2009 Seattle Seahawks Predictions

The 2008 season was pretty much a disaster for the Seattle Seahawks. Coach Mike Holmgren was basically just fulfilling his contract in preparation for his retirement and every receiver worth anything was injured for most of the year.

Their quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, went down early with an injury and was out for the majority of the season as well.

When you combine no quarterback with no receivers, those things are going to make your running game suffer as well.

They stumbled through to a 4-12 season, which landed them a top-five draft pick. Did they do anything in the offseason to garner enough hope that they'll make a run this year?

Expect a better team, but not good enough to unseat the Cardinals in the division.

The Good News

The Seahawks saw some good things happen this offseason. First of all, Matt Hasselbeck is healthy again and has looked very sharp in the preseason. Having him back for a full season will do wonders for the offense.

In addition to getting him back, they also added a new No. 1 wide receiver through free agency. T.J. Houshmandzadeh comes to Seattle from the Bengals and should immediately be their best pass-catching option.

They will also see their stable of receivers from last season, including Nate Burleson and Deion Branch, healthy again.

Since the running game was pretty anemic last year, they also went out and got Edgerrin James to play out of the backfield. He should be an instant upgrade and will bring experience to the team. While he had an up-and-down year last year with the Cardinals, his run in the playoffs proved that he still had something to give.

The Seattle defense should be improved from last year as well. In the draft, they picked up what some people thought was the top player in the draft when they landed linebacker Aaron Curry. He is unbelievably fast and talented and should immediately have an impact.

This allowed them to trade linebacker Julian Peterson to the Lions for defensive tackle Cory Redding. They also picked up cornerback Ken Lucas to add to the secondary.

The Bad News

Although they gained several players, they also lost a few solid ones as well. For starters, a very good Giants defense snatched up their defensive tackle Rocky Bernard. While they picked up a couple of defensive tackles to replace him, you never know how it will work out until the games are being played.

They also lost consistent possession receiver Bobby Engram to Kansas City. His ability to convert on third downs was uncanny. He just had a knack for where the defense was and just sat down in the open areas by the first down markers. His contribution will be hard to replace.

Outlook

If you're looking for free NFL picks, I would say that the Seahawks will finish second in the division this year. I think they'll miss the playoffs, but will be much improved compared to last year.

Make sure you check out Vernon Croy's Expert NFL Football Picks this season.