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RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks report to 2022 training camp on Tuesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Here’s a closer look at a few storylines:

Biggest question: Can the Seahawks be competitive without quarterback Russell Wilson? Despite how it might have looked to casual observers when the Seahawks parted with Wilson and linebacker Bobby Wagner, this is a team in transition as opposed to a full-on rebuild. Shelling out big money to keep 29-year-old safety Quandre Diggs and other veteran players like running back Rashaad Penny and tight end Will Dissly says as much. Those re-signings, plus other marquee returning players (receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, safety Jamal Adams) plus two sure-fire starters they got back in the Wilson trade (tight end Noah Fant and defensive end Shelby Harris) plus a big free-agent addition (edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu) and a promising draft class that featured their first top-10 pick since 2010 (offensive tackle Charles Cross) leave the Seahawks with a solid roster … outside of quarterback.

Their defense and backfield look strong enough to keep them in games if quarterbacks Drew Lock and/or Geno Smith can be capable game managers. But can they avoid enough mistakes to play that way? And can they deliver in crunch time like Wilson so often did? If Lock doesn’t show that he’s worthy of a longer look, Seattle has the extra 2023 first-rounder from the Wilson trade to target his long-term replacement in next year’s draft.

The most compelling position battle: Will Lock’s upside or Smith’s familiarity win out? Lock and Smith are duking it out in the Seahawks’ first quarterback competition since 2012. That was the year that Wilson (an electric rookie) beat out free-agent pickup Matt Flynn (the presumed starter for much of the offseason) and incumbent Tarvaris Jackson (whom the locker room loved). The intrigue in this competition won’t come from name value but from how close it might be.

Some in the organization have anticipated that Lock’s talent (which hasn’t been his issue in three up-and-down seasons) will win out. But there’s a thought that he may have to win convincingly or else Seattle’s coaching staff will opt for the more known commodity in Smith and award anything close to a tie to the 10th-year veteran who’s backed up Wilson the last three seasons. Pete Carroll made it clear that Smith was still ahead when the offseason program ended.

The player with the most to prove: Can Adams return to his 2020 form? In his debut season in Seattle, Adams recorded a defensive-back record 9.5 sacks en route to his third straight Pro Bowl. He looked worthy of the big price the Seahawks paid to get him (a package that included two first-round picks) and to keep him (an extension that made him the NFL’s highest-paid safety). Then 2021 happened.

Adams was held without a sack and had as many forgettable plays in coverage as productive ones. He also played through injuries for the second straight year until his season ended after 12 games because of a re-torn left shoulder labrum that required another surgery. Adams’ dropoff in pass-rushing production last season was largely the result of all the attention opponents started paying to him after his record sack binge, which led Seattle to blitz him less often. He may benefit more than anyone from the scheme changes they’re implementing because he should be harder for offenses to pinpoint pre-snap. But he has to stay on the field for any of that to matter.

Fiercest fantasy relevant position battle: Can Penny last as RB1? Chris Carson‘s chances of returning from neck surgery continue to look iffy, with word still yet to emerge on whether he’s been medically cleared. There’s no question as to who would be the No. 1 option in his absence. Penny is the guy after his stellar finish to last season, when he led the NFL in rushing by a wide margin over the final five games. But you know the deal with Penny: his long injury history makes it unlikely that he’ll be there for all 17 games.

Even when he is healthy, the Seahawks will almost certainly try to manage his workload with an eye towards keeping him fresh. Second-round pick Ken Walker III figures to factor heavily into the backfield rotation one way or another. He’s a must-have handcuff for any fantasy player with Penny on their roster.

As NFL training camps swing into action, NFL Nation looks at the top storylines and offers a prediction for each team.
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What’s the deal with Metcalf’s contract situation? The Seahawks typically don’t finalize big-money extensions until the start of training camp, so they aren’t necessarily behind schedule with Metcalf. And they’ve sounded optimistic that they’ll get a deal done, but it doesn’t seem like a slam dunk given everything that’s happened since March. The receiver market exploded, leading general manager John Schneider to express sticker shock at some of the megadeals. Then Metcalf skipped mandatory minicamp with an unexcused absence, which was surprising given that he had taken part in some voluntary work.

The steep fines are a huge disincentive for training-camp holdouts, but the recent trend with Seahawks and other players in Metcalf’s position has been to “hold in,” meaning they show up to camp but don’t participate in any on-field work, thereby avoiding fines and the risk of injury. Will Metcalf do the same?

Camp prediction: Coby Bryant will be a Week 1 starter at cornerback. Seattle’s rookie corner has more than a famous name. He also has a ton of college experience (53 career games) and some serious ball skills (the best of any defender in this year’s draft, if you ask him). Those traits could make him more NFL-ready than most rookie corners drafted in the fourth round.

It also helps that the position is wide open. Sidney Jones IV looks like a favorite to start at one of the spots, but no one is entrenched. Tre Flowers won a starting job at corner as a rookie in 2018 — even as a converted safety. So Carroll isn’t afraid to trust young players at that position. For that matter, fifth-round rookie Tariq Woolen could factor into the competition along with Tre Brown and Artie Burns.

RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks‘ breakout candidate for 2022 isn’t a player, so much as an entire position group. The team is expecting big things from its tight ends — a unit headlined by newcomer Noah Fant and Will Dissly — and one of the reasons might surprise you.

While it’s a virtual certainty that there will be a sizable drop-off from Russell Wilson to whichever quarterback ends up replacing him, the widely held belief inside the Virginia Mason Athletic Center is that tight ends will benefit from the switch, as counterintuitive as it may sound.

Specifically, the expectation is that Drew Lock and/or Geno Smith will be more inclined to dump the ball off and throw it to the short-middle portion of the field, which is tight end territory. Thus, Fant, Dissly & Co. will be more involved in the Seahawks’ offense than their tight ends have been for much of the past decade.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, 25% of Wilson’s career pass attempts have been thrown zero to 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage and between the field numbers. That’s the fourth-lowest rate in the NFL among 55 passers with at least 1,000 attempts since 2012.

It hasn’t stopped Wilson from becoming one of the game’s elite quarterbacks, but favoring deep shots to the perimeter over shorter throws helps explain why his tight ends were rarely a prominent feature of the Seahawks’ offense.

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Over Wilson’s 10-year run in Seattle, they ranked 14th in percentage of pass attempts thrown to tight ends, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The only times they finished inside the top 10 were 2015 and 2017, Jimmy Graham‘s first and final seasons in Seattle. In the three seasons before Graham arrived, they were 19th to 21st. In the four seasons since he left, they’ve been 14th to 24th.

With Fant coming over from the Denver Broncos in the Wilson trade, and Dissly re-signing after testing free agency, the Seahawks might have their best group of tight ends since those Graham days.

In three seasons since the Broncos drafted him 20th overall — Seattle was preparing to take him with the next pick — Fant ranks eighth among NFL tight ends in catches (170), eighth in yards (1,905) and tied for 21st in touchdowns (10).

“Goals for Year 4 is to take that leap, right?” Fant said in April. “I’m kind of stuck at that high-600 [yards] ceiling, and I’ve got to break through that. I think I have every opportunity to do that in Seattle, and I’m excited to get to work to do that.”

Dissly’s receiving production has been modest by comparison — fewer than 25 catches and 300 yards in all four seasons — but he’s flashed occasional brilliance in the passing game and has been every bit the blocking force the Seahawks hoped he’d be when they drafted him to be a key piece of their run-heavy offense. He’s missed only two games (one was because he landed on the COVID-19 list) over the past two seasons after his first two were cut short by serious injuries.

The Seahawks are hoping 6-foot-7 Colby Parkinson can catch on after an injury-shortened rookie season in 2020 and nondescript ’21. Tyler Mabry and undrafted rookie Cade Brewer are competing for the fourth spot, should Seattle keep that many.

“It’s a good group,” Carroll said at the end of last month’s minicamp. ” … Will is an all-around guy. We can count on him to do everything. Noah probably had one of, maybe the most spectacular camps of anybody. I just thought he made plays throughout the whole time: down the field, short-area stuff, understanding the scheme, all of it. He just adapted so beautifully. I didn’t know him other than through the draft process, but he handled himself just impeccably.

“Maybe the guy that’s most exciting is Colby. Colby Parkinson really became a go-to guy, and he’s got that tremendous frame and catching range and he runs really well. … We’ve got a lot of flexibility with these guys, and they’re going to be a big part of what we’re doing.”

If that wasn’t the plan, the Seahawks wouldn’t have made significant financial commitments in re-signing Dissly to a much larger deal than anyone expected, then picking up the fifth-year option on Fant’s rookie contract, making him the first 2019 draft pick to have his fifth-year option picked up.

Interestingly, Fant’s old team helped Dissly get paid. The Broncos wanted him to help replace Fant, arm Wilson with a familiar target and get one of the NFL’s better in-line tight ends. When Denver made its push for Dissly, the Seahawks upped their offer to three years and $24 million.

A month later, before Fant had stepped foot onto their practice field, the Seahawks picked up his $6.85 million option for 2023. It was the first fifth-year option they’ve exercised, having declined to do so with their five eligible first-round picks since the options were instituted in 2011.

“Obviously, that was a huge testament,” Fant said. “It kind of showed their faith in me.”

Fant described offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s Seahawks offense as “very favorable” for tight ends, noting how the passing game utilizes them down the field. They’ll have a lesser quarterback than Wilson throwing them the ball, but with it could come more opportunities.

“I think what’s cool for Noah in this offense is, I think you’re going to get to see a little bit more of just his feel for football in general,” said Lock, Fant’s teammate in Denver, last month. “His savviness, his whereabouts of bodies around him, how he feels defenses … I think we could have maybe pressed the field with him a little bit more in Denver, but he’s going to have the opportunity to do that here, and I know he’s pumped about it.”