Why Seahawks shouldn’t go all-in at trade deadline

The Seattle Seahawks appeared to start an arms race in the NFC last week when they acquired All-Pro Quenton Nelson in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts.

Macdonald: Offensive struggles a ‘Seahawk problem to solve’

Soon after, the rival San Francisco 49ers struck a deal with the Colts for defensive lineman Deforest Buckner and the Chicago Bears landed All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Tennessee Titans.

After a loss to the Bears on Monday night, Seattle fell to 4-4 on the season, which also includes a loss to San Francisco. So, should Seattle remain aggressive and keep adding to try to hang with its peers in the NFC that have Super Bowl aspirations? Rob Staton, author of Seahawks Draft Blog, strongly advised against the Seahawks going all-in before the Nov. 10 trade deadline when he joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Tuesday.

“If we’d have spoke before this game, I’d have been very open minded about being aggressive,” Staton said. “I’d say, this was a championship window. Hey, if you beat the Bears, then go for it. You’ve got a very experienced team. Some of these players – Demarcus Lawrence is a good example – are not going to be here next year. You’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.”

But after seeing the Seahawks get thoroughly beaten in a 34-17 defeat at the hands of the Bears, Staton believes he previously made “a huge miscalculation of where this team is.”

“They’re not a player away, they’re not a couple of players away,” he said. “Like, we can all see they need more at receiver. Would it be good to have Jonathan Taylor (at running back)? Sure. Could they do with another pass rusher? Yeah. But why would you trade away picks right now? I mean, they look like they’re gonna finish 9-8. And if you put an extra pass rusher on the field, are they are they gonna get to 11 wins? Are they gonna beat the Bears if they play in the playoffs or the Lions, the Packers, the Niners, maybe even the Rams? It doesn’t feel like that at the moment.”

As it currently stands, the Seahawks are tied with the Rams sitting one game back of the Green Bay Packers for the NFC’s final wild-card berth. They are also 2 1/2 games behind the 49ers for first place in the NFC West, leaving them a hill to climb if they want to secure any sort of home-field advantage in the playoffs.

“I think sometimes you just have to accept where you are. And even with Quenton Nelson yesterday, they don’t look good enough. They don’t look like they’re gonna win the Super Bowl this year,” Staton said. “So, I’d keep my powder dry. You got a whole bunch of holes you’re gonna have to fill in the offseason. You’re gonna need a whole new pass rush apart from Derick Hall. You’re going to need to add a receiver. If Sam Darnold doesn’t improve, you might have to look at quarterbacks. I hope not because it’s definitely not the best class of quarterbacks, that’s for sure, in the draft.

“But these are all questions that you have to have answers to now. I think being ultra-aggressive over the next seven days would be a mistake.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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