Seahawks Roster Ranked 1 to 53

The initial 53-man roster representing the 2016 Seattle Seahawks is set, which means it’s time for our annual ranking of the players from top to bottom.

This year’s Seahawks squad is again top-heavy with roughly a dozen blue chip players comprising the backbone of the squad that will carry the bulk of the load this season.

Behind them are many young, hungry players trying to prove themselves for the Seahawks- including eight draft picks and six rookie UDFA’s- looking to contribute any way they can to team success.

And now, back by unpopular demand is the Seattle Seahawks’ 2016 roster, definitively ranked 1 to 53 with absolutely no room for argument.

2016 Rank – Player – (Last Year’s Rank)

1. Russell Wilson (8)– There will always be morons living among us. You can identify some of them through comments such as Russell Wilson still is “only a game manager” and “only wins lots of games because of the defense” and “will never be great because he’s too short to throw consistently from the pocket.” Stop it. Just stop it.

The 2015 stats are impressive enough: 4000+ yds passing, 500+ yds rushing, 68% completion percentage, 34 touchdowns and eight interceptions, a league-leading QB rating of 110.1 and a fourth-straight regular season of at least 10 victories. Oh, and all this was accomplished even though Wilson took a jarring-to-think-about 109 hits. Oh, and he’s the first player in NFL history with 4,000 yds passing, 500 yds rushing and 30 TD passes in a season.

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One’s eyeballs, however, tell the real story.

When the offensive line transitioned from putrid early on to below average in the second half of the season, Wilson’s efficiency took off and at one point he had an incredible 24-to-1 TD:INT ratio over an 8-week stretch. It also coincided with getting the ball out more quickly and making fast, informed and certain decisions on where to go with the ball. Wilson evolved into a higher class of quarterback last year and the expectation is to pick up from there and be even better in 2016.

Not everyone will rally around Wilson because of his admittedly corny persona off the field, but make no mistake- with Marshawn Lynch enjoying the retirement lifestyle, Wilson is the unquestioned leader and heartbeat of this team’s offense and his teammates recognize and respect his insatiable will to win. No one will outwork Russell Wilson, and when the starting quarterback is first-in/last-out of the building, men follow his lead.

Growing into this leadership role in the locker room and into his skin as a great NFL quarterback, Russell Wilson- through nothing but four years of hard work and unrelenting will- has ascended into the pole position on this very talented roster and is now the best player on a very good team with still plenty of room to grow (pun intended) as he continues to better understand through experience what looks defenses are giving him and how to pick them apart.

It could and should be a while before Wilson gets knocked out of the #1 spot on Seattle’s roster ranking. More likely, he’ll make a run at the top spot…of the entire NFL.

Next: Two to Ten: The Blue Chippers