Seattle, WA
KJ's Seattle Seahawks Takeaways: 'Night and day' without who?
Sunday will be all or nothing for the Seattle Seahawks.
After losing at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-23 in Week 17, the Seahawks fell to 8-8 on the season, essentially putting themselves in a must-win situation when they go to Arizona for a 1:25 p.m. Sunday contest against the 4-12 Cardinals if they want to make the playoffs.
Playoff Scenarios: How Seattle Seahawks can make the postseason
On Seattle Sports’ weekly K.J. Wright Show during Wednesday’s edition of Brock and Salk, the former Seahawks great shared his thoughts on everything about the team. You can watch video of Wright in studio at the top of this post, or hear the full show in the podcast at this link or in the player below. After that, we’ll detail a few of the more notable observations he shared.
Big missing piece
The Seahawks have been without linebacker Jordyn Brooks since he suffered an ankle injury on Dec. 18 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Wright, himself a one-time Pro Bowl linebacker in his playing days, said it was a clear problem against Pittsburgh. Seattle allowed the Steelers to gain 468 yards of offense, with Pittsburgh running for 202 yards to 88 by the Seahawks’ offense, and the Hawks registering just one sack on the day.
“It was night and day not having Jordyn Brooks out there,” Wright said. “What he’s done since he’s really came on the scene, a guy that’s been a downhill guy, a guy that when he sees it, he shoots it and he takes his shot. And for him just have to deal with that ankle injury – Devin Bush was out there, Bobby (Wagner) was out there, (but) Jordyn for sure was surely missed out there on the football field. And he has to come back this game because the Arizona Cardinals are going to have the same exact game plan.”
What’s wrong with Seattle Seahawks’ run game
The Seahawks have invested in the running back position, drafting Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet in the second round in back-to-back years, yet they rank fourth from last in the NFL with just 90.1 rushing yards per game.
When Wright was asked about the situation, he put his focus on the offensive line.
“I think we can improve in that position – I think we can get better, interior, with the offensive line,” he said. “I look at K-9 (Walker) – I say this every single week, when K-9 is getting north and south, K-9 is a really, really good football player. He’s a really, really good football player. Zach Charbonnet, he’s got to come along. He has to come along way more and be that 1-2 punch that we need him to be. He got taken in the second round for a reason, and right now we haven’t seen the right production out of him. So can we get some big boys up front?”
Is OC to blame for not converting on third down?
Another statistic on offense where Seattle has struggled is conversion rate on third down, where the Hawks are 25th out of the league’s 32 teams at 35.4%. Does that fall on third-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron?
Wright didn’t put the blame on Waldron. Instead, he pointed out how not being fully in sync can impact just about everything.
“What do you do when you try to run the ball and it’s not effective? When you’re get stalemated at the line of scrimmage?” he said. “And then on top of that, you can’t even get the run game going because you’re (bottom quarter) in the league when it comes to third down. So I look at Shane, I feel like he’s trying to run the ball, but K-9, O-line, give me something. Geno (Smith), I need you to keep me going on third down so I can come back to it. And so I look at football, everything’s connected – the play-calling, the third down, the O-line, the run game. Everything has got to be in sync.”
The K.J. Wright Show airs from 8-9 a.m. live Wednesdays during the football season during Seattle Sports’ Brock Salk. Click here for podcasts of every episode.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• Notebook: Pete Carroll updates injuries, laments run game
• What Carroll Said: Seahawks’ run D, tackling, onside kick and more
• Instant Reaction: Seahawks’ loss to Steelers hurts playoff odds
• Rost: Seattle Seahawks are in playoff picture, but story is D’s woes
West Seattle pickleball players rallied this week as they ramp up opposition to Seattle Parks‘ Draft Outdoor Racquet-Sports Strategy, which would – among other things – change dual-striped courts at High Point and Alki to tennis-only. Next milepost along the way: Tomorrow night (Thursday, April 23), the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners – a city-convened advisory group – gets briefed on the “strategy.” Though board meetings usually have a public-comment period, the department is directing comments to the three feedback meetings (none in West Seattle, though some local advocates are trying to get one set up). The advocate who contacted us says they’re trying to “show their support to save these vital community resources. These courts are used by hundreds of people every week to stay active and connect with neighbors. We have no idea why the city would seek to do away with such highly used and inclusive gathering places.” They’re describing what they’re doing as a “WS-specific effort … aimed at saving pickleball at Walt Hundley and Alki. We are planning another larger rally on a weekend in Mid/Late May where we hope to turn out the entire West Seattle pickleball community and invite our local elected leaders and city officials to see how many lives are touched by pickleball in West Seattle.” In the meantime, they’re continuing to collect petition signatures here. Tomorrow night’s Parks Board meeting is being held in person downtown and via Zoom at 6 pm – attendance info is here.
over at Bleeding Green Nation. During the off-season, he’s been writing his mock
draft blog and just wrote up–a rather lengthy–mock pick for the Seahawks at
#32.
