Yeah, odd season for Dunlap. He was used sparingly the first half of it, which may have helped him be more effective down the stretch....but what good did it do us? The season was effectively over by the time he started making a real impact. In '22 it'll cost $6.5M to have him on the roster and $900k less if we cut him, so it seems like he'll probably be here.
Yes losing star players and replacing them with marginal players will have poor results. I often hear it said Pete defensive system requires great players, but I dispute that, I feel it requires solid players as any system does. The thing is for to long the Seahawks haven’t restocked the roster adequatel. Some of that is due to having to sign key players to record setting contracts ( Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner are the latest but Sherman and Thomas are examples that aren’t so recent) poor draft position, years where certain positions are lacking in the draft ( good offense linemen seem hard to find in drafts and usually are off the board by the time the Seahawks pick is up). Getting away from accumulating picks was a mistake and needs to be fixed, but that can’t be done quickly.
Execution is every thing for both offense and defense.....for any team. Keeping it basic actually lends itself to good execution and the biggest hindrance is lack of continuity with the roster ( which leads to slow starts and then improvement as the season progresses) and injuries. I'm a believer in Pete's system but need to get back to their roots of being a good run team ( which will help the defense) and restocking through the draft which will lend itself to some much needed continuity as the players are likely to remain on the roster longer then a year of two unlike the present roster with 30 FA. As of late churning the market for cheap FA as been SOP and that a losing end game more often then not.
Well sure if you fall behind by enough your going to be forced to pass, at least until you catch up or get within one score. Still games begin 0-0 and with a good run game you can control TOP ( thus helping the defense) and it also helps the passing offense if the DL has to respect the run. A good run game is a blessing in a lot of ways.
If the Seahawks have a healthy starting RB, Lynch-Rawls-Prosise-Carson or Penny the Seahawks can move the chains just fine. Obviously if the run game is getting shut down a plan is needed. Hitting short and intermediate passes can be used in place of a run game. In the 2 minute drill that is exactly how they move the ball and last game they used it also (with a throw or two long). Would love to see them continue that instead of constantly trying to hit the long ball every series even with double coverage. I know some blame Pete for that ( constantly throwing long), but Pete is not a imbecile, of course he doesn't want his QB throwing into double coverage consistently. I'm convinced that is on Russell Wilson who is over confident of his WRs and his arm, but we could argue until we are blue in the face about that. I'm hoping what we saw last game is what we'll see next season. As for the defense....going to take some luck with FAs and the draft because they need better quality players then they had had of late although I do like some of the young guys they have( Brooks, Taylor to name a couple).
So far I've heard estimates from $52 up to $73 million in cap space. We have plenty of FAs but we should be in ok shape regardless.
If they can make one big splash on D-line or O-line I'll take that and agree with the second tier guys.
