Five Seahawks X factors for the 2015 season

The Seahawks had the ultimate X factor a year ago.

At least that was the storyline coming out of Seattle’s season-opening victory over Green Bay when the Seahawks’ Super Bowl banner was raised and the Packers were floored by the way Seattle deployed Percy Harvin in both the run game and as a receiving threat.

Harvin was going to be the player that took Seattle’s offense to that next level. That was the hope first when the Seahawks acquired him and then as they waited through his recovery from hip surgery in 2013.

But there’s a flip side to being an X factor. Sometimes the variable doesn’t work out.

It certainly didn’t with Harvin. At least not long term as he was traded to the Jets less than one-third of the way through the season, ditched for what turned out to be a sixth-round pick.

And as Seattle prepares to begin training camp on July 31, here’s a countdown of five X factors for the team this season, players who could make a huge difference one way or the other:

5. Will Blackmon, CB, ninth season

Two years ago, Blackmon couldn’t crack the roster in Seattle’s talented secondary. This season, he’s going to get the first crack at being the starting nickelback if offseason workouts are any indication. Blackmon is an accomplished pro, a former fourth-round pick in Green Bay who started 12 games over the past two seasons in Jacksonville. His return to Seattle does reflect the Seahawks’ increased need for depth in the secondary, though. Byron Maxwell is gone as a free agent, Jeremy Lane is coming back from serious knee and arm injuries and isn’t expected to be ready for the start of season if at all. Throw in the fact that Tharold Simon remains penalty prone and didn’t defend slot receivers a year ago, and Blackmon might have a featured role this season in the secondary he couldn’t crack two years ago.

4. Christine Michael, RB, third season

The first player Seattle chose in the 2013 draft played the last position anyone expected: running back. Two years later, Michael is still awaiting his opportunity to show what he can do with a greater workload. He’s got that combination of size and speed that would be ideal in Seattle’s running game, but he needs to stay healthy and stop putting the ball on the ground like he did in the preseason last year. Twice.

3. Bruce Irvin, LB, fourth season

He is one of the very best athletes on Seattle’s team, and he plays the least valuable of the Seahawks’ three linebacker spots. The first pass rusher chosen in the 2012 draft, Irvin has become more of a situational defensive end. He’s also capable of dynamic, game-changing plays as he showed by scoring two touchdowns last season. Irvin is entering the final year of his rookie deal, and despite both sides trying to say the right things about a long-term relationship, it would be a huge surprise if he was back with the Seahawks next season. That doesn’t mean he won’t make a sizable impact this year as a starter.

2. Tyler Lockett, WR/KR, rookie

He has the distinction of being one of two players the Seahawks have ever traded up to draft (defensive lineman Jesse Williams being the other). The Seahawks gave up three draft choices to acquire the selection used to pick Lockett, and if he doesn’t end up returning punts and kickoffs for the Seahawks as a rookie, that will be a surprise. His impact as a receiver is another question entirely as that has been the position Seattle has been most likely to whiff on under general manager John Schneider – whether it was Kris Durham playing a single season after being picked in the fourth round, Chris Harper not making it out of training camp as a rookie after being taken in the fourth round or Harvin playing six regular-season games before he was traded. Seattle is hoping Lockett is more like Golden Tate than any of the other receivers it has drafted in recent years.

1. Jimmy Graham, TE, sixth season

For the second time in four years, the Seahawks went out and acquired a guy considered to be one of the top five tight ends in the league. Now, the question is whether Seattle’s trade for Graham will have a bigger impact on the passing game than the free-agent signing of Zach Miller in 2011. In the three seasons before leaving Oakland for Seattle, Miller ranked No. 5 among all tight ends in receiving yardage with 2,268. He totaled less than half that in his first three seasons as a Seahawk, which isn’t a criticism of Miller so much as a commentary on Seattle’s offense.

The Seahawks don’t throw the ball nearly as much as other teams. Graham is a different kind of tight end, though, someone who averaged 11.7 touchdown catches over the past three seasons in New Orleans. Now, he’s coming to a team whose wide receivers and tight ends caught 13 touchdown passes combined last season. That’s total. For the team.

Graham is the ultimate X factor on this team, a rare offensive talent whose abilities should be showcased not only when Seattle is inside the opponent’s 20-yard line but with a quarterback who excels at improvising.

Now, the question will be whether Seattle can work this X factor into its offensive equation better than the Seahawks did with Harvin last season.

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