. While Kenneth Walker III is dynamic and explosive enough to be a true lead back, Zach Charbonnet is arguably too talented to be an afterthought. Charbonnet was one of 53 running backs with at least 100 carries in 2023, and while he ranked only 40th in yards, he was top 25 in success rate and sixth in explosive carry rate.
Perhaps it will be easier to spread the wealth if the Seahawks rank better than 32nd in total offensive plays, which was the case last season.
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Wide receiver
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was one of 122 receivers with at least 25 targets last season, and he finished just outside the top 50 in receiving yards while adding four touchdowns. A more involved Smith-Njigba would raise Seattle’s floor on offense because if WR3 is producing, it creates a strain on the defense that is hard to counter.
Geno x JSN https://t.co/saMfDeKPpJ pic.twitter.com/2oAB2KAobQ
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) July 8, 2024
Raising the Seahawks’ ceiling, though, will require a more dominant and more efficient season from DK Metcalf, who made the Pro Bowl as an alternate after recording 1,114 yards and eight touchdowns, albeit with a career-low catch rate of 55.5 percent. The last time Seattle won the division, Metcalf delivered like one of the league’s best receivers — 1,303 yards, 10 touchdowns and a career-high 64.3 percent catch rate — and that’s probably what it’ll take to dethrone San Francisco in 2024.
Tight end
Noah Fant didn’t catch a touchdown last year, which says everything you need to know about how disappointing his season was. He’s being paid like a top-10 tight end, and with that salary comes the expectation that he should be more productive. It’ll likely help that he’s the No. 1 option as opposed to splitting reps with Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly like he’s done the last couple of years.
Defensive tackle
Jarran Reed and Leonard Williams should be the team’s strength up front, particularly on third down. From Williams’ arrival in Week 9 through the end of the season, he was arguably the team’s best pass rusher, tying Boye Mafe for the team lead in sacks (four) and ranking second in pressure rate (12.1 percent). Williams is the type of interior threat whose presence can command double-teams and create one-on-one opportunities for others. If he can do that consistently, Seattle should improve what was one of the worst third-down defenses in the league last season.
Outside linebacker
Uchenna Nwosu and Darrell Taylor each had 9.5 sacks in 2022, which is the closest anyone has come to ending Seattle’s five-season drought without a double-digit sack producer. That’s an arbitrary benchmark, but that drought illustrates the team’s lack of a dominant pass rush. It’s hard to be an elite defense without at least one player consistently harassing passers.
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With Nwosu, Taylor, Mafe and Derick Hall, Seattle has three top-50 draft picks and a $45 million player in Nwosu — who was a top-50 pick of the Chargers in 2018 — holding down the edge. To take that next step as a defense, one of them needs to emerge as a premier edge rusher.
Inside linebacker
This position group couldn’t be more of an enigma, with two new projected starters in Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, neither of whom were healthy last time Seattle was on the practice field. Dodson was dealing with an undisclosed ailment, and Baker was recovering from wrist surgery. Additionally, Dodson is coming off his only full year of production, and Baker was a good-but-not-great linebacker in Miami for six seasons.
It’s hard to tell whether they’ll be an immediate upgrade over Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks, though Baker and Dodson seem to be more interchangeable than Seattle’s previous linebacker duo, so perhaps they’ll fit better in Macdonald’s scheme. General manager John Schneider jokingly called Macdonald a “linebacker guru” on draft weekend, and this group is where his expertise might be needed most.
Cornerback
It’ll be interesting to see whether Macdonald borrows from ex-defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt’s playbook and deploys Devon Witherspoon as a hybrid inside-outside cornerback. As a rookie in 2023, Witherspoon delivered a “splash” play — loosely defined as wins for the defense or plays that get them off the field — every 23.6 snaps, which ranked seventh among defensive backs who played at least 500 snaps. Fifth on the list was All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton, who had a breakout year under Macdonald last season and, like Witherspoon, is built to play from multiple alignments.
GO DEEPERChris Jones, Davante Adams, T.J. Watt and one non-quarterback MVP for every NFL teamThe other interesting name here is Riq Woolen, whose coverage and tackling weren’t nearly as consistent in 2023 as they were when he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and tied for the league lead in interceptions in 2022. An optimistic outlook on this group would be Macdonald bringing out something resembling the 2022 version of Woolen and an improved version of 2023 Witherspoon, which would be one of the best duos in the league.
Safety
Julian Love quickly went from the new kid on the block to the veteran leader of a position group that might feature three-safety lineups, with the 26-year-old Pro Bowler playing alongside free-agent signees Rayshawn Jenkins and K’Von Wallace. Macdonald envisions the safeties being more interchangeable than they were under the previous regime, similar to how he approached the linebacker overhaul.
Interchangeable pieces won’t make Seattle competitive within the division without some high-level playmaking, though, which is why Love might be the key to this group. He was inconsistent in 2023, but he also demonstrated at his best he has good ball skills and a high football IQ. If he builds on his strong finish to last season, this group has potential.
(Photo: Jane Gershovich / Getty Images)
Michael-Shawn Dugar is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Seattle Seahawks. He previously covered the Seahawks for Seattlepi.com. He is also the co-host of the "Seahawks Man 2 Man" podcast. Follow Michael-Shawn on Twitter @MikeDugar
