After an offseason overhaul, there’s a definite layer of uncertainty hovering over the Seattle Seahawks’ new-look offense.
Barnwell: 2013 Seahawks are 2nd-best NFL team of past 25 years
That was reflected in ESPN writer Bill Barnwell‘s annual offensive playmaker rankings, which tabbed the Seahawks’ collective group of wide receivers, running backs and tight ends at No. 19 out of 32 teams.
During an appearance Tuesday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy, Barnwell said that middle-of-the-pack ranking is indicative of a Seahawks skill-position group that features both upside and question marks.
“I’m hopeful, but also skeptical, which probably reflects about a 19th-place finish,” Barnwell said.
The Kupp question
That mix of hope and skepticism centers in large part on 32-year-old wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who signed a three-year deal with the Seahawks in March after they traded away star wideout DK Metcalf.
Kupp racked up 7,776 receiving yards and 57 touchdown catches during his standout eight-year run with the Los Angeles Rams – including an astounding 1,947-yard season in 2021, when he finished with the second-most receiving yards in a single season in NFL history.
But since that historic 2021 campaign, injuries have limited Kupp to just 33 of 51 games over the past three seasons. And while Kupp averaged a spectacular 90.2 receiving yards per game in 2022, his per-game average plummeted to just 61.4 yards in 2023 and 59.2 in 2024 – which were two of the three lowest averages of his career.
“Cooper Kupp was a true No. 1, upper-echelon, elite-of-elite receiver as recently as two years ago,” Barnwell said. “I mean, it’s not like he’s that far removed from that point of his career. But he’s been injured off and on, and I think it’s hard to sort of gauge where he’s at.
“When I’m trying to project this, I’m looking at talent, but I’m also looking at the injuries and what are the chances that this guy’s going to be healthy for 17 games.”
What about K9?
Another big question for the Seahawks is whether running back Kenneth Walker III can bounce back in new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s wide-zone scheme.
Walker flashed dazzling talent over his first two seasons, rushing for 1,050 yards as a rookie in 2022 and 905 yards in 2023. But last fall, he struggled with injuries and ran for just 573 yards in 11 games behind Seattle’s subpar offensive line. Walker’s yards per carry also declined, falling from 4.6 and 4.1 over his first two seasons to just 3.7 last year.
“We’ve seen Kenneth Walker do it for stretches,” Barnwell said. “He obviously has incredible big-play ability. But he hasn’t been consistent. I think you’re looking at a guy who’s sort of a boom-or-bust runner, which is fine, but you have to boom. And he hasn’t boomed as much as I might like the past couple of years.”
Listen to the full conversation with Bill Barnwell at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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