2024 Fantasy Football Draft Prep: Seattle Seahawks player outlooks, schedule, depth chart and more to know

2024 Fantasy Football Draft Prep: Seattle Seahawks player outlooks, schedule, depth chart and more to know

While 2023 was viewed as a season in which the Seahawks regressed, there were key injuries that caused them to falter after a 6-3 start. This offseason, the Seahawks transitioned from longtime head coach Pete Carroll to Mike Macdonald, who was the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator last season. Macdonald will look to guide the Seahawks back to the playoffs in their first season since 2009 without Carroll.

Below the CBS Sports Fantasy staff will take a look into the Seahawks' entire team outlook including changes to the top of the depth chart that matter for Fantasy, a burning question for Fantasy Football managers that needs to be answered, a review of their draft class, strength of schedule, and individual player outlooks for all of the notable Seahawks players who may end up on your Fantasy rosters.

Seahawks 2024 lineup changes

Burning question: Will Seattle's run game improve?

The Seahawks finished with just 1,580 yards on the ground, which was 28th among all 32 NFL teams. For comparison's sake, Christian McCaffrey fell just 121 yards shy of that mark all by himself. The Seahawks' 382 rushing attempts ranked 31st, and their unwillingness to run the ball certainly played a role in the lack of points scored last year as well. The offense's 364 points could be much higher if only they threatened defenses on the ground. When the run game isn't a factor, opposing defenses can simply stop the run on their way to the quarterback, which makes life exponentially more difficult for Geno Smith. Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet are very capable backs, but the Seahawks are going to need to hand the ball off to them more frequently if they have any hopes of a top-two finish in the NFC West this season.

2024 NFL Draft class

Seahawks 2024 schedule

Seahawks 2024 player outlooks

By Dave Richard and CBS Fantasy staff

QB Geno Smith

Before you write off Smith (again), keep in mind that he did much better than expected in 2022, has a deep receiving corps and landed a brand-new offensive playcaller. Smith fell from 21.4 to 17.8 Fantasy points per game (six points for passing TDs) in 2023 despite adding touted rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba into the offense. His completion rate dropped but his off-target throw rate was still fine. He had a solid yards-per-attempt average year-over-year and a slightly better interception rate. But the lack of completions and a dip in touchdown rate (5.2% to 4.0%) made him a Fantasy bust. The Seahawks new offense will be led by Ryan Grubb, who pioneered the Washington Huskies offense for the past two seasons and does have an aggressive tendency to dial up pass plays downfield. It will also help that Seattle's offensive line should be healthier and thus better than it was for the majority of last year. Smith actually has bounce-back potential, but he also has a legit threat to his gig in Sam Howell if he starts slow in 2024. You won't need to spend serious draft capital on Smith -- he might not even get picked in typical one-QB formats -- but he does have mild appeal as a QB2 in Superflex/two-QB leagues in the same tier as Baker Mayfield and Derek Carr.

QB Sam Howell

Howell joined the Seahawks this offseason and he'll compete with Geno Smith for playing time. Smith is the incumbent, and our pick to win the competition, but Howell has a fighter's chance. If he wins the job or Smith misses time, we would view Howell as a mid-range QB2 who could be streamable in the right matchup. Howell has upside, especially throwing to DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but there's a reason he led the NFL in both interceptions and sacks last year. He has a lot to clean up this offseason.

RB Kenneth Walker III

Walker is an easy RB to want in Fantasy because he's young and explosive, but an underwhelming 2023 and cloudy 2024 drags down his potential. In the 10 games in which he had at least 15 touches last season, he averaged 16 PPR points per game. In the other five? 7.8 PPR points per game, though that includes a matchup he left early (9.2 if you take it out). The same thing happened in 2022 -- in 10 games with at least 15 touches he averaged 17.1 PPR points per game and did practically bupkis in the others. And since most of those touches throughout his career have been carries, not catches, his PPR upside is really limited. New Seahawks playcaller Ryan Grubb has a track record of leaning into the passing game, and with a dynamic trio of receivers on staff that figures to be the case in 2024. That stings Walker much more than the presence of Zach Charbonnet, who was active for nine of 10 games Walker had a lot of carries in and wasn't a nuisance near the goal line. Walker figures to be much more consistent in non-PPR than full-PPR, but in both formats he should get taken between 38th and 50th overall as a good No. 2 RB.

