Seahawks 53-man roster: What changes can fans expect in 2 weeks, 2 months, and by next year?

Seaside Bonus, 8/30/22: It's only an "initial" roster and we know that Seattle's real focus is on 2023

I did not have a specific plan to write about the Seahawks 53-man roster again on Tuesday, but then I noticed an error on my initial email and I feel compelled to correct my mistake so that Seaside Joe readers are not ill-informed:

Joshua Onujiogu made the 53-man roster, Vi Jones did not.

I wrote about Onujiogu before the Seahawks even signed him as an undrafted free agent because he was one of the most intriguing Division-III players in the country and Seattle met with him at his pro day. What kind of a future does Onujiogu have in the NFL? That certainly won’t be determined merely by the fact that he was the biggest surprise on the 53 today and nobody knows the answer to that.

Not many undrafted free agents have impact careers as starters on offense or defense. Some do.

Some of you remember that not long ago I covered the top-10 UDFA rookie seasons in 13 years under Pete Carroll and the highlights there are Doug Baldwin, George Fant, Thomas Rawls, Poona Ford, and Jake Curhan.

Outside of Baldwin, and to a lesser degree Ford, and to a lesser-lesser degree Jermaine Kearse, undrafted free agents have not usually done more in Seattle than help fill out the special teams duties. But Onujiogu’s place on the roster suggests that the Seahawks may have had some fears of him being claimed, and teams do not typically “fear” losing a special teams coverage contributor who went undrafted.

They must see something and now is the perfect time for the Seahawks to keep as many players as possible who might have…something.

But the Seattle Seahawks also clearly have a bigger emphasis on finding that “one-percent extra” to win games than I do, as the decisions to keep Nick Bellore and Jason Myers, as well as the one to start Geno Smith at quarterback, clearly point towards Pete clearly believing that he has no intentions to lose for the sake of development. Let’s not call it “tanking,” instead let’s give some teams the benefit of the doubt and presume that maybe at worst…they’re not afraid of losing.

Now from the outside looking in, from people who are not fans of the Seahawks, most would say that the decision to start Geno is a sign of tanking.

But to Pete Carroll, starting Geno Smith is what he believes is the savviest route to success given their options. “Hey, we’ll win games 17-14 if we have to.” I am more sure of that now that the team has waved off cap savings for players who almost certainly will not tilt the field this season, and avoided trading off veterans to any bidder like the Texans did a year ago.

In fact, Pete has insisted that Al Woods, Shelby Harris, Quinton Jefferson, Gabe Jackson, and Marquise Goodwin be on the team this season, potentially blocking younger players from getting those early development snaps; the Seahawks kept Myles Adams, as many expected, but how will he see the field if he’s third on the depth chart?

This is Adams’ third year in the league. When’s it going to be his time?

And changes to the Seattle Seahawks’ initial 53-man roster will obviously follow, including if the team decides to claim anyone on waivers. (The Seahawks are 10th in waiver order.) They could look different in Week 1. They will look different by the time the trade deadline passes at the end of October. Different again by the next offseason.

Read: Seahawks WINNERS AND LOSERS after making 53-man roster

How could Seahawks look different by Week 1?

The biggest surprises to me were Bellore and L.J. Collier, probably more so Collier. The team has decided to keep him, but seven defensive linemen just doesn’t seem right for this defense. Bob Condotta mentions the possibility of placing Collier on IR, giving the team an extra month to decide how they like their options on the defensive line.

Bob Condotta @bcondotta

An obvious logical way to do this is place LJ Collier on IR with his elbow injury and then re-sign Coleman. That would mean Collier would only have to miss 4 games.

Bob Condotta @bcondotta

Seahawks have announced all their cuts and there's one surprise in veteran cornerback Justin Coleman. But since he's a vested vet he does not have to go through waivers and he could return.

Could Collier have really shown much improvement on the defense this year? The Seahawks may just worry that they’ll need a body down the line and keeping Collier around would give them that option without having to tell the new guy what to do.

If Seattle places Collier on IR, it would make him unavailable for at least the first four games, and open up a roster spot for somebody else. Bob suggests Justin Coleman.

