SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
How do the Seahawks get back into the playoffs?
Feb 22, 2018, 1:27 PM | Updated: 3:41 pm
The Seahawks finished 9-7 in 2017 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks missed the postseason for the first time since 2011 last year and enter 2018 with plenty of question marks on the roster. The road back to the playoffs won’t take a complete overhaul – several of the team’s central figures remain under contract through this year, including Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin, and Bobby Wagner. But that doesn’t mean the team is without its weakness.
So, how does Seattle get back to the postseason?
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The Seahawks will lose major players on defense this offseason if Pro Bowl defensive end Cliff Avril and Pro Bowl safety Kam Chancellor are unable to return from injury. They’ll also need to fill holes on the defensive line and at running back. But replenishing the group won’t be easy: they have little draft capital (with neither second nor third round picks) and have just over $13 million in cap space, limiting what they’ll be able to do in free agency.
Gee Scott joined 710 ESPN Seattle Thursday morning and, along with Brock Huard, broke down Seattle’s path back to the playoffs.
“I want to be clear about something: it’s going to be a very hard road for the Seahawks to get back to the playoffs,” Scott said. “Let’s have a very candid conversation on how this team is going to get back. Let’s just start off with what I think is going to be missing this season. Kam Chancellor will be missed. Cliff Avril will be missed. Jimmy Graham, I think, will be missed. I’m on a question mark (with Michael Bennett). Sheldon Richardson will be missed … I think (Earl Thomas) will be missed.
“So, what am I really saying? You’re replacing steel beams with plastic. Not since 2012 have the Seahawks drafted a position Pro Bowl player.”
Brock called for five rules in Seattle’s path forward: having “the guts to trade again” and finding a trade partner; finding young, poor and hungry players; avoiding drafting red flags; putting the credit card away; and nailing the 2018 NFL Draft.
