The Seahawks All-Value Team for 2017
By Ben Renner
1. Tyler Lockett, WR
This was a tough call because I could include any of the Seahawks’ three primary running backs as the most valuable by salary. C.J. Prosise, Thomas Rawls, and Eddie Lacy are all talented backs with the potential to form a renewed and effective running game in 2017.
But all three have some questions. Prosise only played six games his rookie season in 2016. Rawls has injury questions heading into his third season, and Lacy was cast out of Green Bay for ineffectiveness. Anyone can get hurt playing football at any time (and recent scientific studies show grim data about basically everyone getting brain injuries–that’s another article). But if disaster strikes the Seahawks backfield–comprised of players with injury histories–in 2017, those three players will return almost no value in 2017, even if they’re all signed to cheap contracts.
Sure, Tyler Lockett, in the third year of his rookie deal for $3.3 million, is coming off a serious leg injury of his own, but we’ve seen the damage he can do. His broken leg has healed well, and while I’m sure Lockett himself would disagree with me, he’s slightly lucky to have suffered a broken leg and not a torn ligament or a soft-tissue injury. Injuries to tendons and muscles can linger, even with the modern miracle of ACL surgery, while broken bones often heal stronger than they did before.
I’m not a doctor, and Lockett still holds some degree of injury risk, but if he takes a larger role in the offense as a deep threat and all-around speed demon, he’ll turn a solid Seahawks offense into an excellent one.
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The Seahawks could return a ton of value in 2017. They’re once again loaded on defense and if things break the right way, their offense could be loaded as well. Many other players will contribute to success in 2017. Who have I missed?