Seahawks season awards: Who is team’s MVP on offense, defense?
SEATTLE – It was a season of unexpected triumphs and surprising standouts, and if there was also some of the normal disappointment that it ended too soon, it was also ultimately a steppingstone for a better future.
That’s the hope, anyway, that the 2022 Seahawks will be viewed in history as the start of something good in the post-Russell Wilson/Bobby Wagner era.
We’ll have to wait awhile to find out for sure.
But before heading that, it’s time to look back on 2022 as beat reporters Bob Condotta and Adam Jude hand out their annual end-of-season awards.
Offensive MVP
Condotta: Geno Smith. Smith was the biggest revelation of the season, leading the NFL in completion percentage (69.8, also a Seahawks record) as well as setting team records in attempts (572), completions (399) and yards (4,282). While there were a few untimely turnovers, his interception percentage of 1.9 was right in line with Wilson’s Seattle career average of 1.8.
Jude: It’s Geno. He was a great story this season, for sure. More than that, he proved to be a great fit for Shane Waldron’s offense, and the QB the Seahawks have to re-sign this offseason – they have to, even if it costs more than they’d like.
Defensive MVP
Condotta: Uchenna Nwosu. Tariq Woolen is obviously also a worthy choice. But the season Nwosu had might be easy to overlook. Nwosu tied for Seattle’s team lead in sacks with 9.5 and led the team in tackles for loss with 12 and QB hits with 26 – twice as many as anyone else. He also had maybe the most pivotal defensive performance of the season with his seven tackles, a sack and a forced fumble at the 1-yard line to key the win against Denver.
Jude: Tariq Woolen. Taken in the fifth round out of Texas-San Antonio, the 6-foot-4 Woolen has a chance to be one of the Seahawks’ best draft picks of this era – maybe the best. He’s a finalist for the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year after tying the league lead with six interceptions, to go along with 16 pass breakups and a 49.8 passer rating against, the lowest among all cornerbacks with 200 or more coverage snaps, according to Next Gen Stats.
Best performance
Condotta: Geno Smith against Detroit. The 48-45 win over the Lions in Detroit in Week 4 not only proved the difference in a playoff spot or staying home but was also the moment Smith truly announced himself as the unquestioned leader of the team. In a game that followed two straight losses and with the season appearing close to going off the rails, Smith threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 49 yards and another, and several times made key audibles at the line of scrimmage to get Seattle into better plays.
Jude: Just about anything from the season-opening win over Russell Wilson and the Broncos. That single game might have done more than any other game this season in flipping the direction (and narrative) of two franchises. The Seahawks stunned everyone with their potential, and the Broncos stunned everyone with their incompetence.
Rookie of the Year
Condotta: Woolen. The rookie tackles played well, and Kenneth Walker III also lived up to the hype. But the Seahawks knew that what they’d need to pull off a fast rebuild – or reload, if you prefer – was hitting on a few mid- to late-round picks. And boy, did they hit on Woolen, the 153rd overall pick. He showed there’s still some learning to do as the season wore on, particularly in mastering the intricacies of zone defenses. But he appears to have lockdown potential for years to come.
Jude: Offensive tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. How rare is it to have two rookie offensive tackles not only talented enough to earn starting roles, but then to play nearly every snap for a top-10 offense? (Answer: Extremely rare.) Cross and Lucas took some lumps this season, to be sure. And that’s to be expected for any rookie, and particularly with the type of edge rushers Cross and Lucas were asked to block this season. But the Seahawks have to feel great about the foundation they’ve set up front, and it’s been a long time since you could say that about the Seahawks’ offensive line.
Biggest surprise
Condotta: Seattle’s pass-run ratio. The thought was that without Wilson, the Seahawks would be more of a run-first team than ever, with Pete Carroll finally getting his wish to, well, run the offense the way he always wanted. Instead, the Seahawks threw the ball at a percentage to rival any of the Wilson era – 59.35%. The highest of the Wilson era was 59.59% in 2020, followed by 59.38% in 2017, both years after which the offensive coordinator was fired. Game situation matters, and the Seahawks had a lot of close contests this year to warrant passing. But for much of the year the Seahawks were among the top teams in the NFL in passing in “neutral” game settings, before Seattle began running more the last three games.
Jude: The rookie class. Most of us expected this rookie class to make meaningful contributions in some fashion. But for this group to be this good this fast? Incredible. In Year 1, this class effectively produced five starters – Cross, Lucas, Woolen, Walker III and Coby Bryant. A sixth, Boye Mafe, started three games and was a regular part of the outside linebacker rotation. And a seventh, Dareke Young, looks like a potential contributor in the future. All in all, this was the Seahawks’ best class in a decade, and probably one of the best in the NFL over the past handful of years.
Biggest disappointment
Condotta: Injuries to Jamal Adams and Rashaad Penny by the fifth game of the season. Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, and Seattle did have some good fortune in Smith being able to play every snap of 2022. Conversely, according to mangameslost.com, Seattle ranked fifth in the NFL in most games missed by injured players this year with 267. The two most costly were to Adams and Penny, who each projected to be among the top playmakers on the team, one on each side of the ball.
Jude: The run defense. Just (scratches head) how? How could it be this bad? From Week 10 to Week 15 (with a bye sandwiched in there), the Seahawks allowed 1,008 yards rushing in five games. In 17 games, the Seahawks allowed 150.2 yards per game on the ground, up from 113.6 in 2021, and by far the most the Seahawks have allowed in any season of the Carroll era.
One bold prediction for the offseason
Condotta: Deciding they don’t need to get a quarterback, GM John Schneider will not shock anyone by trading down – if just a few spots – from No. 5 to get an extra pick in the high second round to try to take advantage of what is considered a deep crop of edge rushers and also strong classes of interior defensive linemen and centers, going with the more is better philosophy to rebuild the lines.
Jude: Schneider will shock everyone and use his two first-round draft picks to trade up – yes, up! – into the top three and select Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Far-fetched? Maybe. But the Seahawks need to do something drastic on the defensive line, and can’t-miss prospects like Carter don’t come around often.