New player misses 

The biggest challenge for the Seahawks moving forward is going to be keeping the core together. That means getting the core paid, and we’ve already seen how hard it can be to keep everyone happy. Marshawn Lynch had money issues before last year’s training camp, Bruce Irvin and Michael Bennett griped before this year’s camp and of course Kam Chancellor held out.

The Seahawks can’t afford to miss on free agents from here on out. That means if someone like Cary Williams comes in for nearly $5 million, he better work out because that’s $5 million that could have gone to any or all three of the aforementioned players with money disputes this year.

Same goes for retaining our own free agents. While it may be blasphemous, it looks like bringing Lynch back for a $8.5 million cap hit this year and another $7.5 million if he doesn’t play the remainder of his contract past this year, was a HUGE mistake.

Hats off to Paul Allen for not meddling and letting John and Pete handle all the football moves, but this is where we see John Schneider really become a GM. Before he only had to scout, identify and bring in talent and let Pete Carroll coach them up. Now he has to keep on doing that while also keeping his core players happy and paid. On top of all that, he can no longer miss on incoming free agents and big money players coming via trade. Now Schneider has to step into the role of being the GM of a premier NFL franchise.

Russell Wilson MVP?

Call me guilty of getting swept up in the Seahawks’ performance these past three games. And there’s no player who I’ll gush about more than Russell Wilson. I’ve chided him pretty hard early this season, saying he was not living up to his new mega-contract, but he is earning it in spades now.

With his latest 11 touchdown binge the last three games, and with the Seahawks having their way with teams, he should be in the conversation for MVP.

Tom Brady has proven to be mortal without Gronk, Cam Newton is winning but his numbers are not all that impressive, and Carson Palmer only does it with his arm.

The numbers back it up too. He’s only .1 percent behind the leader in completion percentage – surprisingly Kirk Cousins leads the league. He’s third in yards per attempt, and third in QB rating, only 1 percentage point behind Palmer.

Granted he’s only throwing for 250 yards per game, but has 450 rushing yards this year, only 26 behind Newton. While Newton may have Russ beat there, Wilson has a better QB rating, he’s thrown for more yards and is averaging more yards per attempt.

The problem is that many still look at the traditional QB numbers like passing yards and touchdowns when grading quarterbacks. Couple that with the Hawks’ poor start, Russ may not get heavy consideration this year, especially as there’s still the belief that he’s too reliant on his defense and running game.

With patience though, better believe he will have at least one MVP award in his trophy case in that fancy new Lake Washington home of his.

Photo credit: Flickr/Keith Allison