By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times
We’re getting down to it now with our Seahawks roster countdown with training camp opening Wednesday, as we’ve reached the top 20 players. In our second-to-last installment, let’s look at players 20-11.
20. Punter Michael Dickson
Potential role in 2023: Starting punter.
Why he’s ranked here: Dickson, 27, has three years left on his contract, assuring Seattle it will have what is consistently about the best punting possible in the NFL. Dickson’s per-punt average of 47.57 yards is the best in NFL history.
19. Center Evan Brown
Potential role in 2023: Starting center.
Why he’s ranked here: Brown was a starting guard for the Lions a year ago, but the Seahawks view him as a center, where he started 12 games in 2021 for Detroit when he was ranked as the seventh-best pass-blocking center by Pro Football Focus. Brown will have to hold off rookie Olu Oluwatimi to win the job, and Brown’s contract — a one-year deal worth up to $2.25 million but with only $1 million guaranteed — doesn’t assure anything. But the early returns on Brown’s performance in the spring were encouraging, and he’ll enter camp with the center job his to lose.
18. Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Potential role in 2023: A starter in three-receiver sets focusing on the slot position.
Why he’s ranked here: The 20th overall pick in the 2023 draft and the third-highest drafted receiver in team history, Smith-Njigba will have a big role in the offense. Smith-Njigba ran 83% of his snaps from the slot at Ohio State, according to Pro Football Focus, and he’ll likely start his Seattle career playing mostly there as well with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf on the outside.
17. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon
Potential role in 2023: Starting outside cornerback or nickel back.
Why he’s ranked here: The fifth overall pick in the draft — and the second-highest drafted corner in team history behind only Shawn Springs at three in 1997 — will undoubtedly have a major role this season. The only question is where, as Witherspoon was used as the nickel at the end of the offseason program, with coach Pete Carroll saying the team could use him there once the season begins. One intriguing thought is that Witherspoon could start on the outside in the base defense and then move inside in the nickel, thus being on the field full time but playing multiple roles — and with playing inside allowing the physicality that so enamored the team to be more of a factor.
16. Tight end Noah Fant
Potential role in 2023: Co-starting tight end.
Why he’s ranked here: Fant returns for his second season in Seattle again expected to essentially share the starting role with Will Dissly. Fant, who was used in either the slot or split out wide 54.4% of the time last season, again projects to be more of the receiving tight end, with Dissly again used more in-line. The Seahawks, though, will be hoping to get a little more production out of Fant, who had 50 catches for 486 yards last season, down from 68 for 670 the year before with Denver.
15. Left guard Damien Lewis
Potential role in 2023: Starting left guard.
Why he’s ranked here: Lewis might have been one of Seattle’s more underrated players a year ago, with Pro Football Focus ranking him as the 11th-best guard in the NFL at the end of the year and ranked 19th as both a run and pass blocker. Lewis is also entering the final season of his four-year rookie deal and will be vying to turn in another strong season to earn a big contract next spring.
14. Right tackle Abraham Lucas
Potential role in 2023: Starting right tackle.
Why he’s ranked here: Lucas had a solid rookie season that did nothing to dissuade the idea he could be a fixture on Seattle’s offensive line for years to come. He was limited in the offseason program after having shoulder surgery. Assuming he’s healthy when camp begins, he’ll be back with the starters, serving as a bookend with fellow 2022 rookie Charles Cross.
13. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed
Potential role in 2023: Starting defensive tackle.
Why he’s ranked here: Reed, a second-round pick of the Seahawks in 2016, returned after one season in Kansas City and another in Green Bay on a two-year deal worth up to $9 million but with a cap number this year of just $3.03 million with the expectation that he will team with fellow free-agent signee Dre’Mont Jones as the starting tackles in the team’s base 3-4 defense. The Seahawks won’t be expecting the 10 1/2 sacks he had in 2018, but they are expecting that the duo of Reed and Jones will hold up better than what they had last season.
12. Tight end Will Dissly
Potential role in 2023: Co-starting tight end.
Why he’s ranked here: As noted in the item on Fant, Dissly projects to again play more as the in-line tight end with Fant used more in the slot and split out. Still, the Seahawks will also look for ways to get Dissly involved in the passing game — he had career highs of 34 receptions and 349 yards before suffering a knee injury that held him out the last two games. Dissly appeared to be fully healthy in the spring.
11. Safety Jamal Adams
Potential role in 2023: Once healthy, once again the starting strong safety.
Why he’s ranked here: The health and availability of Adams will be one of the big stories of the beginning of fall camp after he suffered a torn quad in the second quarter of the first game of the 2022 season. And once he’s healthy, the Seahawks hope to go back to the plan they had a year ago to move Adams around more and get him as close to the line of scrimmage as often as possible — alignments in which Julian Love could be used as the other deep safety along with Quandre Diggs. Adams carries the highest cap hit on the team this year at $18.1 million but has no guaranteed money in his deal after this year. So, it’s fair to say Adams is playing for his Seattle/NFL future this season.
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