After the Seattle Seahawks’ dominant and somewhat surprising Super Bowl performance over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos 43-8, the question on everyone’s mind is whether this team can build the next NFL dynasty. The last true dynasty to emerge in professional football was Tom Brady and his New England Patriots, who came to fruition a decade ago and remain highly competitive to this day. But Tom Brady never abused a team in a Super Bowl like what we just witnessed, and I suspect that 31 NFL teams are absolutely terrified of competing with the Seahawks in the near future. Is Seattle going to be unbeatable?
They seem to have all the pieces of the puzzle: great hard-hitting defense, a strong running game, and a quarterback capable of making plays when necessary. Perhaps the biggest indication that Seattle should find future success is his young age and promising careers down the road, though as we’ll discuss, this could also prove to be his downfall.
The Seattle Seahawks have taken advantage of several great recent drafts and used free agency to fill in the gaps and make this team awesome. While the early success of star players like Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Malcolm Smith and Russell Wilson is an absolute joy to watch, it will present a huge problem in about 2 years. Still on their rookie contracts, these key players make up only a small fraction of the team’s salary cap. But when it comes time for his first paydays, the team will struggle to manage his salary cap.
Because of these talented and cheap youngsters, Seattle has spent its money on many highly prized free agents in recent years, including Cliff Avril, Sidney Rice, Red Bryant, Chris Clemons, Percy Harvin, Marshawn Lynch, Brandon Mebane and Zach Miller. . With each of these players earning more than $5 million, there will be little room to re-sign their superstars unless drastic cuts are made. Unfortunately, they may start this year, since wide receivers like Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin are free agents. Pass-rusher Michael Bennett (who led the team in sacks) is a free agent, as are corners Walter Thurmond and Brandon Browner. There’s just too much talent on this team for the GM to afford. And while that may seem like a good problem, it could also destroy this list.
After the celebration and merriment in Seattle concludes, they will have to make adjustments. The team needs to focus on who its real stars are (Wilson, Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas and Lynch in my opinion) and focus its big money contracts on them. Most of the rest will have to make serious financial commitments or take their talents and paydays elsewhere! While it will be difficult for the Seattle Seahawks to replicate this type of success with new players, this has become the standard for the NFL in the salary cap era, and the Seahawks will have to rely on their ability to continue drafting players. . future. Only if they can continue to find impact players during the draft can this team survive their impending games and truly establish a dynasty. With the modern NFL having such a level playing field and its salary cap complications, creating a dynasty is more difficult now than ever. But after witnessing last night’s beating, I think anything is possible with this Seahawks team!
