Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks.
The Seattle Seahawks Cinderella regular season ended with a 19-16 overtime win over their NFC West rivals from Los Angeles. The victory improved Seattle’s record to 9-8, which earned them a playoff spot.
They couldn’t have gotten that far without some great players. After reading Bill Barnwell’s NFL Awards on espn.com, I was inspired to hand out some end-of-regular season awards to the Seahawks.
Here are the winners.
This award has to go to Geno Smith. Russell Wilson complained about carrying the team when he left. Geno didn’t have to carry the Seattle Seahawks because he worked within the system and got others involved without treating them like they were his supporting cast.
His final regular season numbers were 399 of 572 (69.8% led the NFL) for 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Smith also ran for 366 yards and another touchdown. Not bad for a guy playing behind a starting line that featured two rookie tackles.
For those in the know, Smith still hasn’t written anyone back.
There are good cases to be made for both Tariq Woolen and Jordyn Brooks, but I’m going with Uchenna Nwosu. Cast aside by penny-pinching Baltimore, the edge rusher was a great pickup by Seattle Seahawks General Manager John Schneider.
Nwosu led the team in tackles for loss (12), QB hits (26), and tied Darrell Taylor for most sacks (9.5). What impressed me the most was how often he was in the picture when plays were made in the opponent’s backfield.
Fifth round pick Tariq Woolen, who might even be the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, came out of nowhere to be the Seattle Seahawks best cover corner. For the most part, his coverage was great.
I can’t wait to see what he’ll be like a year or two from now. I’m going with Richard Sherman 2.0
Also worthy of mention is running back Kenneth Walker. His 1,050 rushing yards were 12th best in the NFL.
It’s tough to pick someone because none of the linemen particularly stood out. I really want to give it to one of the Seattle Seahawks rookie tackles, Charles Cross or Abe Lucas. It will be one of them in 2023.
This year, however, guard Damien Lewis was the most consistent overall blocker. Pro Football Focus gave him an overall grade of 71.8 (72.6 pass, 66.7 run), which was 13th best among NFL guards.
From last year to this year, it was Barton. He went from backup to 136 tackles, and 6 passes defended.
As the 2022 season progressed, safety Joey Blount blossomed when the team needed him to step up. He justified Pete Carroll’s faith in him.
Nick Bellore is a special teams ace, fullback, and fills in at linebacker. How valuable is he? Bellore led the Seahawks with 14 special teams tackles (seventh in the NFL). He also had an 81.5 pass blocker rating, according to PFF.
Let’s also give some kudos to Colby Parkinson. The Seattle Seahawks third tight end caught 25 passes for 322 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Most exciting games of the year were Detroit, New Orleans, and Las Vegas. But the Seahawks best game was their Week 7, 37-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Honorable mention goes to the season opener when the Seattle Seahawks took down Denver and former Hawks quarterback Russell Wilson. As my colleague Andrew Elderbaum correctly pointed out, this win set the tone
In the fourth quarter, Seattle was up 30-16, with the ball on their 26 yard line, and 7:07 left in the game. Kenneth Walker took a pitch out and went right. He cut upfield at the numbers and went virtually untouched to the house to put the game away.
According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats:
There are several worthy candidates, such as Quandre Diggs‘ two interceptions against Vegas, or Tyler Lockett‘s two touchdown game at New Orleans, or Rashaad Penny putting up 151 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns against Detroit.
The winner is Smith for his outstanding Game 4 at Detroit (which turned out to be more important than it was at the time). He was accurate and made good decisions all day. Smith had his highest passer rating of the season, 132.6, threw for 320 yards, with 2 touchdowns, and ran for an 8-yard score in the first quarter.
I’m the guy who said Smith was good enough to lose. It’s shocking to think this once-forgotten quarterback threw 30 touchdown passes this year.
Coming off of last year’s disappointing season, kicker Jason Myers was on thin ice. He turned it around and was money this year, connecting on 34 of 37 field goal attempts, including 6 for 6 from 50+ yards.
In his first year as an NFL starter, Cody Barton proved many people wrong. It was impossible for him to fill Bobby Wagner‘s shoes; after all, B-Wagz is an all-time great. Barton didn’t try to be Wagner, Barton played within himself.
On the field, he wasn’t spectacular but was solid. Additionally, he was much better in pass coverage than expected.
Many people will say it’s Jamal Adams. The Seattle Seahawks paid a steep price to acquire and then re-sign the All-Pro safety.
Adams tore his quad in the opener while taking down Russell Wilson, causing “The Prez” to miss the entire season. This is football; injuries happen.
From a performance standpoint, it was Dee Eskridge. This should have been the year he stepped up to be the Seattle Seahawks third wide receiver. But the 2021 second round pick from Western Michigan hasn’t come along as expected.
In 10 games, Eskridge caught 7 passes for 58 yards. Compare that to re-tread signing Laquon Treadwell, who had 6 receptions for 42 yards in 6 games.
Who were your Seattle Seahawks 2022 award winners.