Devon Witherspoon could be the 'Russell Westbrook' of Mike Macdonald's Seahawks defense

Answering Seahawks questions on the draft, free agency, and breakout players in 2024: Seaside Joe 1840

The Seattle Seahawks are probably the most exciting NFC West team to follow in free agency and that’s not because of the players who they sign but due to the fact that we really don’t know what to think of the people who are coaching them. It’s not about whether the Seahawks will win the division next season—they probably won’t, but it is a tough division—and it’s not about if they spend the most money or add the free agents who were the best last season.

It’s about the fact that no matter who the Seahawks add, whether that’s Sam Howell or George Fant or Rayshawn Jenkins or Tyrel Dodson, the only thing we know for sure is that they’re joining a team that plans to have a new identity and strategy next season. A team that general manager John Schneider knows will be coached differently in 2024 by his handpicked choice to replace Pete Carroll, Mike Macdonald.

And that Macdonald’s speciality with the Baltimore Ravens in the past two seasons as defensive coordinator was to get much more value out of players than what was expected of them prior to playing for Macdonald.

Seattle’s newest players, so far including the four mentioned as well as center Nick Harris and tight end Pharoah Brown, are almost all “bargain” additions. The Seahawks only big swings were for two they retained, Leonard Williams and Noah Fant, and even those two could end up being better with Macdonald and Ryan Grubb than they were with Pete, Shane Waldron, and Clint Hurtt.

NFL’s free agency and salary cap news is never about spending “the most” and always about getting “the most out of” the contracts you sign.

That’s why Seahawks fans should be excited about every signing or trade such as Howell because we can’t be sure yet which of them will be the best additions until we see them with the new staff. And I’m definitely not worried about the additions that Seattle didn’t make, as the first week of free agency is probably more news that will look bad in hindsight than changes that will result in a Super Bowl.

In today’s Seaside Joe, episode 1,840, I address free agency, the draft, and the state of the Seahawks roster by answering questions from the community. “Mailbags” are not segments I do often so I have made the Q&A portion available to Super Joes subscribers at the “Founding Member” level. If you would like to submit your questions in the future, you can join or upgrade to Super Joes for a prorated annual rate.

That being said, I do answer quite a lot of questions in the comments section on a regular, if not daily basis. So you can also always shoot me and the entire community your questions and thoughts by adding your comments at any time. Comments and questions are available to the Regular Joes members whenever you want to add them and I’m grateful when you do: I always say that the collective knowledge of this Seahawks community is more than one Seaside Joe could ever hope to learn in a lifetime.