The Seattle Seahawks made a major change to their offense this offseason when they traded long-time starter and face of the franchise, quarterback Russell Wilson, to the Denver Broncos. Seattle will get a look at Wilson leading his new team right away as the Denver Broncos are visiting the Seahawks in Week 1 of the season.
Taking over for Wilson and opposing him in Week 1 will be Geno Smith. Smith enters his third season with the Seahawks, which gave him a leg up on the competition for the starting spot this offseason.
Smith beat out Drew Lock, who was acquired in the return trade package for Wilson from the Broncos. While he won’t be under center in Week 1, there are a lot of people that believe he will start games for Seattle during the 2022 season.
One of those people is Peter King. In his recent Football Morning in America column, King made predictions for the upcoming season, picking playoff teams and award winners among other things.
Some of the other things were guessing which teams would have quarterback changes and which wouldn’t. In King’s estimation, the Seahawks will be one of the teams making a change as Lock will be starting games by late October.
That likely means Smith will start six or seven games before Pete Carroll looks for something to jolt the team and offense. Lock has a big arm, some athleticism and the prototypical size you look for in a quarterback, but he was unable to put everything together during his tenure in Denver.
Lock went 8-13 in 21 starts in the first three seasons of his career. He led the NFL with 15 interceptions during the 2020 season despite making only 13 starts. Turning 26 in November, he theoretically has more upside than Smith, who will be 32 in October.
Alas, it is fair to say that Seattle’s long-term answer at the quarterback position isn’t currently on the roster. After deciding to not select a quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft or acquire one of the veterans that were on the trade block, the Seahawks have an eye toward the future when it comes to the quarterback position.
