It’s finally done. Baker Mayfield is out of Cleveland and off to Carolina. After months of speculation on what the Browns would do with their QB they pulled the trigger on a trade. There did not seem to be many suitors for the Cleveland QB but one team that consistently came up was the Seattle Seahawks. Even with all of the rumors flying around the Seahawks never pulled the trigger. This signals to me that they are going to tank for a QB this season.
The Seahawks Current QB Room
Currently, there will be a QB competition between Geno Smith and Drew Lock. Neither of those names strikes fear into NFL defenses. For his career Geno Smith has more interceptions than he does touchdowns. He had some starts last year for the Seahawks after Russell Wilson went down with an injury. The team went 1-3 with the only win being against a hapless Jaguars team. He threw for under 200 yards in 3 out of the 4 games. This was with weapons like DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and a solid running game. Based on his career, Geno Smith does not seem to be the answer.
Drew Lock came over in the Russell Wilson trade. After showing some promise in 2019 by going 4-1 with just over 1,000 yards the Broncos turned over the reigns to him for 2020. In 2020 he had a lackluster year with only a handful of starts jumping off the page. 2021 was a downright disaster as the rest of the team was strong but was significantly handicapped by Lock’s play. This was seen in the last game of the season against the Chiefs. The Broncos lost only by 4 but Lock was a pedestrian 12-24 for 162 yards and no touchdowns. Had he done just a little more, the Broncos could’ve ended the season on a win.
Would Mayfield Had Made A Difference?
The Seahawks do not have a bad roster by any means. While many of the names from the Super Bowl winning team are gone, they have promising players on both sides of the ball. However, even with Wilson, most had them in the middle of the pack. In a division with the defending Super Bowl champs, a pesky 49ers team, and a talented Cardinals team, there was not much optimism that they would compete. While Mayfield is an upgrade over Lock and Smith, would he really have put them in contention for a championship? Probably not. It looks as if the Seahawks front office made a conscience decision to simply tank the 2022 season for a QB.
Why Tank Now?
The 2023 QB class is strong. Headlined by Ohio State’s CJ Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young, QB needy teams will be happy to be at the top of the 2023 NFL draft. If the Seahawks sacrifice a season in order to get a franchise guy, they could set themselves up for future success. Reports indicate that the Seahawks were never really interested in Bake Mayfield. Most likely, they looked to the future and made the decision to go all in on the 2023 draft. Only time will tell whether this was the right decision.
1 Comment
I would like to see Lock, but I know KJ Wright is a firm believer in Geno.
If we try the market, that’d be interesting, but missing OTA’s and all that would be tough to rush in and pick up an entire playbook.
Hopefully we aren’t scrambling at the end. Might just end up sticking with these two. Either way, go hawks!