Russell Wilson Discussion Thread - Split with Seahawks?

[clarion contrarion]

I think he is a perennial top 5 dynasty qb my only worry would be darrell bevell leaving and someone trying to change how he plays .

[Vendetta]

I think he is a perennial top 5 dynasty qb my only worry would be darrell bevell leaving and someone trying to change how he plays .

I wouldn't be too worried about that at this point. It's possible long term but I've heard no buzz about him generating interest from teams with head coaching vacancies and there's no way he's losing his job either after the second half our offense had. Plus if he didn't get canned following the Super Bowl last year he won't now and Pete is a pretty loyal guy.

[Jason72]

I'm curious to hear from a Seahawks fan (watches every snap of Wilson's career) on the story of Wilson's season. Did it all just click for him in the middle of the season? No doubt he has been a good QB since entering the league, but he shot off like a pistol in week 11. The stats are like night and day.
My question to a Seahawks diehard would be, is this him turning a corner and we can expect this Wilson most of the time from here on? Or was this a hot streak that will cool off and see him return the the lower top ten?

[teambadknees]

I'm curious to hear from a Seahawks fan (watches every snap of Wilson's career) on the story of Wilson's season. Did it all just click for him in the middle of the season? No doubt he has been a good QB since entering the league, but he shot off like a pistol in week 11. The stats are like night and day.
My question to a Seahawks diehard would be, is this him turning a corner and we can expect this Wilson most of the time from here on? Or was this a hot streak that will cool off and see him return the the lower top ten?

Not a Seahawks fan but I'd assume the OLine gelled more by then. Losing Unger was huge to their chemistry. Russ had zero time to pass first half of season. Once they jelled some he had time to survey the field and stay in the pocket.

[Josey Wales]

Not a Seahawks fan but I'd assume the OLine gelled more by then. Losing Unger was huge to their chemistry. Russ had zero time to pass first half of season. Once they jelled some he had time to survey the field and stay in the pocket.

Yep. Okung was hurt/playing hurt. They switched centers just before/at the time Russell started going off. Same time that they lost Rawls after losing Lynch. They HAD to start using Russell/passing more. They're trying to convert former D lineman into O lineman?!?!...and a former TE.

Skillset aside...I think Russell is one of the most intelligent QB's in the game today!

[theone]

I agree after watching several of the early games that the OL was very detrimental to both the run game and RW. This showed up in a bad TD/INT ratio but his other passing numbers were very much in line with his past (even slightly improved). The question becomes what do we expect from RW going forward? Were the ridiculous numbers he put up in the last 7 games an anomaly that skewed his numbers this year in a positive way or did the bad OL play at the start of the year distort his numbers negatively for an emerging QB getting better?

[Phaded]

Also - one of the biggest things that haven't been mentioned is that they had Jimmy Graham in the game..

As a blocker most of the time. We all know about Graham's blocking woes. So when he got hurt and Wilson(Luke) became the full time TE, they got better blocking out of the TE position.

[ccj]

Or was this a hot streak that will cool off and see him return the the lower top ten?

Unless you foresee him throwing 50 TDS and <5 Ints, I'd say combo of hot streak and schedule. Just like I don't think Doug Baldwin will ever have 10 TDs in four games again.

[Sgtpsych]

Also - one of the biggest things that haven't been mentioned is that they had Jimmy Graham in the game..

As a blocker most of the time. We all know about Graham's blocking woes. So when he got hurt and Wilson(Luke) became the full time TE, they got better blocking out of the TE position.

As a fan of both Russ and the Hawks, I am really worried about next season with Jimmy coming back. It felt like the lack of a blocking tight end overrode any potential of having him produce, which he didn't. Anyone else really wanting Jimmy to go elsewhere?

[Shoreline Steamers]

Also - one of the biggest things that haven't been mentioned is that they had Jimmy Graham in the game..

As a blocker most of the time. We all know about Graham's blocking woes. So when he got hurt and Wilson(Luke) became the full time TE, they got better blocking out of the TE position.

As a fan of both Russ and the Hawks, I am really worried about next season with Jimmy coming back. It felt like the lack of a blocking tight end overrode any potential of having him produce, which he didn't. Anyone else really wanting Jimmy to go elsewhere?

I think Jimmy has been paid all of his guaranteed money at this point. He's under contract through 2017, but the Seahawks could cut him this offseason and save $8.9 mil against the cap with no dead money. Carrol has said they view him as a "long term investment" but I wouldn't be so sure. Maybe the narrative becomes, "We're just not sure the knee will be ready to go in 2016" and problem solved with his release.

[Shoreline Steamers]

Specifically on Wilson though, I think there's often a difference between what a player is capable of doing and what they're asked to do based on the system they play in. Seattle's preferred method of play is to lean on the running game and defense to win games as others have pointed out. Thus, Wilson isn't often asked to carry the team with his arm unless the Seahawks get down big early or the running game is ineffective against a solid defense.

Seattle's O-line play was pretty bad in the early part of the season. They improved as the year wore on however, and that improvement coupled with the loss of Lynch and Rawls forced the team to put more on Russel's shoulders and he has responded well. They're headed into the playoffs with two street free agents in Michael and Brown leading the rushing attack, so I think it stands to reason that more will be expected of the passing game and defense if they are to advance. It would have been nice to get Lynch back, but now that's in doubt with him missing the Wildcard round.

