Chip Chart: Have the Seahawks had any blue chip players emerge this season?

Are Devon Witherspoon, Noah Fant, Ken Walker or any other Seahawks in the blue chip category yet? Seaside Joe 1679

Over a month ago, I wrote that the Seattle Seahawks need more blue chip players to emerge this season and placed all of the potential options in tiers ranging from “Blue Chip Now” (a very short list without an offensive or defensive player on it) to “Red Chips” and guys who could be “Blue Chips Soon”.

For any concerns of why I wouldn’t put someone like DK Metcalf or Riq Woolen on a blue chip list prior to the season, the answer is simple: These are really difficult lists to get on!

It’s like getting invited to Club 33 at Disneyland. It’s probably not going to happen in your lifetime and imagine Mickey wrapping his snakey velvet arm around you and saying, “Hey, the Pro Bowl’s not so bad, right? Ho ho.”

Is having elite players all that important? Well, there are two 4-0 teams in the NFL and they played each other in the NFC Championship game last season:

The 49ers have names like Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, Fred Warner, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey, for starters. The Eagles have A.J. Brown, Lane Johnson, Darius Slay, Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelce, and I’ve heard people I trust say that Dallas Goedert was the most complete tight end in football last season. (Philadelphia’s stars may mostly be past their prime, but are supported by arguably the best depth in the league and a lot of potential blue chip replacements.)

The question of “To what degree have the Seahawks players increased or decreased their stock since the start of the season?” is a good one to address during the Week 5 bye, so this is the first edition of the Seaside Chip Chart.

An updated look at players from the last edition of this segment.

“Blue Chip Now”

P Michael Dickson, K Jason Myers

Dickson leads the NFL with 53.5 yards per punt, which is a career-high and would also set an NFL record; Ryan Stonehouse currently has the record after averaging 53.1 for the Titans last year. Dickson’s 48.9 net yards per punt is second in the NFL, trailing AJ Cole by 0.1, so he’s very likely on track to make his first Pro Bowl and All-Pro team since 2018. Where Dickson could improve his numbers: He only has five punts land inside the 20 and two touchbacks already, whereas some other have 10+ inside the 20 and no touchbacks. I know, this is all circumstantial, I’m just telling you the numbers!

Whereas Dickson has raised his stock, Myers has definitely gone in the wrong direction.

He is 0-for-2 on kicks outside of 50 and he’s one of only two kickers to misss any field goal attempt inside of 40! Any attempt inside of 40 is basically automatic now, so that was a brutal miss against the Rams (39 yards), and he also missed from 45 against the Lions. He could be perfect for the rest of the season and he would still have more missed field goals than he had in 2022. Outside of going 5-of-5 against the Panthers, Myers is 4-of-8 with at least one miss in each game.

It would take a monumental effort to be a blue chip kicker again and Myers is the fourth-highest paid at his position in the NFL.

Dickson: Blue

Myers: Off

Red Chip(ish)

S Quandre Diggs

Prior to his interception off of Daniel Jones, I can’t say Diggs did anything to stand out this season. His missed tackle rate is 10% points higher than it was last year.

Read: Quandre Diggs origin story I, origin story part II

S/LB Jamal Adams

We hardly knew ye.

QB Geno Smith

Let’s put Geno’s start into context of last season: From Game 1-Game 12 of the year, Geno Smith ranked second in the NFL in passer rating (108.7), first in completion percentage (72.7%), fourth in touchdowns (22), fourth in Y/A (8.1).

In the last five games, Geno ranked 21st in rating (83.9), 21st in comp% (63.3), ninth in TD (8), 30th in Y/A (6.2), and he had five interceptions. And then he had a less than ideal wild card performance.

Geno Smith hadn’t played a lot of football prior to last season, maybe he was just getting tired and the additional conditioning and experience will help him. However, I’ve also seen some of the “Bad Geno=Bad Offense” at times this season, so there is a lack of consistency in part because Geno has proven he is capable of making great plays. And if you just want to live in that world and nowhere else, I highly recommend Top Billin’.

I’m also a reasonable person and I know that Geno is better than a lot of quarterbacks who Seattle is lucky to not-have, such as Mac Jones, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill, Daniel Jones, etc. He’s played better this season than high-paid stars like Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson, and I’d also argue that he’s been better than NFC champion Jalen Hurts.

Geno may have maxed out his value, but if enough players around him increase theirs, that could be good enough for the Seahawks.

WR Tyler Lockett

If he were to continue this pace, Lockett would finish the season with 663 yards. His yards per target is a career-low 5.8 right now (but had a season-best 9.0 against the Giants) and his 63% catch rate would be his worst since 2016. It’s only a four-game sample size, but Lockett’s only had one game over 70 yards in the last year, dating back to Week 6, 2022. That’s a period of 16 games with one game missed due to a hand injury.

So really we have about a season’s worth of games that put Lockett around 70 catches and 800 yards, but in 2024 he will be the 7th-highest paid WR in the NFL. (He’ll be ranked higher after the Chargers likely cut or trade Mike Williams and perhaps one or two other moves.)

I understand, yards alone don’t win football games or paint a full picture. You can choose something else, there’s nothing tangible or empirical that says that Lockett is having the same impact he was having 2-5 years ago and right now he’s Geno’s favorite target. At some point, that’ll need to shift to DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Noah Fant.

LB Bobby Wagner

Here we are in 2023, 11 years after he was drafted, and Wagner is third in the NFL in tackles, with one of those guys (TJ Edwards) having already played in his fifth game. Wagner’s impact is probably more spiritual than anything else, but he can likely take a good amount of credit for Seattle’s improved run defense.

