Personnel decisions are mostly a huge risk in the NFL. Teams think they know what is best for the teams, and if they don't, front office personnel do not keep their jobs for long. For Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider, he has had his job for 14 years so he should have a good idea what is needed to make the team good.
There could be more doubt about Schneider this season than ever before, however. After Pete Carroll was fired after last year (Carroll was, for all intents and purposes, terminated as he was involuntarily removed from all his important positions), Schneider took over full control of all roster decisions. This season has not gone as he hoped so far.
In the past couple of seasons, the Seahawks have let players leave in free agency that they might wish they had this season. Each of the players below would likely have helped the team. In one case, the player is a future Hall of Famer that Seattle should have kept around.
New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed
Reed did not accomplish much in his NFL career until Schneider and former head coach Pete Carroll took a chance on him when brining him to Seattle in 2020 and he became a full-time starter at cornerback in 2021. Once there, he excelled in coverage and did not allow a passer rating when targeted of more than 81.9.
The question was whether Reed was simply a product of Seattle's system or if he was truly that good. The answer is Reed is a fantastic cornerback. With the New York Jets in 2022, his QBR allowed was 81.6. This year, he has been even better with a QBR allowed of just 57.7. He has allowed just 12 completions on 29 passes and no touchdowns.
Seattle should have never let Reed leave in free agency. The New York Jets gave him $11 million a season over three years and Seattle was never going to match that. But a cornerback group that includes Reed, Woolen, and Witherspoon would be fearsome.
Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Poona Ford
Ford was an undersized, yet decent run stopper, for Seattle for the first five years of his career. Then he left in 2023 and signed with the Buffalo Bills where he completely washed out. Seattle appeared to be correct to let Ford walk. Maybe his career would end after 2023.
Instead, he has been rejuvenated with the Los Angeles Chargers. He is the sixth-highest-graded interior defensive lineman so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He has eight run stuffs, plus 11 quarterback pressures so far. He is only a rotational piece, but Ford would be a huge upgrade for the Seahawks over players such as Johnathan Hankins.
Washington Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner
Yes, we have heard the oft-spoken line that Wagner was going to be a bad fit in Mike Macdonald's defensive scheme. Wagner had issues in coverage and was getting a bit old. We assumed at some point that Wagner would digress precipitously because he is well past 30 years old. And yet, even last year with the Seahawks, Wagner was a Second-Team All-Pro who led the league in combined tackles.
Wagner is smart enough and talented enough to fit in any system, so Seattle might have just wanted to not try too hard to sign him in free agency because he was part of the old guard of the Pete Carroll years. Finding a better linebacker - ever - than Wagner is difficult to do. He would have been good in Seattle this year as well.
Wagner is helping lead the Commanders to a surprisngly great season so far, though. It helps that he played under Washington head coach Dan Quinn before, but Wagner would have succeeded no matter the coach. This season, the linebacker has been elite at run defense and has eight quarterback pressures, one more than he had with Seattle last year.