In 2016-2017 I believe they'll add some RB competition and again focus on rushing/defense as their team identity. So no, Wilson isn't likely to average 30+ passes a game and throw for 5,000 yards. It's not the type of team he plays for. What helps his numbers though is he's very efficient with the passes he attempts, and he's shown to be capable of putting up some fantastic numbers when the game script calls for it.

Perhaps that will always have him as a better real-world QB than a fantasy asset. But I don't think it speaks to his talent level or ability.

[Josey Wales]

Specifically on Wilson though, I think there's often a difference between what a player is capable of doing and what they're asked to do based on the system they play in. Seattle's preferred method of play is to lean on the running game and defense to win games as others have pointed out. Thus, Wilson isn't often asked to carry the team with his arm unless the Seahawks get down big early or the running game is ineffective against a solid defense.

Seattle's O-line play was pretty bad in the early part of the season. They improved as the year wore on however, and that improvement coupled with the loss of Lynch and Rawls forced the team to put more on Russel's shoulders and he has responded well. They're headed into the playoffs with two street free agents in Michael and Brown leading the rushing attack, so I think it stands to reason that more will be expected of the passing game and defense if they are to advance. It would have been nice to get Lynch back, but now that's in doubt with him missing the Wildcard round.

In 2016-2017 I believe they'll add some RB competition and again focus on rushing/defense as their team identity. So no, Wilson isn't likely to average 30+ passes a game and throw for 5,000 yards. It's not the type of team he plays for. What helps his numbers though is he's very efficient with the passes he attempts, and he's shown to be capable of putting up some fantastic numbers when the game script calls for it.

Perhaps that will always have him as a better real-world QB than a fantasy asset. But I don't think it speaks to his talent level or ability.

100% agree.

Will be interesting to see what the Seahawks do going forward personnel wise. Ideally, they want to have a dominant running game and defense. Personnel will dictate that. Salaries, age, draft/FA hits and misses will probably dictate a lot. Russell could be a perennial 10-15 QB or a top 5?

[Vendetta]

I'm curious to hear from a Seahawks fan (watches every snap of Wilson's career) on the story of Wilson's season. Did it all just click for him in the middle of the season? No doubt he has been a good QB since entering the league, but he shot off like a pistol in week 11. The stats are like night and day.
My question to a Seahawks diehard would be, is this him turning a corner and we can expect this Wilson most of the time from here on? Or was this a hot streak that will cool off and see him return the the lower top ten?

I don't necessarily think he's "turned a corner" I think he's always had this level of play in him but a lot of it had to do with things outside of his control, namely play calling and the O-Line. As others have alluded to, the O-Line play was horrible at the start of the season and Russell was under duress seemingly every time he dropped back and was scrambling for his life and eating constant sacks.

When the O-Line play improved and Russell had more time to throw it also coincided with the point in the season when Russell was being leaned on more as the primary offensive threat. Seahawk fans have a love-hate relationship with Darrell Beval, sometimes he makes questionable playcalls and seems almost too reliant on the run when Russ is capable of doing more (as we witnessed in the latter half of the season).

When the option of giving Marshawn the ball 25 times was gone they went with more of an even split between run and pass and the results speak for themselves. When Rawls went down that ratio tilted towards the pass even more. I don't expect them to continue with such a pass-happy ratio next season but I also don't expect them to be leaning as heavily on the run as they have in the past either. With Beast maybe only having one or two years left tops, Russell's arrow is pointing up.

I also don't think his lack of elite weapons poses much of a problem. Tom Brady gets the job done even when Gronkowski isn't playing because of how smart he is at reading defenses and I think Russell is the same way, he makes the players around him better because he's so good at buying time, finding open guys and delivering the ball with accuracy.

If we get consistent play from the O-Line next year I definitely see another 30 TDs or so and 3,500+ yards. I don't think Russell is ever going to be the type of QB that will throw for over 5,000 but as long as he adds a few hundred on the ground each year it shouldn't matter.

I believe Russell is as solid a QB1 as you'll be able to find.

[Shoreline Steamers]

Good post Vendetta. But do you think Lynch will actually be back in 2016? It really feels to me like something in addition to his recovery is going on here with the way this all went down on Friday. I was listening to John Clayton's show this morning and he said that after Friday's practice Lynch spoke with some of his teammates in the locker room and said he wasn't flying to Minnesota because he didn't feel he could play.

He didn't go directly to the coaching staff with this update, he just chose not to get on the team bus and left it up to others to inform the team of his decision. It's one thing to decide you can't go, and I respect that if he simply didn't feel healthy/recovered enough to play. But what's with not even traveling with your teammates when they're heading out to a playoff game? I would think there would have been some update that he's staying in Seattle to get additional treatment, but no such news has come out about Marshawn. It just seems a little bit off to me. But then again, the guy always does his own thing and is a bit of an enigma.

But with this latest incident, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he's cut in the offseason as there's no guaranteed money and they save $9 mil to spend elsewhere. Perhaps they head into next season with Rawls, possibly bring Michael into camp again, and add an RB or two through the draft/UDFA. His quirky nature, age, and salary may be enough for them to decide it's time to move on and be done with the unpredictability if Lynch himself doesn't decide it's time to call it a career.

[lennycar0919]

Do y'all think he will be back to a QB1 soon? Even with this terrible offense and OC.