Seahawks offense cruising behind Geno Smith, and the Russell Wilson trade keeps looking better

There’s loads unsure by seven weeks of the NFL season.

One factor is more and more clear: The Seattle Seahawks received the Russell Wilson commerce by a landslide.

The Seahawks cruised on Sunday to a 37-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers as maybe essentially the most stunning 4-3 crew within the NFL. They had been purported to be in full rebuild mode whereas concentrating on a major choose in subsequent 12 months’s NFL draft after dealing Wilson to the Denver Broncos. As an alternative, they sit alone atop the NFC West whereas Denver’s 2023 first-round choose acquired within the Wilson commerce guarantees to land the premium choice.

Discuss a win-win.

A lot of Seattle’s early season success could be attributed to Geno Smith. Whereas Wilson languishes in Denver, Smith has revived his profession in Seattle and emerged because the NFL’s most correct passer. He entered Sunday with a league-best 73.4% completion fee that he boosted with a 20-of-27 effort towards the Chargers.

This can be a man who hasn’t been an everyday NFL starter since 2014 and noticed his profession derailed when a sucker punch broke his jaw in 2015. Few thought the 2013 second-round draft choose would begin within the NFL once more. But, right here he’s in 2022 main a top-10 scoring offense.

Seattle entered Sunday averaging 24.3 factors per recreation, good for ninth within the NFL. It tacked on 37 extra on Sunday towards a Chargers crew that was favored to win by a landing. The Seahawks outgained the Chargers, 404 yards to 329 whereas averaging a potent 6.4 yards per play.

Smith did not do all of it. Not even shut. He tallied 210 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception whereas Seattle’s floor recreation did the majority of the harm. The Seahawks pounded the ball as rising rookie Kenneth Walker III tallied 168 of Seattle’s 214 speeding yards and a pair of touchdowns. This can be a Carroll offense, in spite of everything. And Smith is doing precisely what the Seahawks want of him.

By seven video games, Smith has averaged 245 passing yards whereas throwing 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. These will not be confused with MVP numbers. However they put him squarely within the Comeback Participant of the 12 months dialog. And after six seasons on the bench, he is proving himself as a more-than-capable starter in 2022.

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By seven weeks, the identical cannot be stated about Wilson. He sat Sunday with a hamstring harm because the Broncos fell to 2-5 in a loss to the New York Jets as one of many NFL’s largest disappointments. The Broncos have not been higher off when he is on the sector.

In his six begins, Wilson has accomplished 59.6% of his passes for 240.4 yards per recreation with 5 touchdowns and three interceptions for the league’s lowest-scoring offense (15.2 factors per recreation). He has repeatedly made puzzling selections and struggled with recreation administration alongside his rookie head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Had been his identify not Wilson and his glowing new contract not assured to pay him $165 million, requires his benching would have already reached a fever pitch.

About that contract. It piles onto the win column for the Seahawks. It is the Broncos as a substitute who’re saddled with the salary-cap albatross of Wilson’s five-year deal. And let’s not neglect the compensation. The Seahawks did not simply get Denver’s first-round draft choose in 2023. In trade for Wilson and a fourth-round choose within the 2022 draft, Seattle bought Denver’s first-, second-, and fifth-round picks in 2022 and their first- and second-round picks in 2023. Additionally tight finish Noah Fant and backup quarterback Drew Lock. And people 2023 picks are shaping as much as be invaluable.

Did we are saying landslide? Examine. That is a landslide. Particularly contemplating that the 2022 second-round choose from Denver allowed Seattle to pick out Walker and move rusher Boye Mafe with back-to-back alternatives.

The Seahawks do not need to sustain their tempo for the commerce to be a win. They do not need to make the playoffs and even end the season with a profitable report. This isn’t a season with any built-in expectations. All of that is gravy.

The Seahawks are winners as a result of Smith is prospering and the turbo-boost the Wilson compensation supplied their rebuild. In the meantime, Wilson is just not.

Is there an opportunity that Wilson figures issues out in Denver and leads the Broncos again to profitable methods? Certain. He has earned the good thing about the doubt to not be fully written off at this level of his NFL profession. However nothing by his early tenure with the crew suggests that it’s going to occur. He is 33 years outdated and confirmed indicators of decline earlier than touchdown in Denver.

Betting on Wilson to return to type is not clever. The Seahawks noticed that and had been very happy to let one other crew take that danger.