RADIO
Rishi Patel looks at the projected fantasy football production for the 2020 Seattle Seahawks to identify potential values and busts.
Since Russell Wilson entered the league in 2012, the Seattle Seahawks have shown stability and grit each and every year. Thus, they have made the playoffs every year since 2012 sans the 2017 season. Wilson has proved to be a force and has carried the team despite the Legion of Boom disintegrating in recent seasons.
Last season was no different. Russ kept the Seahawks in the playoff race and went toe to toe with their heavyweight division rival, the 49ers, in their two matchups. Despite the turnover on offensive and defensive personnel in recent years, coach Pete Carroll and his QB have always found a way to get it done. This includes winning double-digit games in seven of Wilson’s eight NFL seasons, an astounding mark that likely the New England Patriots have only rivaled in that stretch.
At age 31, Wilson will look to lead his team to the playoffs once again in 2020. Though it will be tough in a loaded conference, there is no reason to doubt that Seattle can’t be in the thick of things. For fantasy owners, there are some intriguing players on this offense as well aside from Russ. Let’s dive into the analysis:
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Quarterback
Russell Wilson has been sensational for his team and fantasy owners in recent seasons. He could also be labeled a magician for the way he has kept his team in games and single-handedly leading them to wins at times.
The Wisconsin product had a phenomenal 2019 season despite his notoriously leaky offensive line once again not playing up to standards. It’s amazing what the 31-year-old accomplished last year despite the constant pressure. He is also a model of consistency, as he has played and started in all 16 games during his ENTIRE eight-year NFL career.
In 2019, Wilson accumulated 4,110 pass yards, 31 touchdowns, five picks, eight yards per pass attempt, 256.9 pass yards per game, and a 106.3 quarterback rating. The QB threw for the lowest number of picks during his NFL career. He had 342 rush yards, three rush touchdowns, and 4.6 rush yards per attempt.
Russ had a total of 91 bad throws and an 18.5 percent poor throws per pass attempt rate. He ranked 10th among NFL QBs in bad throws and ninth in poor throws per pass attempt rate. This is not bad considering the immense pressure Wilson was under all last season due to a bad offensive line.
When looking at those pressure numbers, Russ ranked among the top of NFL QBs when it came to those stats. The number of times he was sacked was tied for first, he was blitzed the second-highest, he was first in times hurried, tied for fourth in hits, and second in scrambles.
Despite all the pressure against him, the QB still managed to rank fourth among fantasy QBs in fantasy. He ranked sixth among NFL QBs in rush yards, eleventh in completion percentage (66.1%), sixth in pass yards, third in pass touchdowns, fifth in quarterback rating, and 29th in interceptions.
What Russell Wilson is doing has been simply amazing despite the lack of a good offensive line and a revolving door of injuries to the running backs and receivers. He is a top-five fantasy QB for 2020 and a reliable QB1 in redraft.
Running Back
The Seahawks have several capable running backs on their squad in Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny, and former Texan Carlos Hyde. Not all will be fantasy-relevant though. Carson is the RB1 and the best RB from this unit to draft for your fantasy team. He led the unit in rush attempts, rush yards, rushing touchdowns, and rush yards per game by an overwhelming amount last season.
The 25-year-old recorded 278 rush attempts, 1,230 rush yards, seven rush touchdowns, 4.4 rush yards per attempt, 82 rush yards per game, 37 receptions, 266 receiving yards, and two receiving touchdowns in 15 games last season during his third NFL year. The Oklahoma State product had career-highs in rush attempts, rush yards, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns last year while amassing 1,496 yards of scrimmage.
Carson had 2.6 rush yards after contact per rush, 28 broken tackles, and 734 rush yards after contact. The back had 52.9 percent of the team rushes inside the 5. Whether it was considered under-the-radar to you or not, Chris Carson finished ninth among fantasy RBs last season.
He tied for fifth among NFL RBs in total rush attempts, was fifth in rush attempts per game (18.5), fifth in rush yards, and sixth in rush yards per game. With a major role and coming off a breakout season, Carson remains a solid RB1 in redraft leagues consisting of 12-14+ teams.
