Seattle highlighted some positives the past week during Klint Kubiak's introduction as offensive coordinator, such as the appeal of working with quarterback Geno Smith and his vision for getting the most from wide receiver DK Metcalf.
After two straight seasons missing the playoffs, though, the Seahawks still have plenty to fix, something general manager John Schneider is already hard at work to do.
"We know exactly what our deficiencies are," he said Friday on The John Schneider Show when asked about his philosophy in acquiring players. "We can all see it, right? And we have a plan to address everything."
While there's places to shore up on any roster, Seattle's defense rebounded beautifully under head coach Mike Macdonald to finish 11th in scoring -- tied for its best ranking since 2016, when the unit placed third following four years as the league's top scoring defense during the Legion of Boom era. Offensively, Smith is indeed a capable passer, and Metcalf and breakout stud Jaxon Smith-Njigba form a formidable receiving pair.
The single most glaring weakness comes in the offensive trenches, where the Seahawks have been unable to buy adequate time for Smith to thrive or establish any inkling of a run game to keep opponents honest.
That's evident in PFF's offensive line grades for the 2024 season, which identify Seattle's group as the second-worst in the league. The unit's 80.0 pass-blocking efficiency rating was the NFL's worst.
It led to giving up 54 sacks, tied for third-most. Although the volume of sacks can also be attributed to Seattle's 593 pass attempts, the Seahawks partly engaged in a pass-happy approach in the first place because their running game was stunted behind an oft-overpowered line.
When asked about the best place to add talent -- be it free agency, trades or the draft -- Schneider explained it changes yearly based on availability at every position aside from the offensive line.
"Everybody's on this constant quest for offensive linemen and developing offensive linemen," he said. "We just saw what happened in the Super Bowl for crying out loud. [The Chiefs] are playing for a world championship, and things didn't go well. … The offensive line, there's always like this dearth of talent at the position. So, it's supply and demand, right?"
Teams knowing they must hold onto premier talent blocking the way likely necessitates that Seattle rebuilds its trenches by drafting and developing. Combined with Schneider's past lessons learned, such an approach also makes sense given the Seahawks' current projected cap space, which places them among eight other teams needing to trim salary before the start of the new league year on March 12.
"You can't just throw money at something to fix it, to fix a perceived need," Schneider said. "We've made mistakes there in the past and we're not try not to repeat the mistakes we made."
For whatever their shortcomings, the Seahawks are still close. They finished just outside the NFC playoffs with 10 wins, their most since 2020.
It's evident they know exactly what needs fixing. In all likelihood, the attempted repairs will come largely through the draft, with the Seahawks currently set to be on the clock at No. 18 overall.
