There seems to be a belief among most national media outlets that the Seattle Seahawks won't be a great football team. Many outlets have the Seahawks winning six, seven, or eight wins. It's hard to find anyone putting them at anything more.
The most recent NFC West prediction that has Seahawks fans rolling their eyes comes from Bleacher Report. They have the Seahawks finishing THIRD in the NFC West, and finishing 8-9 this season. Here is their reasoning:
"The Seahawks are the wild-card NFC West squad. They hired first-time head coach Mike MacDonald, who fielded the No. 1 scoring defense as the Baltimore Ravens coordinator last season. With multiple Pro Bowl defensive backs on the roster, he's going to turn Seattle's defense into a top-10 unit. Nonetheless, Geno Smith's play will make or break this team. He saw a drop-off in his passing efficiency between 2022 and 2023. Smith may be under pressure with a new coaching staff. Sam Howell could start some games in 2024."
Let's not completely ignore the fact that they had some good points in here as well. They are claiming the Seahawks will be the NFC Wild Card team, even though that seems extremely unrealistic at 8-9. They also acknowledge the fact that new head coach Mike Macdonald will turn this Seahawks into a Top-10 unit.
Where they went wrong is their take on the Seahawks QB situation. While Geno Smith clearly isn't a Top-5 or Top-10 QB, his drop-off was not as extreme as many believe it was last year. On top of that, it's pretty clear coming out of Seahawks camp, that Sam Howell is not going to be be a starter at any point this year. There was even talks about Geno Smith getting somewhat of a new contract extension. So Howell playing is extremely inaccurate and unlikely.
Bleacher Report has the Seattle Seahawks at 8-9, and finishing 3rd in the NFC West...
— Seattle ON Tap (@SeattleONTap) August 19, 2024
Thoughts? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/oV8igR7HpC
Let's consider this as well, the Seahawks finished 9-8 the last two seasons. This was with an outdated defensive philosophy, and frankly, one of the worst defenses in many stretches of both the last two seasons.
Seahawks fans also are well aware that former offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron, was not very good. The offense line was not good either.
If this defense improves with Mike Macdonald, they truly could become a Top-10 or Top-15 defense. If Ryan Grubb, plus the Seahawks upgraded offensive line, are better than last year, there is no reason to believe the offense won't take a leap or two up this year.
With all those things considered, why would the Seahawks end up with a worse record than the past two years? In my opinion, they won't, the Seahawks have no reason NOT to win 9, 10, or even 11 games this coming season...
Comment what you think the Seattle Seahawks record will be in the 2024-25 coming NFL season.