Fantasy Implications of the Struggling Seahawks

Last week everyone wanted to know how bad Jared Goff was that Case Keenum was still the starting QB in L.A after a very poor outing on Monday night against the 49ers. Well, now that Keenum just led the Rams to a 9 – 3 victory over the Rams people are starting to ask what is wrong with the Seahawks? More importantly to fantasy football fanatics, what value will my Seahawks players have moving forward?

I am not ready to hit the panic button just yet, but I am concerned about the start to this season for the Seahawks. I will admit things do not look good right now, but let’s not forget they started two and four last year, before putting things together and going eight and two over the last 10 games. Though this year seems to be an offensive problem where last year it was a defensive problem. Because it’s an offensive problem we end up with a few fantasy concerns.

Probably the biggest concern is at the quarterback position. After two games, things are not off to a good start. Wilson is averaging 255 yards per game, which is right about his career average. His completion percentage is 63 percent, which is down five percentage points last year. Currently he is on pace for eight touchdowns, which should get better, but it is drastically down from last year’s total of 34. To me the most alarming thing is rushing yards per game, which is only at 15 yards a game. In week one Wilson suffered a sprained ankle limiting his mobility in the second half last week. The Seahawks said everything was fine this week, but the lack of read options and rushing yards this week leads me to believe he is not completely healthy. Some might say it was the defense, but I lean towards a bad ankle and an inability to cut hard on it. He looked like a pocket passer this past week, and that is not going to work well for him, his best attribute is his ability to scramble and keep plays alive. If that ankle dogs him all season we could see a dip in production, but if he can get it healthy I think he can rebound. Until he is fully healthy and scrambling in the pocket again you might want to consider other options at QB if you can. I would not go as far as Case Keenum or Trevor Siemian, but if you have a high-end QB2 it might be worth swapping him out until he is 100 percent.

Running back might be the messiest position right now. Thomas Rawls late season ankle injury last year may have cost him winning the job outright. Because of said injury, he was limited in offseason programs. That allowed Christine Michael to carve out a role in the Seahawks offense to start the year. At the beginning of week 2 we were told that Rawls was taking over the starting job, and those that drafted him finally exhaled. In the early moments of the game Rawls was struggling to get anything going. Before the half he suffered a leg contusion that sidelined him for the rest of the day. Enter Michael who ends up getting 60 yards on 10 carries and adding 26 yards through the air. Early reports are that Rawls is fine, but after Sunday’s performance we could be looking at a full-blown RBBC in Seattle from here on out. If both backs end up with 10 to 12 carries each week and it produces 50 or so yards, you could be looking at less than 10 points a game for both. So until one back carves out a lead role I would not want to be counting on either of them as a starter for me. I still think Rawls is the one to own, and the one with the best chance to take the job back, but he has to get healthy first.

Receiving options have always been pretty slim in Seattle. This year is no different. In most leagues only Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett should have been drafted, and both of these guys are struggling right now. Both guys suffered a knee injury in week two. While Lockett was able to return to the game, Baldwin was quoted as saying his knee felt “like crap” and to compound things he was also battling back spasms. I am not sure either receiver is worth starting under the current conditions. If you get return yards you could make a case for Lockett, and if Baldwin turns out to be completely healthy I think you can start him just because he will score points based on volume if nothing else. Ultimately I think their value will be tied to Wilson’s ability to bounce back from the ankle injury and get back to his old scrambling self.

Defense and kicking are probably two spots that you can still comfortably start the Seahawks. Steven Hauschka has always been a reliable kicker and the fact that the offense is struggling actually helps him a little, because it usually means stalled drives and stalled drives turns into field goal opportunities. I know this past week only produced one field goal, but I think there will be plenty to come over the next few weeks. The defense has looked as strong as ever. While a defensive touchdown would help their number more, they are only giving up nine and half points per game and 248 total yards per game. Throw in 4 sacks a game and you can see the defense is doing its job and maintains its value as an every week start for fantasy purposes.

It’s not all bad news for owners of Seahawk players. Like I said in the beginning I am not hitting the panic button just yet. I think the majority of their problems revolve around just needing to get healthy. The trick is trying to get healthy during the season, but the Seahawks have a bye in week five and it could not come at a better time. As long as they can get through the next two weeks with little to no setbacks they can get some much needed rest. Then coming out of their bye they have the Falcons, Cardinals, Saints, and the Bills. That is not a bad stretch of games to turn things around with. So unfortunately if you have Seahawk players on your team you might have to look elsewhere for a few weeks, but I would not dump or try to trade just yet, rather exercise some patience and try to ride it out. I would at least give them through their bye week to see if they can turn things around. Hopefully you still be in the hunt for a playoff spot.

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