(Part 2 of 3) A Deep Examination Into How the Seahawks May be at the End of an Era

Cover Photo Source: Abbie Parr/Getty Images

Reason #2: The Front Office

As previously mentioned, a huge part of why they are in this mess that they’re in is due to the moves made by the front office. While John Scheinder has made some incredible trades in his long tenure with Seattle, such as only trading a 7th for a stud like Quandre Diggs, and only giving up a half eaten ham sandwich in Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo for Jadeveon Clowney, he has done more bad than good in recent seasons with drafting, and his Jamal Adams trade could very well be the defining move which kills this era of the Seahawks.

The mess that Seattle is in right now is in part due to the awful, awful draft classes they’ve had in recent seasons. In 2017, they started to rebuild the secondary with drafting Shaquille Griffin, Delano Hill, and the infamously bad Tedric Thompson, as well as how they drafted Malik McDowell over Budda Baker. In 2018 they chose a rotational running back in Rashaad Penny, a player who has been hurt for half his career, over Nick Chubb, while also adding Tre Flowers to the mix of failed defensive backs. In 2019, Seattle burned yet another first round pick on LJ Collier, and later spent a 2nd round pick on Marquise Blair, and then a 4th on Ugo Amadi; two defensive backs who have yet to contribute much of anything except on the special teams side of the ball. Finally in 2020 Seattle spent a 1st rounder on Jordyn Brooks, a reach player who didn’t even have his camera prepared for the draft celebration, and someone who’s been looking like a disastrous off-brand KJ Wright. In 2021’s draft, Seattle spent their 2nd round pick on WR Dee Eskridge, who was exceptional in his first game before he got a concussion which has left him sidelined since, over Creed Humphrey, a top-5 center (which was a significant position of need for Seattle) with a PFF grade of 87.1 and making the Dee Eskridge pick hurt more by the week.

With all of these putrid draft picks, the Seahawks have had to trade capital to fill the holes that their draft picks weren’t able to replace, which has left them without a first and third round pick for next season, as well as leaving them with a laughable three picks for 2021’s entire draft. This process may have helped them stay afloat for a few seasons, which even helped propel them to 12-4 last year, but this is absolutely not a sustainable way to build a roster, and it’s finally starting to catch up with them now.

Now, on to the Jamal Adams trade. Yikes.

After giving up 2 first rounders, a 3rd, a serviceable veteran in Bradley McDougald, and 70 million dollars for a player who has been pretty much the equivalent of Tedric Thompson through five games this season is just embarrassingly inexcusable. If Jamal Adams doesn’t turn a corner within the next few weeks, then this trade will not only be era defining, but most likely era ending. Trading this many resources, and essentially your future, for a player of this lackluster caliber is truly baffling. The lack of big plays you see from someone who is the highest paid at their position in the NFL is more than disappointing. The widespread joke that he can’t cover has spread around the NFL social media fandom like a wildfire in Washington, and he’s even lost his nickname of “Blitz Boy” because he can’t even sack the quarterback, one of the few things he exceeded at last season when he shattered the record for most sacks by a defensive back in just 12 games. Despite all of Jamal's flaws and upsides he has been far below expectations this season. Despite being paid like a leader, he has not shown up to press conferences after rough games to take the brunt of things from the media like a leader should.

Many of these dropped opportunities have caused Seattle to be in the spot they’re in now; they can’t draft well, so they have to trade their future for players who under-perform. Rinse and repeat.

Now, all of this isn’t totally on Jamal, or any the other players I’ve mentioned above, as a large part of this is on coaching too, which takes me into my third point.