2022 Seattle Seahawks Odds, Schedule, & Fantasy Football Team Preview
“You never know what you have until you lose it, and once you lost it, you can never get it back.” Ok, maybe it’s not that deep, but swapping out Russell Wilson for Geno Smith and/or Drew Lock is going to have Seattle fans and Pete Caroll realizing how good they have had it for the last ten years. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Seattle’s bleak outlook for 2022 and how we can capitalize on their downfall in fantasy and betting markets.
Using RotoGrinders NFL 2022 projections, we review all 32 NFL Teams this summer and uncover all the best bets and league-winning picks we can find. Among the questions we will look at to answer in this article:
- Seattle Seahawks Betting Odds: Betting markets have Seattle listed with the third lowest team total in the league – tied with the Jets at 5.5 games. Is that still too high?
- Team Overview: Just how bad is this team?
- Fantasy Football Drafts: Are there any players worth drafting?
Be sure to check out all the great sports betting, fantasy football, and DFS content available on RotoGrinders leading up to kickoff. We’ll be covering fantasy football for BestBall with Spike Week, rankings and projections, DFS preseason with RotoGrinders Premium, and RotoGrinders Premium and Sports betting at RG and ScoresAndOdds.
2022 Seattle Seahawks Schedule, Lines, and Best Bets
Projected Odds, derived & modified from data originally published by Sean Koerner here.
Win Total and Total Games Favored:
5.5 (-140) / 3 Games Favored ( 0 Big Favorites / 7 Big Dogs)
Betting markets expect Seattle to be one of the worst teams in the league with their win total set at a measly 5.5. That’s the same number as the Jets, while the Falcons (5) and Texans (4.5) are the only two teams with lower totals. Despite the low total, I am firmly on board with taking the under 5.5 at +120.
After looking at Seattle’s schedule above, there are six games that I would classify as “winnable”: Week 3 vs. Atlanta, Week 4 at Detroit, Week 5 at New Orleans, Week 8 vs. New York Giants, Week 14 vs. Carolina Panthers, and Week 17 vs. New York Jets. While it’s possible they pick up another win somewhere – maybe Week 18 against the Rams’ D-squad? – I fully expect them to lose the two road games listed above and would be shocked if they swept the home games 4-0. Russell Wilson is no longer around to bail out Pete Carroll’s way too conservative approach and the inability to win games on Wilson’s insane efficiency alone is going to result in a long year for the Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks Props
PrizePicks is a site where you can use your fantasy knowledge to make prop parlays and win cash. It’s also perfect if you love player props but aren’t in a state with legal sports betting.
Favorite Prop: Rashaad Penny UNDER 800.5 rushing yards. Penny finished the 2021 season on a tear rushing for 135+ yards in four of Seattle’s last five games. He totaled 671 of his 749 rushing yards over that six-week span. Clearly, Penny is capable of posting some gaudy totals when given the opportunity so why do I like the under here? First, I’m not sold that the opportunity WILL be there for Penny, at least to the extent it was to end last season. Seattle spent their 41st overall pick on Kenneth Walker and he’s likely to see some early-down work right out of the gate. Walker signed a 4-year deal with the Seahawks and it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if he surpassed Penny as the lead back at some point this season. Second, even if Walker has less of a role than expected, Penny will be running behind an offensive line that PFF has ranked as the worst unit in the league. And lastly, this is a team that is going to find themselves playing from behind an awful lot this season. Even in Pete Carroll’s world that means more passing and less of Penny on the field.
Seattle Seahawks Fantasy Football Projections
Team Rankings and Ratings
Offense Ranks:Rank 29/ Below Average Rush / Weak Pass/ Rank 27 Points For)
Defense Ranks:Rank 28/ Below Average Rush / Below Average pass / Rank 5 Points Allowed)
Opponent Strength – Rushing:6 difficult vs. rush. 4 soft vs. rush.
Opponent Strength – Passing:7 difficult vs. pass. 7 soft vs. pass.
I have said it a few times already but it’s worth hammering home – this team is going to be bad. Nobody ran fewer plays than Seattle last year (954) and a large part of that was because their defense couldn’t get anybody off the field. That’s likely to be the case again this season as they project to be a below-average unit against both the rush and the pass. Seattle’s likely inability to keep games close could ultimately hurt opposing passing attacks for fantasy purposes but could boost the opportunity for opposing “grinder” type backs to see an increase in volume as a way to milk the clock. That doesn’t mean we won’t see some spiked games from passing attacks against this poor defense but that targeting opposing rushers could be the “safer” approach.
Seattle Seahawks Top Fantasy Football Plays & Picks
Noteworthy Depth Chart
QB: Drew Lock – Underdog Rank: Not Ranked
RB: Rashaad Penny – Underdog Rank: 104 (ADP 103 / -0.96% ADP Gap)
RB: Kenneth Walker – Underdog Rank: 113 (ADP 100 / -11.5% ADP Gap)
WR: D.K. Metcalf – Underdog Rank: 61 (ADP 51 / -16.39% ADP Gap)
WR: Tyler Lockett – Underdog Rank: 94 (ADP 97 / 3.19% ADP Gap)
WR:D’Wayne Eskridge – Underdog Rank: 230 (ADP 302 – 31.3% ADP Gap)
TE: Noah Fant – Underdog Rank: 145 (ADP 164 / 13.1% ADP Gap)
*Note: Premium Subscribers can find updated rankings for Underdog Fantasy in the content schedule here.
New Additions of Note: Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Marquise Goodwin
Departures of Note: Russell Wilson, Alex Collins, Gerald Everett
Rashaad Penny has seen some steam on his Underdog ADP as the most recent update has his current ADP at 90. I wrote some thoughts about Penny under the ‘Props’ section of this article and they hold true for his fantasy value as well. The tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) summary is this – 41st pick Kenneth Walker is a real threat to early-down work and PFF ranks Seattle’s offensive line dead last. Penny could find himself playable in DFS formats with an injury to Walker or if his early season workload is better than expected but there are too many concerns surrounding him to make him a sound season-long investment.
The common theme here is that I want nothing to do with this Seattle offense in season-long formats. D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are both talented pass-catchers but this is a terrible environment for them to thrive. Seattle had a 56.1% pass-rate without Russ last season and I would expect a similar approach from the uber-conservative Pete Caroll this year. While Russ was able to keep Metcalf and Lockett’s fantasy values afloat with his ridiculous efficiency the last few years I wouldn’t expect the same to hold true with Geno or Lock under-center.
I have always been a sucker for what Noah Fant could be and he’s consistently underwhelmed in a similarly conservative environment in Denver. I am not expecting this to be Fant’s breakout year but think he’s a reasonable investment at his current Underdog ADP of 171. While I expect Seattle’s offense to be an absolute disaster, Fant should at least be on the field a lot, which is about all you can ask from someone who is currently being drafted as TE21. Seattle used two-TE sets on 45% of their snaps last season – the fourth highest in the league – and it would be unsurprising if that number ended up even higher this year.
Image Credit: Imagn