Seattle's recent free agency mistake
The Seahawks could have had Zach Allen, but they chose Dre'Mont Jones
The Seahawks stepping out of their comfort zone to sign a first-wave free agent in 2023 could have been the decision that saved Pete Carroll’s job, but instead Dre’Mont Jones sent him back to USC. That’ll teach him.
Spending $30 million guaranteed on Jones, a player who has had to change positions as a last ditch effort to save face, is a mistake on its own. That regret is doubled by the fact that Seattle almost signed Zach Allen, a defensive tackle who replaced Jones in Denver, costs less money, and is having an All-Pro type season with the Broncos.
This is not a case of the Seahawks wanting to sign a player and he just rejected them. Seattle pursued both Jones and Allen, but clearly preferred Jones because they signed him to a 3-year, $51 million contract with a $20 million signing bonus and Allen signed a 3-year, $45 million contract with a $15 million bonus in Denver.
The Seahawks tried to get Jones, then Allen, and they only got Jones.
If Carroll and John Schneider had instead tried to sign Allen first, they could have had a better chance to sign both. At worst, they would have had Zach Allen! And they wouldn’t have Jones!
Allen leads all defensive tackles with 38 pressures. That’s 10 more pressures than Dexter Lawrence, the big guy who sacked Geno Smith three times.
Would Allen be so dominant if the Seahawks had made him feel like the belle of the ball instead of Jones? Usually I’d say “We’ll never know”, but in this case I’m going to go with yes.
Every week I take questions from Super Joes. If you’d like to become a member:
Scott M: Who do you think will still be on the team next year?
The last nine games are more important than the first eight.
The Seahawks most notable free agent was not even on the team last week, Ernest Jones, and it would make sense that John Schneider wants to extend him. The fourth round pick he gave up does not assure that Jones will be re-signed because Schneider might believe he will get a fourth round comp pick if Jones leaves.
Scott, we had some synchronicity this week because I wrote Monday’s article as you sent in your question and that covers most of my other thoughts on that topic.
Rusty: Do you think MM is starting to lose the locker room?
Losing respect for the coach was the story in the last few years of Pete Carroll’s career, and Michelle Pfeiffer didn’t change Dangerous Minds overnight.
But to answer your question, no, I don’t think so.
The way the Seahawks are currently built, they could compete for a Super Bowl in 2025 if everything went perfect. The Seahawks are as good as they should be right now and that means that players are going to get frustrated. Fans are frustrated. It would also make sense that players are more emotional than coaches during a game for obvious reasons and that may come off looking worse to fans than it actually is.
Cold Steel and Sunshine: Now that we all know what this team is not, I’m curious to hear your opinion on what it could be. It is year one of a new…just about everything with this team. Macdonald needs a few years to get all of his guys here I believe, just like his predecessor.
Moving forward as a collective group, what do you feel is the best way to manage expectations?
If there’s one thing to take away from my answer:
The Seahawks do not have as many great players as the teams that will contend for the Super Bowl this season.
People might get tripped up on the word “talented” because every NFL team could be called talented, so the key words are “many great players”. When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, Seattle had many great players and most of them had been seasoned for at least two years. Pete had also been a head coach for almost 15 years at that point, while Mike Macdonald is brand new.
Current “Many Great Players” Team: The Detroit Lions
Look at how good the Lions are at everything and that’s without an elite quarterback. If Geno Smith and Jared Goff switched places, most fans agree that their stats would Freaky Friday. There are more Pro Bowl players on Detroit’s offensive line than there are on the entire Seahawks roster.
To “manage expectations”: root for player growth and celebrate wins when they come. The Lions won 3 games in Dan Campbell’s first season and Seattle’s already better than they were in 2021.
Largentium: How can a team look so good one week and look so bad the next?
🚨Surprising Answer Alert!🚨
The Seahawks are consistent. They’re just not very good and the results change based on the strength of their opponents.
