Which Seahawks jersey is the "safest" purchase in 2022?
Seaside Joe 1114: The Great Seattle Jersey Debate
My history with buying football jerseys is short and probably more ‘interesting’ than it is ‘advisable’. And not in the way that things are interesting, but more like when a friend tells you something that’s not interesting and you don’t know what to say so the response is a monotone…
“Interesting…”
What they’re really saying is: Change the subject.
I remember buying a Houston Texans jersey at Champs Sports in 2001. I thought it was cool that you could buy a jersey for a team that hadn’t joined the NFL yet—that came in 2002—and it had no name on it. Only “Texans” and the number “00”.
There was also the time that I picked up a flimsy Julian Peterson jersey at Marshall’s for $20. The year must have been 2008 because I recall he wasn’t on the Seahawks for much longer after that.
And I once had a gift card for the NFL.com shop from my sister, so I bought a Russell Wilson jersey because he seemed to be the best bet for a long-term career. I made one of two ‘correct’ choices then by that measure, as Bobby Wagner’s Seattle career length turned out to be exactly the same.
Times were much easier then, after the Seahawks had won a Super Bowl with Wilson and Wagner. Those guidelines would be harder to follow now, without Wagner or Wilson or a recent slam dunk draft pick other than DK Metcalf—a player in his first ‘contract year’.
When the Seaside Joe newsletter hit its last subscriber milestone, I asked readers to send me questions for an AMA. Here is one of those questions:
“With Wilson no longer on the team, I'll need a new jersey. Any advice on which long-term player to get? Or wait until rebuild is farther along?”
The list of current options should be short, then I’ll make it shorter:
DK Metcalf
Tyler Lockett
Rashaad Penny
Chris Carson
Drew Lock (QB default)
Jordyn Brooks
Jamal Adams
Quandre Diggs
Michael Dickson
Darrell Taylor
Dee Eskridge
Al Woods
Uchenna Nwosu
Poona Ford
Cody Barton
Did I leave someone off the list and you’re pulling your hair out?
The names that I think we can probably rule out because there’s a chance that they won’t even be starting for the Seahawks next season: Chris Carson (cut?), Drew Lock, Dee Eskridge.
If you were buying a jersey in 2020, you might have felt Carson seemed a “safe” running back pick after back-to-back 1,100-yard seasons, but he only has 913 yards in the past two years. He serves as a cautionary tale to a Rashaad Penny jersey—although I would respect your optimism and belief if you “reach” on a Penny jersey.
The thing with buying a jersey is that it’s not like buying stocks or crypto. There’s no reward, that I can tell, for buying a player jersey before he blows up. What’s the point? Therefore, I could start to eliminate a lot of these names. You’d be buying these names on spec: Cody Barton, Uchenna Nwosu (although, would be cool to have that one ready and then he’s the next Cliff Avril), Dee Eskridge, Darrell Taylor, and even Jordyn Brooks.
Setting aside that Brooks is a sure tackler (it’s not only that the number is high, he barely missed any tackles either), I can’t yet put him in the “He’ll get a second contract” category. I think he looks set to get the fifth-year option but that decision is a year away.
Lock hasn’t proven anything, yet he’s halfway to being Seattle’s starting quarterback. It would be BRAVE to buy a Drew Lock jersey. You should raise the 12th Man flag in Week 2 if you buy a Lock jersey and he starts/wins in Week 1.
On the other end of the spectrum, you’re asking, “What if I buy a Tyler Lockett jersey and then he fades away as quickly as Doug Baldwin did at 30? I’m sure that a lot of people bought Baldwin jerseys going into his final NFL season.
Similarly, even though Jamal Adams is only 26, I think there’s a growing fear that his Seahawks career will be shorter than the four-year contract extension that begins in 2022. Quandre Diggs only has a three-year contract, but I would say he’s likely considered a safer and more exciting bet for a Seahawks jersey this year.
If I had to put any defensive player number one on the list, it would be Diggs.
Al Woods and Poona Ford are fun options too, but I would say not as “safe” for the long-term haul as Diggs.
On offense, the lack of an tackle, guard, or center on the list is both expected and concerning. Not that a ton of people would buy Russell Okung, Max Unger, or Duane Brown jerseys, but at least there was a time when you had an option. That’s why if you wait until after the 2022 NFL Draft is over, maybe a Seattle “Linderbaum” jersey will make the most sense; he’s a relatively phenomenal bet to stay in one place for 15 years.
No player on offense is going to make sense more than DK Metcalf and following the trade of Russell Wilson—which should save the Seahawks somewhere between $60 and $100 million in the next four years probably based on my calculations—fans are pushing hard for Seattle to extend Metcalf at any cost. Following the Davante Adams trade and signing, it seems that price could be upwards of $140 million over five years. Adams will carry a $30.5 million cap hit in 2023 and $21.3 million in 2024. If he manages to get to year four of the deal, the Raiders owe him a $40 million cap hit.
For the Seahawks sake, signing Metcalf could most accurately be described as a “three-year contract that will cost the team north of $65 million.” It’s affordable for Seattle and Metcalf has done nothing to dissuade fans from buying his jerseys yet:
Three great seasons
Great personality
“Put that guy on TV” smile
Will outlast Pete Carroll, if Pete Carroll can get him to sign on the line
The two biggest issues that I see facing a Metcalf jersey is that we can’t trust what his Seahawks future will look like until the Seahawks get him to sign a contract, and maybe also that receivers are a little unpredictable.
No Packers fans anticipated that Adams wouldn’t be on the Packers for life, and that’s as recent as the morning before Adams signed with Las Vegas. Seattle needs to sign Metcalf before you can make a move on Metcalf’s jersey, right?
The other thing is that Metcalf was playing with Russell Wilson for three years. What if he’s playing with Lock next season and the numbers drop similar to how numbers were depressed for Broncos receivers over the last few years? What if this causes a rift? Maybe it’s me being overly cautious here after seeing rapid declines by players like Odell Beckham Jr and Michael Thomas, but I’d feel more confident in Metcalf after he both signs a contract and gets a new quarterback.
But still, Metcalf has to be my answer here for the “second-best Seahawks jersey to buy”, while Diggs is third and leading on the defense.
So who could be first?
Indicative of the current talent issue that is facing the Seahawks roster headed into the 2022 season and why it is beyond necessary for Pete Carroll to draft the best players on the board instead of a quarterback, you’ll know exactly why this answer is my answer if by November you’re saying, “Damn, I am almost kind of rooting for the offense to fail on third downs so we can at least watch the punter.”
The answer to your question. The answer to “Who should I be excited to watch on the Seahawks next season?” The answer to “Who is signed long-term and will be on the Seahawks even beyond his current contract? And the answer to “Who has the best shot of making the Pro Bowl out of Seattle next season?” is all the same.
Michael
Frickin’
Dickson
Which jersey will you buy next? Tell me in the comments. Hit SUBSCRIBE and tell a friend about Seaside Joe. Let’s hit our next subscriber milestone this week!
Best bet for "safe" Jersey number? 12. You can take that to the bank. Trust me on this one.
Will Dissley