The Seattle Seahawks were hamstrung by a truly terrible offensive philosophy in 2019. Brian Schottenheimer preached The Rule of 53, which states that 53 combined rush attempts and receptions mean victory. Don’t tell this to teams like the Chiefs or the Ravens, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Anyway, the Seattle Seahawks still managed to produce some great fantasy football options last season… we couldn’t even get to Chris Carson in the five slots allotted. Here’s what to remember about their 2019 campaign when formulating your 2020 fantasy football draft boards.
What to Remember from the 2019 Seattle Seahawks Season
- We worried about the Seahawks finding targets for both Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. When the dust settled, Metcalf led all rookie wide receivers in targets. I would say they found some targets for Metcalf. Specifically, they found 100 of them which Metcalf turned into exactly 900 yards. Since 2010, ten rookie wide receivers have hit those numbers, and it puts Metcalf in some lofty territory. Odell Beckham, Amari Cooper, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas, A.J. Green, and Keenan Allen make up most of the list. It’s an illustrious list to be on for sure and usually portends a good career. Wait… what is Kelvin Benjamin doing there?
- While we’re talking Seattle wide receivers, let’s look at Tyler Lockett’s 2019 season. We all remember the primetime overtime 49ers-Seahawks tilt. Of course, we do, it was an instant classic. What we may or may not remember (because he didn’t even miss a game) is that Tyler Lockett spent that night in the hospital from a lower leg contusion and fears of compartment syndrome. Lockett returned the next game, but only physically. He spent the rest of the season mired in mediocrity, turning 5.7 targets per game into just 44 yards a contest. Prior to that 49ers matchup, he averaged nearly twice that (85.2 yards per game). There’s no doubt that the leg issue lingered for Lockett as he finished the year sputtering to the finish line.
- Poor Rashaad Penny never really got his career going through his first two seasons in Seattle. Now, he’s dealing with an ACL tear. Chris Carson took ahold of the RB1 duties for the Seahawks and never let go. That having been said, Penny never really had a bad game when given the opportunity. Penny played in over 30% of snaps in just three games last season. In those three games, he mustered 107 yards, 129 yards, and 62 yards. He might miss some or all of 2020, so this is one to remember deep in your library but is useful when he comes back this season or in 2021.
- Going into last season, I was quick to poo-poo Will Dissly and his 2018 small sample size. But, he came back in 2019 and delivered another small sample size that has me interested in him (if he can expand that sample size). Through two seasons, Dissly’s played in eight games where he did not leave with an injury. In those eight games, he played on an 840-yard, 12-touchdown, 60-catch pace. This would have been good enough for TE2 in standard scoring and half-PPR in 2019, and TE4 in PPR. The production is real, but he just needs to get healthy.
- We can’t talk about the Seahawks without talking about their quarterback, Russell Wilson. Wilson spent 2019 with regulators on, according to him. Wilson hopes to run more plays next year, and the downwind effect of that is a lot more fantasy points for Wilson. But is that in the cards? The Seahawks were eleventh in pace last season and scored the ninth-most points. Wilson ask had the third-most attempts in his eight-year career last season (516). The Seahawks aren’t built for a 600-attempt passer, but upping Wilson from 516 to about 550 will put him back in line with his 2017 campaign, where he threw for 34 touchdowns (at the same rate he threw touchdowns this season). Wilson is a locked-in top-five QB, and a slight uptick in pace and pass opportunities is all he needs to vault into the top three. He doesn’t need to do better, he just needs to do more.
Check out the rest of the What to Remember series as it develops!
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