OLB Darrell Taylor

At this point, the Seahawks have to be moving the needle towards “How do we play Derick Hall more, and Taylor less?” Hall has 4 QB hits in the last three games, Taylor has 0 QB hits for the entire season.

G Damien Lewis

Unfortunately has left the last two games with injury. The Seahawks should still make an effort to re-sign him after the season.

TE Winoah Disslikisant

Once a combination of three tight ends, it seems like Noah Fant has emerged from the womb as the tight end who ate the other two for sustenance. Fant has caught 10-of-11 targets for 160 yards and that has all come in the last three games. He’s fifth in the NFL in yards per target (14.5) and though that will come down, Seattle should be looking to give him more opportunities because there may be a blue chip buried inside of him.

Will Dissly is good, Colby Parkinson is good, Fant could be great.

LB Jordyn Brooks

He doubled his career sack total last week. Thank you to the King of Dimes!

EDGE Uchenna Nwosu

I listened to a podcast with former Chargers QB Chase Daniel this week and he talked about players who get better during a contract year. Daniel recounted that in 2021, teammates were teasing Nwosu because though he’d been pretty good for his first 3.5 seasons, it wasn’t until the end of his contract year that he really turned it on. Nwosu was kind of in a contract year last season because he knew the Seahawks would extend him if he played really well, which is what happened.

How will Nwosu play now that he’s set for the next few years? He’s coming off the best game of his season (two sacks, FF) but Seattle will need to see that more consistently.

Diggs: Red

Adams: Off

Geno: Red

Lockett: Red (lower)

Bobby: Red

Taylor: Off

Lewis: Red (??)

Fant: Red

Brooks: Red

Chenna: Red

I couldn’t possibly upgrade anyone here to blue. I’m not sure what Damien Lewis is, give me your OL thoughts in the comments.

Blue Chip Nominees (Veterans)

WR DK Metcalf

Interestingly, Metcalf is having the most complete season of his career, but he’s not really keeping up with the increasingly difficult task of being a top-10 WR in the NFL. As Seahawks fans, we all see the improvement and the dominance, and yet Metcalf is…19th in yards, 17th in first downs, 36th in catches, and 19th in yards per catch?

I’m not criticizing Metcalf, I’m just expressing my amazement that the bar is set SO HIGH to be a true elite wide receiver, and when we’ve got players like Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Stefon Diggs, and names like this aren’t missing a beat, it just means that Metcalf has to be even better. So: Metcalf is Better, the bar is Higher.

CB Riq Woolen

Only two games under his belt this season, Woolen barely missed his first interception of the year on Monday. I don’t think Woolen had the game he wanted to have in Week 1 against the Rams, but he also missed most of the offseason and training camp.

RT Abe Lucas

Has hardly played, unfortunately.

DE Dre’Mont Jones

Not that noticeable yet.

OLB Boye Mafe

We see the improvement Pete was talking about and Mafe has a sack in each of the last two games after having missed Week 2.

Metcalf: Red

Woolen: Red

Lucas: N/A

Jones: Red

Mafe: Red

Nobody here has moved up a level in my eyes, but clearly Metcalf and Mafe have improved. I’m not sure what to do with Jones yet except to wait and see until the next check-in.

Red Chip Nominees (Veterans)

(For explanations on these categories and why I put certain players into them, you’ll have to read the previous article!)

RB Ken Walker III

Walker: 64 carries, 283 yards, 5 TD, 17 first downs, 4.4 Y/A

D Henry: 73 carries, 285 yards, 2 TD, 16 first downs, 3.9 Y/A

Who even are the NFL’s best running backs anymore? It’s not an easy top-5 for anyone to make, there would be a lot of different answers. Walker has solidified himself as red chip, he may end the season as blue chip.

LT Charles Cross

Hasn’t played much, could return in Week 6.

Walker: Red (trending Blue)

Cross: N/A

Blue Chip/Red Chip Nominees (Rookies)

CB Devon Witherspoon

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

RB Zach Charbonnet

OLB Derick Hall

Throws at Witherspoon in three games: 15-of-30, 167 yards, 2 TD, 1 pick-six, 75.3 passer rating

He also has three pressures, two sacks, he’s made a few key tackles, he’s missed a few tackles. I can’t call Witherspoon a blue chip cornerback through three games but he’s been one of the most exciting in the NFL this year. The Seahawks do have an outside shot of having two blue chip cornerbacks by 2024.

Charbonnet actually has a higher rate of broken tackles than Walker. He’s been a great addition to the backfield and he could be a red chip running back with potential for more. We haven’t seen as much from the other two, altough as mentioned, Hall’s maybe been better than Taylor. Smith-Njigba’s been targeted a lot (20 times) with little to show for it, but I’m not worried.

Generally, very good early returns on Seattle’s top-four draft picks.

Totals

There’s nobody I would upgrade into the Blue Chip category just yet, but there are caveats to that: Injuries to Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, Riq Woolen, Boye Mafe, Jamal Adams, and even Seattle’s two first round draft picks have had an impact on that.

I am encouraged by what I’ve seen from Ken Walker, DK Metcalf, Devon Witherspoon, Boye Mafe, Noah Fant, and I think you could probably throw Geno Smith and Bobby Wagner in there to some degree for different reasons. I certainly also expect upgrades at tackle when Charles Cross and Abe Lucas return, and I think a lot of players (Woolen, Charbonnet, Parkinson, Anthony Bradford, Jake Bobo, Jordyn Brooks) have played well, if not better than expectations.

So I don’t have any new blue chips, but I could see that changing by the next Seaside Chip Chart.

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