Arizona Cardinals: A Pre-Camp Look At The Seattle Seahawks

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Very kind editor Keith Myers from the Seattle Seahawks 12thmanrising.com took time to give us insight into this year’s team

Arizona Cardinals fans are no doubt excited for another year of football. Cards camp starts on July 31st but before camp we are getting to know what’s going on in the NFC West with division rivals. We start our series of pre-camp pieces with the NFC West Champion Seattle Seahawks.

Last week I answered questions for FanSided’s Seattle Seahawks fan site. Now I get answers to my six questions. I appreciate the time taken to provide Cardinals fans with an insight to the Seahawks.

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Russell Wilson, is he going to get his contract or what? I know publicly Wilson has taken the high road and said all the right things but do you think it will be a distraction until something gets completed?

Wilson will get paid, but probably not this year. He and his agent have decided to play hardball and not come down from their initial asking price. They know that next offseason, when Wilson’s salary floor becomes the franchise tag value, they’ll have the salary leverage to get what they’re asking for. Ultimately, deadlines spur action. Nothing will get done until one of the sides feels some pressure. Since there’s no pressure at the moment, there’s no movement in the negotiations.

As we know, one of the Arizona Cardinals weaknesses on defense is covering the tight end. Now you have Jimmy Graham at tight end which was the one glaring weakness Seattle had on offense. How does Graham’s arrival change the offensive attack for the Seahawks?

That is the million-dollar question this offseason. The Seahawks insist that it won’t change the scheme, but a big part of their success since Pete Carroll arrived has been their ability to adjust to the talent on the roster. Let’s face it having Graham block like Zach Miller did would be silly.

That said, they won’t change things too much. The offense will still be centered around Marshawn Lynch with a heavy dose of play-action. Now the Seahawks will finally have a legit talent on the other end of those passes.

I also think we’ll see the Seahawks using the center of the field more in the passing game because of Graham. Since Wilson was drafted the team has done a great job of attacking the outside, but the center of the field has been somewhat of an afterthought. Hopefully that’ll change this year.

I still see Seattle as the team to beat in the NFC West but do you think Seattle can be right back in the Super Bowl this season given how hard a proposition that is in the NFL these days? Also Las Vegas recently dropped their odds a bit in favor of the Green Bay Packers. Three Super Bowls in a row would be very impressive.

The Seahawks return 10 of 11 starters on defense and 9 of 11 on offense. They’ve also done a surprisingly good job of maintaining and even improving the overall roster depth this offseason.

People seem to forget that the Seahawks were playing their 5th CB (Marcus Burley) opposite Richard Sherman for a stretch last season and had a practice squad call-up as the nickel corner. Byron Maxwell, the only defensive starter not returning, was probably the least-important of the defensive starters. This defense has led the NFL in scoring for three years in a row, and there’s no reason to expect a drop-off this year.

With that defense, the Seahawks will definitely be able to contend for another Super Bowl. They also need things to break right for them. There are so many things that could go wrong. The Seahawks have had a lot of injuries the last two seasons, but none to Russell Wilson or Marshawn Lynch.

Something tells me that I don’t need to tell Arizona fans how much injuries to a star quarterback or running back can derail a season.

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Arizona Cardinals: A Pre-Training Camp Look At The Seattle Seahawks

By Scott Allen | Jul 8, 2015