Seattle’s defense against the Lions, 49ers, and Bills is a huge mismatch and they were bad in all of those games. Fans would remember the Giants game more fondly — just as they do the win over the Patriots — if the field goal wasn’t blocked and the Seahawks came back to win.
The one outlier is the Falcons game and that’s good because it’s an outlier of positive growth!
If anything, the Seahawks are probably the most average team. I keep seeing these graphs on Twitter with the team or a player smack dab in the middle of it:
Average is pretty good for a team that many expected to be average when the season started. It means that they aren’t worse than expected.
Flurb: We’ve heard coaches say “we need to clean up a few plays” and there were several “unwise” plays with a few “unlucky” ones.
[LONG LIST OF BAD LUCK AND GAFFES]
That was all packed into one game!
Which, some say, can come down to a play or two. I predict, and I’m a really good guesser, that we’ll continue to see occasional unlucky outcomes in this oblong ball game, but let’s get a QB coach who’ll connect with Geno (remember Pete’s *stomach swipe down* move) so 7 can lead our Hawks wisely.
I did not expect this ending based on where your question started.
The quarterbacks coach is Charles London and I don’t know him very well but I say we give him until the end of the year.
Whether the Seahawks will put any blame on assistant coaches at the end of the season is not something I’ve put much thought into, however Pete Carroll did fire the offensive coordinator after his first year. It would seem that Schneider will be the only person to decide if coaches are let go at the end of the season and nobody really knows what he’s capable of yet.
Seaside Joe 2039
Some questions edited for space.
The Zach Allen miss is so painful. He has been great and was great against the Hawks in week 1.
Great write-up.
The leadership questions/comments are interesting. Just in my opinion, J Reed was being a leader. It may not be the most pleasant thing, or it may look bad. But he was holding his teammate accountable. That is what you need/want out of veteran guys. Tom Brady called it right on the broadcast, emotions run high but at the end of the day they will come back together. They came back together and talked it out that game.
I also think there is a bit of a disconnect between the team and some fans. I think that the team and management believe they can beat anyone. That they have the guys here to win. This is not a rebuild or a scouting year, that this is a win now. Not saying the team is right and the fans are wrong, just saying that I think they see the situation differently.
Guys in the locker room like Leo Williams, Spoon, Cross, K9, DK, Geno, Riq ... These guys look around the locker room and have a strong belief that they are that good. So when things don't go their way on the field, they are going to get pissed off and frustrated and yes at times let it boil over when you think the guy hit you out of bounds, down 20 at home, and lose your cool for a second and throw the ball at the other team.
For me, at least Geno cares. The guy wears his emotions on his sleeves and you know he is in the game. When he yells at a guy for not lining up right ... it's because he expects greatness from his teammates. Accountability. Who else played like that? The guy in the booth, Tom Brady. TB12 was as emotional as anyone in football and constantly yelled at his teammates and yes at times it boiled over into personal fouls and yelling matches with the coaches. He is also a great QB. Many ways to lead but I do not have an issue with J Reed and Geno. If it happened every week, like DK to a certain extent, yeah that's an issue. But every once in a while? That's fine that is part of being an alpha.
I find it difficult to read the many articles and comments about the Seahawks right now. Not this site so much, just generally. Expectations totally out of whack. The coach has lost the locker room. etc, etc, etc
Mike MacDonald has not lost the locker room. The players have not tuned him out. Anyone who does will not be on the field going forward. He will not 'out' his players to the press, as he's very guarded in that respect, which is as it should be. That doesn't mean hard conversations aren't taking place in private, where hard conversations should be taking place.
Even in SSJ's poll of expectations for the Seahawks this year, most of us thought they'd be meh. And guess what? They are meh. As expected (for most of us). In Mike MacDonald's words, where right where we should be.
And don't get me started about Geno, but I'll just say this. You'll have to go pretty far down the list of problems with this team before you get to his name. 'Nuff said.
Non-linear improvement is what we should expect. And even better games can still be losses. The roster needs some changes IMO before we can really get to consistently winning, and that will take at least one offseason.
Try to enjoy the season.