Tag Archives: Ryan Neal

2023 is make-or-break for $70M man Adams

February 20, 2023 cc Leave a comment

Q&A series: We take a look at some big questions about the Seahawks’ salary cap situation and roster.

Today’s question: Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs are the highest-paid safety tandem in the NFL and have the largest cap hits on the team in 2023. How is that hurting the team? And how long will that continue?

Recent salary guarantees for Seattle’s top-paid players served as the latest occasion for some fans to grouse about the team’s overinvestment in its safeties.

The Seahawks having the highest-paid safety duo in the NFL is nothing new. Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor once held that distinction, too.

But Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs are no Chancellor and Thomas, and plenty of fans are understandably irked over Seattle’s waste of resources at the position – they have the highest cap hits on the team in 2023 at $18.1 million each, ahead of star receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.

Some who don’t understand capology – or the way the Seahawks operate — want the rehabbing Adams to be cut. That won’t happen, especially after part of his salary was guaranteed on Feb. 17. But you can bet 2024 will be a different conversation, if he does not play up to his $70 million contract in 2023.

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Week 7: At L.A. Chargers

Carroll loves first place, but ‘the best is yet to come’

October 25, 2022 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks have surprised everyone, leading the NFC West at Week 7 with a 4-3 record built on two straight good-looking wins.

Now everyone wants to take a pause to congratulate Pete Carroll and John Schneider. There are still 10 games left, but no one predicted the Hawks would be leading the division at this point (the closest we came was a 3-4 projection) with a quarterback who is playing better than the erstwhile star he replaced and a young defense that has seemed to find its way after a rough start.

Carroll is enjoying this rebirth, both of his roster and himself and Schneider, who could be seen in the SoFi Stadium suites Sunday excitedly watching his new young team beat the Chargers 37-23.

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Week 5: L.A. Rams, X's & O's

Irked Carroll should make more changes

October 10, 2021 cc 2 Comments

Pete Carroll has a history of fixing his defense on the fly, and he is going to have to do it again — NOW.

In his day-after assessment of his defense’s total meltdown against the Rams, Carroll bemoaned his defense repeating the same mistakes. Carroll is ticked off, which means more changes should be coming to Seattle’s defense during this mini-bye.

“We have to clean stuff up across the board so the same issues don’t show up,” Carroll said on 710 ESPN. “When we’re really not doing well is when you see the same problem continue to show, and that’s something that pisses me off.”

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Week 5: L.A. Rams, X's & O's

Forget Wilson; priority is fixing the defense

October 8, 2021 cc 3 Comments

For some fans, the sky is always falling. So, you can imagine the reaction after the Seahawks lost to the Rams yet again – and Russell Wilson got hurt along the way.

The Hawks are now 2-3, and some people are writing their 2021 obit. But the season is far from over.

The Hawks were not expected to beat the Rams – not this time, not with an inconsistent offense and discombobulated defense. The only surprise in the 26-17 loss was the finger injury to Wilson, which actually improved the offense as Geno Smith led the Hawks to more points in one quarter (10) than Wilson had in three (7).

Smith’s steady performance – minus the unfortunate interception at the end – assuaged any concerns that the Hawks cannot win without Wilson. In some ways, Smith was better (e.g., he worked the middle of the field and threw a successful screen pass).

The big problem Seattle must fix over the next 10 days – before a Sunday night game in Pittsburgh – is a defense that once again is off to a historically bad start. Pete Carroll and Ken Norton Jr. have got to seal up the cracks – again.

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Week 4: At San Francisco

Hawks still figuring themselves out, but they avoided 1-3

October 4, 2021 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks may be getting closer to fixing their weaknesses. Until they do, though, we’ll get shaky games like we’ve seen the past three weeks.

The throwback 28-21 win over the 49ers looked a lot like Russell Wilson’s early days, with the offense struggling and Wilson making a couple of magical moves that helped him keep alive his streak of never losing three straight as the Hawks beat the 49ers for the 13^th time in 15 games and avoided a dreaded 1-3 start.

Pete Carroll and Ken Norton Jr. finally made some alterations on defense that helped them largely shut down the 49ers (other than a rough start and one big mistake in the third quarter). And the offense picked up the pace to get out of an early funk.

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Schedule

At 5-0, Hawks will only get better; race is on against Packers

October 15, 2020 cc Leave a comment

A third of the way through one of the most bizarre seasons ever (and we’re not just talking about the pandemic), the Seahawks are 5-0 and among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. And that’s despite having the league’s worst defense (by the standard measure: yards).

The Packers (4-0) have been more impressive so far, but the Seahawks might be more dangerous because they are a big-play team on both sides and should get better on defense as the season goes.

By DVOA, the Hawks are considered the No. 3 team in the league, behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay (buoyed by the No. 2 defense). Los Angeles is fourth, Kansas City fifth and Green Bay sixth. Those teams look to be Seattle’s biggest competition for a Super Bowl title.

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Week 4: At Miami

Wilson finally wins in Florida as Hawks hit 4-0 for second time ever

October 4, 2020 cc Leave a comment

It wasn’t easy, but Russell Wilson finally won in Florida and the Seahawks improved to 4-0 for the second time in franchise history with a 31-23 win in 88-degree weather in Miami.

K.J. Wright and the Seattle defense held Miami to five field goals and a late TD, giving a struggling Seattle offense time to finally put the game away in the fourth quarter after Miami had held time of possession and stymied Wilson and company in the red zone a couple of times.

Wilson threw two TD passes to reach 16, which ties Peyton Manning for most through four games in NFL history. Manning set that record in 2013, when Seattle opened 4-0 for the first time on its way to beating Manning’s Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

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