Because of Carson’s large role, this leaves less room for the other RBs to shine. Rashaad Penny could provide modest fantasy value as a backup RB. The 24-year-old played 10 games last season and compiled 370 rush yards, three rush touchdowns, 5.7 rush yards per attempt, 37 rush yards per game, eight receptions, 83 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown. The San Diego State product had 2.8 rush yards after contact per rush. However, the back suffered a torn ACL late last season and may not be able to come onto the field in Week 1 of 2020. Therefore, it’s risky to draft him considering his injury.
That propels Hyde to a backup role for the time being. The 29-year-old played 16 games last year for Houston and was stellar, getting 245 rush attempts, 1,070 rush yards, six rush touchdowns, 4.4 rush yards per attempt, 66.9 rush yards per game, 10 receptions, and 42 receiving yards. The Ohio State product recorded career-highs in rush attempts and rush yards in his sixth NFL year. Nevertheless, with Chris Carson occupying the RB1 role, Hyde’s fantasy worth heading into drafts should only be a flex piece. This is also considering Rashaad Penny may eventually return and slice into Hyde’s production.
Wide Receiver
The Seahawks have two stud receivers in Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, both of whom had somewhat similar numbers last season. When looking at the current depth chart on this team, both receivers should be considered equal in value and in fantasy.
As the leading receiver on the team, the 27-year-old Lockett notched 82 receptions, 110/517 targets (21.3%), 1,057 yards, 12.9 yards per catch, and eight touchdowns. The 2015 pick recorded career highs in receptions, targets, and yards during his fifth NFL season.
The rookie Metcalf quickly became a huge target for Russell Wilson due to him being 6’4” and 229 lbs. The Ole Miss product had a stellar first NFL campaign, grabbing 58 receptions, 100/517 targets (19.3%), 900 yards, 15.5 yards per catch, and seven touchdowns.
When looking at both Metcalf and Lockett, they both provide roughly the same fantasy value and they are also the only fantasy-relevant receivers on this unit as they compiled 210/517 targets combined (40.6%). Due to Lockett having slightly better stats, he finished 15th among fantasy receivers in 2019 while Metcalf came in 30th. Because they lower each other’s value, consider both solid WR2s with upside in redraft leagues consisting of 10 teams or more.
There is a huge drop-off between the top two receivers and the next two on the chart, Phillip Dorsett II and David Moore. Neither was all that great last season as Dorsett compiled 29 receptions, 54 targets, 397 yards, 13.7 yards per catch, and five touchdowns in 14 games with New England. This was good for a 65th place finish among fantasy receivers in 2019.
Meanwhile, Moore was on the Seahawks in 2019 and could only muster 17 receptions, 34/517 targets (6.6%), 301 yards, 17.7 yards per catch, and two touchdowns. Those numbers alone should tell you that neither would be a valuable fantasy asset to draft.
Tight End
Longtime Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen is now on the Seahawks. At age 35, the veteran is in the latter part of his career. Last season, he still managed to play 14 games for Carolina and notched 52 receptions, 82/633 targets (13%), 597 yards, 11.5 yards per catch, and two touchdowns. Among fantasy tight ends, he came in 15th. The Miami product isn’t playing at the level he once was due to his age, naturally.
On Seattle, though, the TE could remain serviceable on the pass-catching corp as he should only be considered below Lockett, Metcalf, and maybe Phillip Dorsett on the overall receiving depth chart. Heading into drafts in redraft leagues, consider Olsen a backup tight end in leagues with 10-12 teams. He could be of great value during certain matchups or when your other tight end has a bye.
2018 pick Will Dissly has had two potentially promising seasons be cut off due to injury. In his 2018 rookie season, the Montana native could only play four games due to sustaining a tendon injury. In 2019, he played only six games due to an Achilles injury. Last season, the 24-year-old mustered 23 receptions, 27 targets, 262 yards, 11.4 yards per catch, and four touchdowns. Given his recent injury history and now backup role on this TEs unit, don’t consider drafting Dissly in fantasy.
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