1st & Goal: Dave Wyman, Former Seahawks Linebacker

The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on The Zach Gelb Show. Time to preview one of the better storylines from the NFL last season. The Seattle Seahawks will do so with the former Seahawks linebacker, a bit a part of their radio broadcast team for the last few years. And that, of course, is Dave Wyman, kind enough to join us on The Zach Gelb Show.

Dave, appreciate the time. How you been? I'm doing great, Zach. Fired up for football season. So let me start you off because a year ago, no one was giving the Seahawks a chance. Everyone was poking fun at Pete Carroll for ruining the relationship right with Russell Wilson. And a year later, everyone's done a complete 180 where a lot of people are optimistic about this team. When you look back at last year, if we could shoot Pete Carroll up with some true serum, what do you think last year meant to him? Well, I think it was huge for them. I mean, I don't think that they're going to dwell on the whole Russell Wilson thing.

It's kind of a he said, she said thing. But if you're around the team and know what this team is about, the Seahawks didn't want to trade Russell Wilson. We do a show with John Schneider, the GM. We did him back in February and March and he's like, hey, this time last year, we thought we were going to be rolling with Russell Wilson. So yeah, they made the best of that trade though. I mean, if you go and look at the results of that now, there's young guys, so it's all about projection and hopefully picked up some good guys, but Charles cross and you know, guys like boy, a mafia, not to mention they got a fan and drew lock, you know, it's a, it's been a win, win as far as that trade goes. And that's, again, I think something that they really did not anticipate happening. So they made the best of it. And that's a, that last year that was a Pete Carroll special, that coaching job that he did.

I mean, taking something that's awful. You'd also cut Bobby Wagner. I mean, these guys were the leaders in the super bowl years and he made the best of it.

And I predicted they were going to be nine and eight. And the reason why was because of Pete and John, I feel like they've earned that, been to the playoffs 10 times over the last, well, their 14th year. So yeah, I, I think it was like I said, it was a John Schneider, Pete Carroll special last year, and I'm hoping for more of the same. And it's funny how it works out when you bring up Bobby Wagner last year, you thought he'd be in a great position with the Rams to go try to win a super bowl.

Then he had to leave the Rams this off season cause he wants another chance to go chase another Lombardi winds back up with the place that he knows oh so well in Seattle would have been the early reports here on Bobby Wagner and what we could kind of expect out of him, what he's been able to do in the NFL for so long. Well, first of all, he's in great shape. I don't see any of him having lost the step.

You know, there was a play everybody, everybody remembered from camp where he covered a running back on a little wheel route and 60 yards down field, knock the ball down. I mean, he's just, he looks as athletic and as good as ever. The question mark is how many reps is he going to get? Because he, if you look at his, his career, it's 97, 98. He doesn't like coming off the field and they have, you know, a young guy in Jordan Brooks that they kind of want to be the leader who's in his going into his fourth year, I think.

And then, you know, he's got, uh, you've got Jamal Adams, you've got, uh, Quandre Diggs. So how he fits in, how many reps he takes is really a mystery. I think to everybody, I actually asked that question in a meeting, um, and Clint hurt the de-coordinator didn't really, didn't really say anything.

Didn't really know. So I don't know what the plan is for him. I can just tell you that he looks pretty good. Let's get to the next down. Dave Wyman here with us. When you look at that secondary continuing off the defense, Devon Witherspoon could have a monster rookie season. We saw what Tariq Wouland did last year. Both those guys obviously have to stay healthy. You still got Quandre Diggs there on the back end and you're bringing Julian Love this off season as well. I look at the secondary. Um, yeah, I'm not going to say it's going to be the Legion of Boom clearly, but I think the secondary is a high ceiling here.

Totally. I mean, they're trying to figure out what to do, where to put guys. I mean, Kobe Bryant, who's a rookie last year. I mean, that guy had four force fumbles, you know, made a couple sacks. He was all over the field. Like where does he fit in? You mentioned Julian Love. If Jamal Adams is healthy, I think he could be a guy that starts up in the box playing like a linebacker. And that kind of feeds into the whole Bobby rep, uh, Bobby Wagner rep thing, you know, that mystery.

So yeah, they're totally loaded. And a couple of guys that battled this, this pre-season were Michael Jackson and Trey Brown. And they both did really well. I think Trey Brown might be the starter opposite of Tariq Wolin. We really don't know about Devin Witherspoon.

He's the big mystery. We haven't really, we haven't seen him in a game. We've seen him at practice a couple of times, but yeah, they've just, they have just an abundance of great coverage guys and a really good coach coaching them.

Carl Scott, it was just brilliant. And he repaired the past game defense last year. They were number 31 for two years in a row. And last year I think they were 15 or 16.

So it's gotten a lot better. They got a lot of young guys, a lot of choices there. Let's get to the next down. Dave Wyman here with us. All right, let's get to the quarterback in Geno Smith. As he said, everyone wrote him off.

