The Seattle Seahawks, having formerly waved goodbye to stalwart quarterback Russell Wilson and more recently to head coach Pete Carroll, seem to be on the precipice of a quietly exciting rebuild under the keen defensive eye of Mike Macdonald. Macdonald, fresh off his gig as the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, is now tasked with turning the Seahawks from a team in flux to Super Bowl sleeper hits, as Sports Illustrated says in their recent write-up. While the team's start last season was rock-solid, a series of losses stacked up to finish them just shy of the playoffs.
With the NFL's free agency period lurking around the corner, the Seahawks, according to Sports Illustrated, were speculated to dramatically shake things up thanks to around $50 million up their sleeves—a tidy sum that could have been used to quickly bag top Raven's free agents like Jadeveon Clowney, Patrick Queen, and Geno Stone. Yet, to expect McDonald to neatly turn the Seahawks into the "Seattle Ravens" overnight might be a tad unrealistic, despite the evident mathematical plausibility and his intimate knowledge of his former players.
Regardless, the Seahawks' frontline certainly will need to be reinforced, as offensive guard Damien Lewis plans to switch his professional home to the Carolina Panthers, as reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapport and relayed by KOIN. The 2020 third-round pick has been a roller-coaster throughout his Seattle tenure with fluctuating Pro Football Focus grades but hopes to anchor a Carolina line that displayed a notorious lack of protection last season.
It's certain that the Seahawks will look widely different under the Macdonald regime. With both the defense and offense awaiting a transformative touch, and the No. 16 pick in the draft dangling like a carrot for quarterback hunters, fans may find the Seahawks to be cut from an unfamiliar cloth this upcoming season. CBS Sports has undertook to place the team in the "Uphill Climbers" tier, suggesting that key veterans might have to walk as Seattle looks to swoop in on fresh talents—a fresh start, just maybe, to lay dormant those haunting memories of missed playoff opportunities.
