Everybody in the NFL wants to be the standard, the model, the trendsetter. In an offense-driven league, a few teams take that role while the rest of the pack follow at their own respective pace. From the days of Ronnie Brown and the wildcat offense, to Colin Kaepernick galloping to the end zone on read options and Sean McVay's elite ability to consistently scheme his receivers open, the 2000s have offered plenty of innovation that every team wants their own little slice of.
But it's not just about developing new gimmicks and wrinkles in one's system; it's about putting together a stable of weapons that allow an offense to be a dynamic, one-of-a-kind unit. This year, while the Seahawks' offseason wasn't necessarily quantity-based in terms of offensive additions, their few new arrivals should help them take a significant step forward.
And they don't have to reinvent the wheel in order to do so. What it simply boils down to is the supplementation of players that, on paper, alleviate their offensive deficiencies from 2020. More specifically: tight end Gerald Everett and rookie receiver D'Wayne Eskridge add a dimension to Seattle's offense that it frankly lacked last year.
Offensive tempo has been the biggest point of emphasis the Seahawks have hammered home this offseason and a part of that is winning in the short and intermediate passing game, particularly in the middle of the field. Everett especially helps with that, providing a big target with the athleticism to create after the catch.
But Everett has the upside to be more than just a traditional tight end who goes through the motions. With the Rams, he also split out wide 26 percent of the time during the regular season and even lined up in the backfield on occasion. Furthermore, he's been the ball carrier on a few jet sweeps over his first four years in the NFL, scoring his first career rushing touchdown in 2020.
The dynamism of Everett alone is enough to get excited by. And if anyone will get the most out of him, it'll be new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who served as the tight end's position coach his rookie year and maintained a close relationship with him after switching roles in Los Angeles.
Even though Waldron doesn't have the same rapport with Eskridge, the versatility the second-round pick brings is just as exciting. And it goes beyond his own personal contributions; his ability to line up—and play effectively—on the outside as well as in the slot opens the door for Waldron to get creative with how he moves Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf around the field.
Like Everett, Eskridge helps shore up one of the Seahawks' weakest points from 2020: eating up yardage after the catch. Despite featuring one of the best receiving duos in the NFL last year, they racked up a meager 1,823 YAC—the 20th-best mark in the regular season. In his final year at Western Michigan, Eskridge was a top-three finisher in the country with a YAC average of 14.4 per reception.
Additionally, going back to the sweep game, Eskridge should give the Seahawks a boost in that department as well.
Last year, David Moore and Penny Hart were the lone Seattle receivers to log rushing attempts, combining for 80 yards on nine carries with eight attributed to Moore. But now Moore's departed for Carolina and, while he did a fine job, he wasn't the ideal ball carrier in those situations. However, he was all they really had, given they weren't going to risk further injury with an ailing Lockett and lateral movement isn't particularly Metcalf's strong suit.
To be fair, Eskridge didn't run the ball much in college. In fact, over the span of five seasons at Western Michigan, he had just 12 carries, averaging 9.7 yards per attempt. But he boasts a background as a former running back and track star in high school, giving him the speed and change-of-direction skills the Seahawks simply lacked in their receiving corps prior to his draft selection.
Eskridge's ability to get off the line of scrimmage in a flash will also play to the tempo Waldron wants to implement, as well as his elusiveness on screen plays. Getting the ball out of quarterback Russell Wilson's hands quickly means everything to this philosophy, and Wilson wasted no time getting those reps in with Eskridge at the team's mandatory minicamp in June.
If Eskridge and Everett can give Wilson the confidence to execute a more methodical approach when needed, the sky's truly the limit for this offense. Successfully blending that into the play-action and deep passing game stuff the Seahawks have mastered over the past decade should send shivers down the spines of opposing defensive coordinators everywhere, and they finally have the talent that best suits the things they wish to accomplish.
This offseason, the Seahawks didn't try to fix their issues by committee. They went straight to the root of the issue and identified the solution in the two profiles of Eskridge and Everett. The pair excel at the things Seattle was painfully average or worse at in 2020, complementing the team's pre-established weapons very well.
Sure, there will almost certainly be some kinks to iron out early on with a first-time play caller in Waldron. But once he gets acclimated and develops a better understanding of what this specific group offers, fans should be excited about the creativity that could follow.
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