He didn't write back. He wins comeback player of the year. He was sensational. Some people wonder though, how much regression is there going to be with Geno this season at the end of the year? How do you think we're talking about the Seahawks quarterback?

Well, I look, I think it's fair to, because the first part of it, you know, first what, eight, nine years of his career told one story last year told a totally different one. I mean, he was top 10 in pass attempts and this might be a team that passes more than it runs, which is unusual for a Pete Carroll team. Um, he was number one in completion percentage.

He was a pro bowler. I mean, I get that people are like, okay, I want to see one more year, but I think, I think you're going to see pretty close to what you saw last year. He made great decisions last year. Intercepted total went up a little bit at the end. I think he finished with like 11 or something, but it was still less than Tom Brady. And you know, he, he looked really good. And I think, you know, having another year under his belt with the same guy, Shane Walter, and knowing that he's going to be the man, I don't know if he can repeat what he did last year, but I think it's going to be somewhere close. He's a good quarterback. And you know, last year when we played the chiefs, Patrick, my home was talking about Geno and his spiral and his accuracy. And I'm like, Hey, when you hear it from somebody like that, you know, it's not just the, the, the team radio guy talking about it.

You know, that's, that's coming. That's pretty high praise there. And the other thing is I think he's in a great situation because you look at the talent, right? He already had DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. I know that Jackson Smith and Jigba had the wrist surgery, but he's already back in practice. Jackson Smith and Jigba could be the wide receiver that he was at Ohio State two years ago. You got three just unbelievable weapons to throw the football to.

You're right. You know, and JSN obviously unproven at the pro level, but what we've seen has been phenomenal. The other thing you've seen is Tyler Lockett is just the most underrated player in the league. I mean, if you look at his numbers and he's just got a very sort of quiet demeanor, he's a lead by example guy, just always open kind of like Doug Baldwin used to be back in the day. And then DK, DK is such a pro. I mean, everything you hear from this guy, first of all, he's just physically, I mean, he looks like a defensive end, but watching him out there work with Gino, the way he varies his speed and explodes at the end of routes and catch the ball.

And he's just, he's amazing. So I, I wouldn't be surprised to see both of those guys go over a thousand and yeah, anything you get from JSN, I think is kind of really like icing on the cake. So Dave, just going off of that, we talked about the praise for the wide receiving unit and how they added in this off season. Also the running backs too. You had Kenneth Walker's, my favorite running back in the draft from a year ago. Now you add in Zach Charbonnet, just continues to be a savvy team there in Seattle.

Yeah. And you know, that's something that Pete Carroll really, really loves is having a good run game. The offensive line looks, looks really good.

But yeah, those two guys, it's kind of interesting. Talk to John Schneider and Pete Carroll and you know, one of the things they say is that there's not a lot of really good tacklers out there. And I think, you know, that's kind of in the preseason mode.

Nobody's hitting anymore. I feel like, and I think Schneider felt this way too, that these guys can start running people over and you know, there's not a lot of great tackling going on in the league just in general. And you know, my question to him was like, do these two guys know that? And I think they do. So, I mean, you look at Charbonnet, I don't, Ken Walker's not a lower head and run somebody over, but Charbonnet is.

And you know, I think that could really kind of be that one, two punch that they're looking for. Both of them catch the ball great out of the backfield. So yeah, it's a, you know, again, they're young, but you know, all this talk about Reese Hall with the Jets kind of annoys everybody in Seattle because we have a thousand yard rusher here in Kenneth Walker and nobody seems to be talking about him that much.

And he missed some time too as well last year. Let's get to the final down. Dave Wyman here with us, former Seahawks linebacker, part of their radio broadcast team.

All right, I'll end you with this, Dave. You look at the NFC, the two best teams on paper, Eagles 49ers. After that, that third spot is up for grabs. I've been saying it all offseason. But I think the Seahawks could be the third best team in the NFC. What are kind of your expectations for this squad this year? Yeah, I, I feel like this is going to be a really good team. I just think in order to make that kind of, you know, like the 49ers, they screwed up that Trey Lance trade as bad as you can screw something up. I mean, three first rounders to move up nine spots and then you trade them for a fourth. Yet they still have, I think the best roster in the NFL. So that they're always going to be tough, you know, and uh, you know, I know Philly really good, but I feel like if the young guys come through and there's lots of ifs, I think here's why I'm an old school guy. You know, I played in the eighties and nineties when Chuck Knox would say, you lose a game for every rookie that you'd start, you know, and not believing in the young guys.

But I think if, if you believe in these young guys, I think they're going to be, they could be the third best team and the third best roster in the NFC. How about that? Dave Wyman, enjoy the season. We appreciate the time today. Thanks so much. Have a great Labor Day weekend. You bet. Thanks Zach.