RB Zach Charbonnet

Charbonnet had 13 games last season with 10 or fewer touches, all of which came when Kenneth Walker was on the field. Not surprisingly, Charbonnet averaged 5.1 PPR points per game in those situations. That's not ideal, and unfortunately, it's not likely to change in 2024. Not only does new playcaller Ryan Grubb figure to prefer Walker to Charbonnet, but Grubb is more of a pass-friendly coordinator who has never cultivated big-time pass-catching running backs in his last three years of college football work. It pretty much wedges Charbonnet into a lottery-ticket backup RB who only should see lineups when Walker misses playing time. Walker has missed two games in each of his first two seasons. Be careful choosing Charbonnet over other backups who have more upside once you get into Round 9-plus.

WR DK Metcalf

Metcalf is a known commodity as a touchdown-reliant beast. Of the 29 games he's cradled at least 15 PPR points in over his past four seasons, only seven came without a visit to the end zone. That's not surprising given he's been top-four among wide receivers in end-zone targets every year of his career. Adding more to that role in 2024 is possible as new playcaller Ryan Grubb has consistently dialed up a large volume of targets to his wide receivers, but it's more often been slot receivers who have benefited the most, not perimeter guys like Metcalf. If you expect around 14 PPR points per game, Metcalf is your guy, but it's tough to expect more as long as the Seahawks receiver group remains deep. Think of Metcalf as a borderline No. 2 Fantasy WR in full-PPR who is still worthy of a pick around 50th overall, but his value is a little bit stronger in non-PPR where he'd be OK to take in late Round 4.

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Here's why Smith-Njigba is a deserving breakout candidate: New Seahawks playcaller Ryan Grubb has dialed up at least 170 targets to his slot receivers in each of his past three years. This includes any receiver who lines up in the slot (Rome Odunze lined up both in the slot and out wide for Washington as an example), but it's a near-certainty that Smith-Njigba will handle that role the most for the Seahawks again in 2024. That kind of potential workload combined with Grubb's creativity in scheming his receivers open should give Smith-Njigba the needed boost to be a solid Fantasy contributor. Best of all, you don't have to draft Smith-Njigba until you get near the 100th overall pick in PPR drafts (maybe a tad later in non-PPR).

WR Tyler Lockett

We might have experienced the start of Lockett's decline last season when he barely finished behind DK Metcalf in targets per game but was a good 2.2 PPR points per game worse (11.9 per game). That's a lot, especially since Lockett averaged slightly more Fantasy points than Metcalf in the two seasons prior. New playcaller Ryan Grubb has shown a tendency to over-target his receivers, but that includes the slot, which is where Lockett might play a decent amount, but not as much as Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The expectation is that Lockett will still see solid target volume but be inconsistent with his production. He's a decent late-round value (think Round 11) but not someone worth prioritizing.

TE Noah Fant

There's only one reason to even consider drafting Fant: His Week 1 matchup against the Broncos, who were terrible against tight ends and didn't do much to improve their coverage against them this year. Fant's been an underachiever in Fantasy for each of the past two seasons (since he left Denver) and even the new Seattle offense isn't enough to get excited about his prospects for more targets. Unless you're looking for a Week 1 sleeper, keep Fant off your rosters.

TE AJ Barner

Barner figures to compete for playing time this preseason with the Seahawks. A one-year starter at Michigan, Barner has good acceleration and jumping skills to assimilate into a pro-style offense. His issue is that he's blocked for playing time by Noah Fant and is in an offense that seems tailored to wide receivers, not so much tight ends. Barner is barely on the Dynasty radar as a late-round pick in rookie-only drafts.

K Jason Myers

Myers has finished in the top six among kickers in Fantasy points per game in each of the past two seasons. Seattle's offense has provided him with plenty of field-goal tries, including 42 last year to lead the NFL. Seattle's new playcaller figures to be more aggressive than the prior playcaller was, which could lead to fewer attempts for Myers. That's not enough to consider him an unworthy Fantasy starter to begin the season, however. You can take him with one of your last two picks.

Seahawks DST

If you're looking for an early-season DST to stream, consider the Seahawks. Their first game of the year is home against the Broncos and rookie QB Bo Nix. Then their second game is against the Patriots, an offense that shouldn't scare too many people. That should set up nicely for the defense to have a feisty start. After that they take on the Dolphins and Lions, two offenses that can put up points, so you might be done with the Seahawks by then. But it's worth noting that this unit made two key additions: rookie defensive tackle Byron Murphy and head coach/defensive guru Mike McDonald. The latter could have a sizable impact on how the Seahawks operate since he comes from the Harbaugh coaching tree and may run more man coverage than the Hawks have had in the past.