Personally, not enamored with the pick, but he does a VERY deep dive into the
offensive and defensive makeup of the Hawks, trying…
After months of build up, the Seattle Seahawks are less than 48 hours from being on the clock for their first pick of the NFL Draft, as long as they hold on to pick No. 32 in the first round.
Seahawks Draft: A mid-round edge rusher with elite length
While the offensive line has long been a need for the Seahawks in drafts, this year running back, edge rusher and cornerback are among their top positions of need.
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard highlighted a pair of players who could help bolster the Seahawks’ edge group as he continued his draft profile series Tuesday during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
In this edition of Huard’s draft profiles, he looked at Michigan edge rushers Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham, who also played on the same team together in high school at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.
Huard pointed to the connection head coach Mike Macdonald, a former Michigan defensive coordinator, and many members of his coaching staff have to the Michigan program.
“They know these guys, they know them inside and out,” Huard said. “They typically like they’re Michigan men, and these are two physical guys that have all the attributes you’re looking for on the edge.”
The high-floor pick
Moore is coming off a decorated four-year career at Michigan where he piled up 24.5 tackles for loss, 21 sacks, eight passes defended and three forced fumbles in 53 games.
This past season, the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Moore totaled 10.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles while earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.
“I think this is a pretty fair quote about him: ‘Unselfish, well-rounded, high floor.’ Is he a high-ceiling guy? Not as much as Barham, but he’s a very high-floor guy,” Huard said.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Moore ranked as the No. 65 prospect in this years draft. ESPN has him ranked 60th.
“He is just your fierce, tough, edgy, productive (player),” Huard said. “He played in space a little bit more. They are field-boundary scheme at Michigan at times. He’s been more of the field rusher, more against your left tackle. And (he’s) just got more in the tool bag… He’s been a defensive end. He’s pretty well versed in it. He’s going to have a bigger tool bag, I think, than both Boye (Mafe) and Derrick Hall had, and he’s going to be a second, late-second-round (pick). Rugged, tough Michigan guy.”
The high-ceiling pick
Barham spent his first two college seasons at Maryland, which included earning Freshman All-American honors in 2022, and transferred to Michigan in 2024. He played linebacker at Maryland and in his first season at Michigan before making the move to edge for his final college season.
In 12 games at a new position in 2025, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Barham amassed 10 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
“Jaishawn Barham is a little bit more of a wild card, and one of the scouts that was quoted in some of the prep for this said he may bloom with the right coaching,” Huard said.
Huard recalled seeing Barham as a freshman at Maryland while he was doing color commentary for FOX and being in awe of how physically mature he already looked.
“I remember being on the field, as a freshman, looking at him going, ‘There’s just no way. There’s no way humanly possible that that guy played high school football the year before,’” Huard said.
Jeremiah has Barham ranked as the No. 77 prospect in the draft. ESPN has him ranked 88th.
“He is a higher ceiling guy you’re going to have to coach up,” Huard said. “He doesn’t come with years and years and years of experience on the edge.”
Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft coverage
• An under-the-radar Seattle Seahawks need Brock Huard sees
• NFL Draft: What – and who – Seahawks could get by trading back
• Why Hasselbeck says Seahawks are in great spot to trade back
• Seattle Seahawks open to trading top pick for bigger draft class
• A player Seahawks could trade for another draft pick
-
West Virginia14 seconds agoThis Is The Friendliest Small Town in West Virginia
-
Wyoming6 minutes agoGovernor Mark Gordon Discusses Water-saving Measures By Data Centers In Southeast Wyoming
-
Crypto12 minutes agoBen McKenzie is Still Mad at Matt Damon For Those Crypto Ads
-
Finance18 minutes agoAuto Finance Capital Summit | Insights | Mayer Brown
-
Fitness24 minutes agoAt 50, Hrithik Roshan’s ex-wife Sussanne sets fitness goals with challenging Pilates exercise
-
Movie Reviews36 minutes ago‘Madhuvidhu’ movie review: A light-hearted film that squanders a promising conflict
-
World48 minutes agoGoogle puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
-
News54 minutes agoSenate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS