Since quarterback Russell Wilson has come back from his finger injury he has not played well. And while there had been some slim hope of the playoffs if he returned and play well, it quickly went out the window with the veterans back-to-back poor starts. The reality of the situation the Seahawks are in this season was lost long before Wilson hurt his finger. This season was the result of five straight poor drafts and half a decade of poor roster construction.
A major downturn like this was all but inevitable for this current iteration of the Seahawks.
The best example of the poor drafting decisions and roster construction is second round pick Dee Eskridge. Eskridge has only played in 16 snaps since he cleared concussion protocol which was three weeks ago. And when he’s been in the game the offense has not utilized the undersized speedster in a manor that would take advantage of his talent. That’s on top of Wilson just not targeting him on pass attempts as well.
Eskridge was drafted ahead of centers Josh Myers and Creed Humphrey. Myers started right away for Green Bay and played in 261 snaps before he hurt his knee against the Bears. As for Humphrey, he’s been on of the league’s more dominant centers as as a rookie.
Through 10 games, Humphrey ranks as one of the top-rated centers in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.
Herbie Teope, Kansas City Star
Even if Eskridge pans out as a star receiver, or even an average one, it would still be a wasted draft pick for Seattle. That’s because of the fact that Seattle already has two explosive wideouts in Tyler Lockett and DJ Metcalf; it made no sense to add another wideout to that locker room when there was two NFL ready centers in the draft that were still available.
It’s this kind of head scratching decisions in the draft, along with some really bad free agency signings, that have made it hard for me to enjoy the last five years of Seahawks football. This was a slowly developing train wreck that Wilson’s exceptional play covered up. To me, it was always clear that once his play slipped for any reason the rotting roster would come crumbling down.
While Wilson’s poor play from his injury has been a factor in the last two games, the reality is that the roster has been in such a bad state for so long and we’ve gotten used to Wilson being able to bail the Hawks out over the last few years that his inability to do it while overcoming finger surgery has made these holes in the roster even more obvious — and so did the games with Geno Smith.
Should you rely on your quarterback to make your roster better? Yes, the franchise should absolutely be able to. But to rely on the quarterback to make your roster a playoff squad when the rest of the roster absolutely is not at a playoff level is ridiculous. And that’s exactly what Seattle has had with Russell over the last few years.
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