Seahawks: Ranking their 4 most underrated offensive players in 2022
The Seattle Seahawks may have one of the NFL’s lowest-ranked rosters this year. However, there are several underrated talents scattered around on the depth chart. Yesterday we took a look at four different defensive players who are underrated on this squad.
Here are the team’s four most-underrated offensive players in 2022.
QB Geno Smith
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The Seahawks have had a number of chances to acquire another quarterback this offseason. Since the Russell Wilson trade, they’ve been connected with a bunch of different names around the leauge, including Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield and now Jimmy Garoppolo. Thus far, Seattle has passed on all of them in favor of their new top-two QB duo in Geno Smith and Drew Lock.
There’s good reason for that. For one thing, the 2023 NFL draft class is supposed to be much, much deeper than this year’s crop For another, Smith is a much better passer than most analysts have given him credit for this offseason.
In the three games and a quarter that Geno served as Seattle’s QB1, we saw a poised and confident veteran with a strong command of his offense. While his game is not in the same league as Wilson’s, Smith did demonstrate a commendable growth compared with his time as the Jets’ starter in 2013 and 2014. Mark Schofield recently did a break-down of how Smith can win and keep the Seahawks’ QB1 job this season. It shows Smith is well-polished in a number of different areas, including throwing with anticipation
For what it’s worth, PFF gave Geno Smith a 73.9 grade for the 2021 season – the exact same number as Wilson’s. While it was definitely a down-year from No. 3, a case can be made that Smith can be at least as effective as a bad-week Wilson and occasionally better.
Remember, two of Smith’s three starts came against a pair of the toughest defenses in the league. Last season the Saints ranked fourth in DVOA agaist the pass, while the Steelers finished at No. 8. Smith did a very-respectable job of competing againt those pressure-heavy teams.
Smith looked sharpest against an atrocious Jaguars team that effectively didn’t have a pro head coach last season. He was able to run the score up easily against a frequently-confused and completely overmatched defensive unit. Despite the level of competition, Smith made several absolutely gorgeous throws during that game.
No one performance should convince a head coach of anything about any player, but it is possible that Halloween victory for Smith was the thing that made Pete Carroll believe he could stomach at least a full year of No. 7 as his No. 1 guy. All 17 games seems unlikely, but fans shouldn’t be shocked if Smith winds up getting more starts than Drew Lock this year and has more than a couple excellent performances.
RB Rashaad Penny
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While both Russell Wilson and Geno Smith had their moments under center, Seattle’s offense didn’t truly get going into they had a crisis at running back. Heading into Week 14, their depth chart at this position was positively decimated by injuries, with Chris Carson, Alex Collins and Adrian Peterson all on the shelf. The Seahawks desperately needed a spark and they finally got one from an unlikely source.
Rashaad Penny was well on his way to earning an all-time first-round bust label, when he seemingly overnight became the player this franchise had been hoping to see all along. Over the final five weeks of the season, no running back in football was more explosive or productive than Penny.
When the dust settled, Penny had posted 749 yards (373 after contact), 28 first downs and six touchdowns for the season despite not seeing any real action until December. He even tied Bills superstar QB Josh Allen for the league lead in yards per rush (6.3)
Those outstanding numbers earned Penny a new contract with the Seahawks after they had previously declined his fifth-year option. Looking ahead, Penny should be front and center at the top of this depth chart at RB no matter what happens with Chris Carson’s neck or how promising rookie Ken Walker might be.
If Penny can stay healthy and pick up where he left off, you’re looking at one of the NFL’s elite rushing threats.
TE Noah Fant
(Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
We didn’t like the Russell Wilson trade, but it would be incorrect to think the Seahawks didn’t get any good assets in return. The draft capital the team got was solid and they also snagged a couple of extremely underrated players from the Broncos. 25-year old quarterabck Drew Lock isn’t one of them, but both defensive tackle Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant are among the game’s most underappreciated players at their respective positions.
Fant is an exceptional athlete for his size (6-foot-4, 249 pounds) and has provided solid numbers in his career despite handicaps at quarterback. Over the last three seasons, he’s totaled 1,905 yards and 10 touchdowns. Considering the quality of targets he received, those are numbers any team can get excited about.
This particular one hasn’t had a true pass-catching threat at tight end since Jimmy Graham’s exit after the 2017 season. Five years is a long time to go without having that extra dimension to your passing offense. If Fant settles into a rhythm with Geno Smith and keeps his strong rapport with Lock going he could prove to be one of the NFL’s most-capable No. 3 receivers.
WR Tyler Lockett
(AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
As was the case with Quandre Diggs yesterday, there’s not a lot to say about Tyler Lockett’s heinously-underrated game that hasn’t already been said.
The simple truth is that since Lockett was drafted back in 2015 he’s been one of the league’s most efficient and effective receivers. His career reception rate is an incredible 71.8%, especially considering his average depth of target (it was 14.6 yards last year). After a fluke 2020 season that saw him post eight drops on 132 targets, Lockett’s drop rate returned to its normal alien level this past season – usually hovering somewhere around 0 percent – a number he’s achieved multiple times. At this volume, it’s hard to overstate how rare that is.
Lockett’s career touchown totals (45) and receiving yards (6,067) may lag behind other pro wideouts who are more well-known. However, for sheer consistent excellence we’ll take Lockett’s body of work over the last seven seasons and stack it up against anyone playing his position.
Odds are that Lockett’s traditional numbers will suffer in the absence of Russell Wilson. Don’t let that fool you into thinking he isn’t one of the finest receivers of his generation.
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