Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

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Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby Largent80 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:03 am

In 2017 the Seahawks spent $93,714,666 on their defense, more than any team in the NFL. The split between offense and defense was 36.37% vs 55.98%.

They spent $60,885,063 on the offense — 29th highest in the league.

Of the 12 biggest cap hits on the roster, nine were defensive players. The three offensive players were Russell Wilson, Jimmy Graham and Luke Joeckel. Graham and Joeckel are both free agents.

At the moment they’re facing a very similar situation for 2018. They’re set to pay $91,613,442 for their defense (#5 in the NFL) and $62,541,747 for the offense (#24).

These numbers will change if/when Jeremy Lane is cut, Cliff Avril and Kam Chancellor retire and if some other moves are made. Even so, this could be one of the reasons why a transition is expected. The percentage needs to be nearer 50-50 than the current 56-36.

It’s going to be difficult to redress the balance in 2018 alone, which is one of the reasons they might initiate a transition now. For example, they won’t save much by cutting Michael Bennett (around $3m). However, his cap hit for 2019 (around $9m) would be completely off the books.

It would put pressure on the team to find some cheap replacements. However, pass rushers have been their speciality. They brought in Bennett and Cliff Avril at bargain prices, pulled off a killer trade for Chris Clemons, found Frank Clark with a late second round pick and have identified an exciting reclamation project with Dion Jordan.

It’s not often you see a team paying so many big name players on one side of the ball. The Seahawks did it because they had so much talent. Keeping the defense together felt like the key to multiple opportunities to win a Super Bowl. As those days fade, the need to change is clear.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby Largent80 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:07 am

Part of being younger on defense is also about being cheaper.

The imbalance in spending isn’t the only reason why Seattle’s offense hasn’t performed. There was still enough talent to expect better results in 2017. However, if you actually write down the number of defensive studs vs offensive studs on Seattle’s roster, it’s quite significantly weighted in one direction. If you want a balanced team, you might need a more balanced spread of talent.

And IMO, a new OC, and O-Line coach.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby politicalfootball » Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:41 pm

As long as we are better off and our defense shuts down the opposition. We are doing that well now it's the offense that is not good now.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby Largent80 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:13 pm

[quote="politicalfootball"] our defense shuts down the opposition. We are doing that well now /quote]

No, we are not shutting down teams.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby RiverDog » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:07 pm

politicalfootball wrote:As long as we are better off and our defense shuts down the opposition. We are doing that well now it's the offense that is not good now.


The defense has slid. We are no longer in the top 10 defenses in either yardage or points allowed.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby burrrton » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:13 pm

RiverDog wrote:The defense has slid. We are no longer in the top 10 defenses in either yardage or points allowed.


I think we were before Kam and Sherm went down.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby NorthHawk » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:26 pm

Yah, we lost a lot of talent to injury this year when those 3 went down.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby mykc14 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:39 pm

burrrton wrote:I think we were before Kam and Sherm went down.


When we are spending this much money on a Defensive unit we should be able to absorb the loss of a few defensive players and still perform at a high level. We were 13th in points allowed. Last year we were 3rd. 12',13', and 14' we were #1. This presents a definite slide. Injuries certainly have something to do with it, but the way our team is set up we need our Defensive unit to finish in the top 5 of scoring D's. I mean, our O finished 11th in scoring!!
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby NorthHawk » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:10 pm

Losing 3 potential Pro Bowl or All Pro players will hurt any Defense.
That's just a lot of talent to replace with backups, no matter how good they are.
If they were average players then I would agree - they should be able to absorb the losses.
To the main point of this thread, yes the Defense has to get younger and a little cheaper, too.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby c_hawkbob » Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:57 pm

NorthHawk wrote:Losing 3 potential Pro Bowl or All Pro players will hurt any Defense.
That's just a lot of talent to replace with backups, no matter how good they are.
If they were average players then I would agree - they should be able to absorb the losses.
To the main point of this thread, yes the Defense has to get younger and a little cheaper, too.


With Kam and Cliff not likely coming back, and with Earl going into the last year of his contract openly lobbying for a return home ala Beast, this defense will get younger and cheaper and the team will be better for it, as long as what Pete said a few years ago about not skimping on offense as a business model but because defense was where the talent when he was building the team and those were the big contracts that came up first.

Now we're evolving from that all-word defense with a young inexpensive offense to a team more centered around a one of a kind talent at QB in need of better talent surrounding him and a young, hungry, less expensive defense.

I'm actually pretty excited to see how Pete handles this evolution. I believe we'll wind up being a very different, but potentially equally as effective team.
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Re: Why Seattle’s defense needs to get younger (and cheaper)

Postby RiverDog » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:31 pm

The defense has slid. We are no longer in the top 10 defenses in e
ither yardage or points allowed.


I think we were before Kam and Sherm went down.


I'm not buying that excuse. Sure, we gave up 42 to the Rams and 34 to the Falcons without those two. But we also gave up 38 at home to the Texans and 33 to the Titans with them in the lineup. We also had a much weaker schedule in the first half of the season, with teams like the Giants, Colts, Niners,and Redskins falling to us in the first half.

Now we're evolving from that all-word defense with a young inexpensive offense to a team more centered around a one of a kind talent at QB in need of better talent surrounding him and a young, hungry, less expensive defense.


Let's hope that happens, that we reload vs. rebuild. Pete and John definitely have their work cut out for them. They need to start finding talent in the later rounds like they did the first couple of years of their tenure.
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