Rising From The Ashes: The Seattle Phoenix?

Wow, it has been a busy three months for the Seahawks. In my last post, I called for a top-down cleaning of the entire Seahawks organization, claiming that things had gone stale. Lo and behold, Jody Allen has made the difficult decision to let go of the most powerful person in the Seahawks organization. Pete Carroll has essentially been fired as the Seahawks Head Coach. Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, Will Dissly, and Nick Bellore have all been released to save cap room. The team then decided to let Jordyn Brooks and Colby Parkinson leave in free agency. Many of the big names from the late Pete Carroll era in Seattle have been let go. Before we break down the people coming in to replace them, I think it’s important to honor and respect the man who brought the Hawks their first Super Bowl in team history.

While I obviously thought that this move was long overdue due to Pete’s poor personnel decisions, outdated schemes, nepotism hires, and outdated football philosophies, Pete Carroll was one special Head Coach. I can remember when I was first learning football, watching the Seahawks destroy the Broncos 43-8. Kam Chancellor, one of my favorite players of all time, picked off Peyton Manning in probably my earliest football memory. The next year, Wilson’s touchdown pass to Kearse to win the NFC and Kearse’s insane bobbling catch in the game following it. However, after that fateful interception, I truly became a fan of the team, spending my time watching every game the Seahawks have played in my life since then. Some of my favorite memories regarding the team were the Blair Walsh missed field goal, the absolute shootout that was the Seahawks vs Texans game in 2017, the Lockett Toe Tap catch against the Rams in 2019, Baldwin’s improvisational play against the Cardinals, Sherman’s hit on Goff in his rookie year, Cam Newton being stuffed at the goal line, and many more. These are some of my all-time best moments as a sports fan. That 2019 win over the 49ers was a special one that I will always remember, Seattle went on the road against a bitter rival who was undefeated at the time and stole an overtime victory away from the 49ers. A truly breathtaking game. The Seahawks under Carroll felt like no matter the score, no matter the opponent, no matter the circumstance, this was a team that could win. There was this special, magical, wild luck that the Seahawks seemed to have, and while it almost gave me a heart attack every Sunday, it sure was entertaining. Pete Carroll was truly responsible for some of the most crazy and insane moments of my life. A salute to the legend is well deserved, and a statue should be built in his honor outside Lumen Field.

As Seattle moved on from one era to another, they were tasked with finding the man to replace the legend that was Pete Carroll. John Schneider, the new head of the organization, had a big decision to make after being granted full control over personnel and the coaching staff. While many people, including myself, wanted Ben Johnson to be the man leading the team. However, with Johnson making the weird decision to stay, Schneider masterfully waited out the process and landed Mike Macdonald. Macdonald is the youngest head coach in the league and has risen quickly to the top ranks. His experience with coaching has largely come from working with the Harbaugh brothers at Michigan and the Ravens. His defense was one of the best in the league last year and made average veterans like Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy, Patrick Queen, and Geno Stone into key contributors to his elite defense. His resume is incredibly impressive and speaks for itself. Coach Mac can hopefully maximize the talents of the likes of Boye Mafe, Derrick Hall, Dre’Mont Jones, Tre Brown, Julian Love, and others into forming an elite defense for the first time since the Legion of Boom. This was a great hire by Schneider and it deserves applause. He even has ties to my high school’s football coach, who also worked on the Ravens with him. They even texted right before the AFC Championship game according to my friend on the team! The rest of the staff was also filled out well. Ryan Grubb can hopefully bring the innovative, vertical passing game that made UW relevant in college football for the first time in a while to Seattle, allowing the Hawks to maximize the elite weaponry surrounding the future quarterback. Aden Durde is a young and innovative leader of men who can be groomed into the play caller Macdonald hopes to have. For the first time in years, it feels like Seattle will have a coaching staff capable of getting the best out of the players they have, a very welcome sign.

Speaking of the players, as I stated in my previous issue, Seattle got rid of basically every single bad contract on the team. I have talked about the ridiculousness of paying Adams and Diggs so much money and investing that much in bad safeties. Dissly was a gross overpay for a blocking tight end, who they replaced with Pharaoh Brown for much less money. Nick Bellore was always a confusing price tag to pay for a mediocre full-back and good special teamer who always seemed like he was there more for the culture than his football contributions. Seattle then re-signed Leonard Williams, a massive positive given that they traded a second-round pick for him and how well he played at such a big position of need for the team. It was great to see the team finally invest money in the trenches like we have asked them to do. They then brought back Noah Fant, a talented tight end who still has not hit his ceiling and has a chance to be much better without Parkinson and Dissly taking snaps away. Nick Harris was a sneaky good former Husky who never got a chance to show his talent given how much we needed a center. Bringing back George Fant as tackle depth and Abraham Lucas insurance for his chronic knee issue was a smart move as well. Rayshawn Jenkins can provide solid to good safety play and valuable leadership on a team that has lost much leadership. Sam Howell is an interesting potential quarterback for the future and is in the worst case a cheap backup quarterback. Finally, Tyrel Dodson is an exciting, young, cover linebacker that the team definitely needs. The moves that have been made seem aligned with a broader, cohesive, long-term vision for the team for the first time in a while.

There is still, however, work to be done. With the Sam Howell and Leonard Williams trades, Seattle is low on picks at 16 and likely will trade back to accumulate more picks. Additionally, neither Howell nor Geno is a convincing answer for a quarterback of the future, and Seattle may look to draft one in a very interesting quarterback class. Additionally, the interior offensive line still needs help, and Seattle at least needs to add someone at left guard to play football. Finally, linebacker options seem to be next to none, and with a weak class coming up, Seattle needs at least one more hedge for the draft with the departure of Brooks, Wagner, and Bush. All in all, these issues are small compared to the franchise-altering questions from earlier, and it feels great to finally be excited about the team next year. No one knows what it could look like, and that is the best part. Until we learn more, all we can do is sit back and prepare for the rollercoaster ride of a season that is coming up. Until next time, Go Hawks!