The Seahawks could also potentially still explore trading a player before the season or early in the season. Pete Carroll consistently spoke highly of his guard depth and that was just for Phil Haynes, Damien Lewis, and Gabe Jackson; Jake Curhan got so many reps at right guard with the 1s in the preseason and practices, you’d think that gives Seattle four options for two spots.

Jackson carries a fully-guaranteed $6 million base salary. Could another team inquire after waiver claims are finalized? Or if there are any injuries early in the season? The Seahawks also have Jackson signed in 2023 for a cap hit of $9.5 million, with $3 million in dead money.

How Seahawks could look different by trade deadline?

If Seattle is as good as Pete wants them to be, then the Seahawks won’t be trading away any valuable players. But if the Seahawks play like many are expecting them to, then John Schneider could be in a position to at least collect a little more draft capital while also maybe doing those players a favor.

NFL careers are too short to end up like Brandon Marshall with no playoff appearances.

The chaos happening at the quarterback position is almost so obvious that I forget about those players sometimes—I’ve just had to come back in and add a paragraph after I realized “Oh yeah, the starting quarterback of the team could be different by midseason.” Pete named Geno Smith the starter for Week 1. If he keeps that title for the whole season, just go ahead and send him the Comeback Player of the Year award now, nobody else could come close to winning. We don’t even know for sure if Smith and Drew Lock are the only quarterbacks who will start a game for Seattle this season.

Tyler Lockett is the most obvious candidate among the players who fans of other teams will dream about. There will be talk about how the Rams acquired OBJ in the middle of last season (as a free agent) and any bad team with a good receiver will get forced into trade rumors regardless of whether they want to be or not. But Lockett’s firmly planted in Seattle—I mean geographically speaking, the dude has way too many real estate commitments to leave town now!—and he’s not the player you move.

Bryce 🎸 (0-0) @HamlerMileHigh

For those who think the last clip was all Tyler Lockett

The most realistic would be Jackson. But Poona Ford continues to make sense because he’s a pending free agent and the team did not extend him to lower his cap hit this year, which is somewhat telling and not that surprising given the previously-mentioned depth at DL and the shrinking number of players needed at that position.

It will be interesting to see what kind of an impact Marquise Goodwin has on the offense and whether or not Dee Eskridge is finally stealing away those snaps. The team kept Penny Hart and Dareke Young for a total of six receivers, but that group will surely look at least a little different by season’s end.

Another position to watch in that regard is the cornerbacks. Artie Burns and Sidney Jones IV have missed a lot of games over their careers. That’s why the Seahawks were not comfortable with fewer than six and they might still make it seven.

How Seahawks could look different by next year?

Players in a contract year are Collier, Lock, Poona, Myers, Tyler Ott, Kyle Fuller, Cody Barton, Travis Homer, Haynes, Bellore. Players on one-year deals: Rashaad Penny, Austin Blythe, Jones IV, Josh Jones, Goodwin, Burns, Geno.

The players who have the highest potential to be re-sign candidates are Haynes and Josh Jones. Those feel like two players who might be able to start for Seattle for multiple seasons to come.

So could Penny, Jones IV, Barton, Homer, but whether or not they price themselves out of town is yet to be seen. I could see the Seahawks feeling that they’re comfortable with their cheaper replacement options through the draft or internal candidates already on the team. Of course, like Ken Walker or Tariq Woolen. Even though not all of these positions have good depth.

Seattle might also want to come to a contract with Ford but haven’t come to the right terms yet. Remember, they re-signed Jarran Reed as a free agent and it wasn’t very costly at the time.

Going into the next phase of the rebuild in 2023, the Seahawks should feel really good about their offensive tackles (great news), top two wideouts (great news, but still need to draft another), running backs, safeties, and definitely with what they’re building on the edges of the defense. There is also reason for optimism at tight end, cornerback, guard, and Jordyn Brooks.

That puts all of their efforts on finding the right quarterback—although the Seahawks are still more than one piece away. I would focus on more edge rushing help, depth at receiver, a blue chip defensive lineman, depth at linebacker, and opening the door for a new kicker.