Three reasons why Seahawks should be concerned heading into 2021 NFL season

As for the Seattle Seahawks and the 2021 NFL season, there’s some major concern that this team is no longer a top-end title contender after losing in the NFC wild-card round a season ago. The competitive nature of the NFC West adds a layer to this. Below, we look at three reasons why the Seahawks should be concerned.

Wilson facing elite pass-rusher after elite pass-rusher

The Arizona Cardinals’ acquisition of future first-ballot Hall of Famer J.J. Watt earlier in the offseason is just the latest example of NFC West teams stocking up on pass-rushers. He joins Chandler Jones to form an elite pairing in the desert.

The San Francisco 49ers will return former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa to the mix after he suffered a torn ACL early in the 2020 campaign. Bosa is seen as a generational pass-rushing talent and is said to be 100%. Meanwhile, fellow former Pro Bowler Dee Ford seems to be nearing 100% after two injury-plagued seasons to start his 49ers career.

In Los Angeles, Aaron Donald remains the top individual defensive player in the game. He’s earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors twice and is coming off six consecutive All-Pro seasons. Combined, the five players mentioned here have earned 17 Pro Bowl appearance.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line has allowed Wilson to be sacked a league-high 146 times over the past three seasons. Their only plan to upgrade this offensive line was to add veteran guard Gabe Jackson in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders and select Stone Forsythe in the sixth round of the draft. There are still a ton of issues on the offensive line in Seattle right now. That’s not great news for Mr. Wilson.

Seahawks will face a stacked NFC West

In addition to the pass-rushers mentioned above, this division might very well be the best in the NFL right now. The Rams added Pro Bowl quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions for a lesser signal-caller in Jared Goff. Stafford immediately makes Los Angeles a legit conference title contender.

In San Francisco, the hope is that last year’s injury-plagued team will be 100% and ready to go in 2021. If completely healthy, the 49ers’ roster is championship-caliber. Add in the selection of Trey Lance No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft and an elite skill-position group, and Kyle Shanahan’s squad should be a force in 2021.

As for the Arizona Cardinals, all they did was add seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green to team up with the studly DeAndre Hopkins. The addition of slot receiver Rondale Moore in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft could make Arizona’s offense truly elite should quarterback Kyler Murray take that next step.

An argument could very well be made that the Seattle Seahawks are a step behind all three of these teams. How unproven players perform in 2021 will be telling.

Seahawks have a lot of holes

Gone are the days of the “Legion of Boom” in the Pacific Northwest. There’s now some major issues on defense in Seattle. Primarily, this unit’s pass rush. Safety Jamal Adams led the team with 9.5 sacks a season ago. That’s never a good thing. Meanwhile, Seattle moved off its second-leading sack-getter in Jarran Reed during free agency.

Without much of a pass rush to speak of, the onus might fall on Seattle’s inexperienced secondary to step up. Unfortunately, the team also lost its top cornerbacks in Quinton Dunbar and Shaquill Griffin in free agency.

That’s going to be a major issues with the Seahawks forced to go up against the likes of Hopkins, Green, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp within the division.

We’re not ready to discount the Seattle Seahawks as a playoff contender. That would be utterly foolish with Wilson sticking around for at least another season.

With that said, there are a lot of questions in the Pacific Northwest following a drama-filled offseason between the star quarterback and his organization.