Will Seahawks be missing on the NFL’s annual Top 100 list?

Jun 21, 2024, 12:52 PM

Editor, Seattle Sports

Seattle Seahawks fans have been plenty used to seeing the team’s players landing all over the NFL’s annual Top 100 list in the last decade-plus.

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“It was like Seahawk, Seahawk, Seahawk – Kam, Earl, Richard, Bobby, K.J., Marshawn, Russ,” recalled Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard. “And then we would argue, like, ‘Oh, you’re not giving some of the other guys their due. Michael Bennett’s a top-100 player.’ It’s crazy.”

That wasn’t the case last year, however. Just two current Hawks made the list in quarterback Geno Smith (No. 77) and cornerback Riq Woolen (No. 76). And according to Huard, it seems unlikely either of those two will make it onto the new Top 100 based on how their 2023 seasons went.

“It’s gonna be a little different story this year,” he said. “I don’t think you’re gonna have one in the top 50. Are you gonna have one of the top 60? Top 70? Top 80?”

It’s hard to argue that point from Huard, a former NFL QB who is now a FOX football analyst and one of the new voices of the Madden NFL video game franchise. But surely the Seahawks will still have a player or two on the list, right?

“It’s either Spoon or DK,” Huard said, referring to second-year corner Devon Witherspoon and two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf.

What it says about the Hawks

Huard went on to explain how the lack of Top 100 candidates is a byproduct of why the Seahawks decided to shift gears this winter, moving on from longtime head coach Pete Carroll and hiring former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to take his place.

“I think there’s honestly only a few (Seahawks) that are even debatable (at NFL Top 100 candidates). It would be Tyler (Lockett), it would be DK – and Tyler didn’t have a 1,000-yard season so I don’t think he’s going to make it, and not with the receivers in the league. So you’re looking at DK, you’re looking at Spoon, and you’re looking at maybe ‘Big Cat’ (defensive lineman Leonard Williams). I think that’s it. I think those are the only three that are in the conversation of being in the top 100, and I don’t even know where they would be.

“So that’s a little bit of a marker of, hey man, these guys that have talent need to be unlocked. These guys have been good, they’ve got a step to be great, and that is part of the reason you made the enormous organizational changes you did this offseason.”

So that leaves one more question: Which of these Seahawks would be ranked highest on the list?

“I put Devon Witherspoon as their highest,” said Mike Lefko, who was guest hosting on Friday’s edition of Brock and Salk.

“I would, too,” Huard responded. “I just don’t know if he created enough league-wide stir. He missed a few games, missed kind of the start of the season. I don’t know if the body of work for the totality of the league is there. But yeah, it is going to be Spoon or DK more than likely finding themselves in the Top 100.”

Listen to the full conversation from Friday’s Blue 88 segment (which airs at 7:45 each weekday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk) in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.