I have Wilson ranked as my #3 dynasty QB behind Rodgers and Luck. The main reason is that they drafted two WRs last year (Richardson and Norwood) and also tried to trade Percy Harvin for Jordan Cameron and Julius Thomas. While the TE trades were obviously a pipe dream, it tells me that Seattle is serious about significantly upgrading their receiving threats. Richardson and Norwood haven't shown too much this year but it's harder to get a lot of playing time as a rookie WR when you are in a run-heavy offense with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. As long as Lynch is in Seattle and healthy, they will probably stay a run-first team. I'm 50/50 on whether Lynch will be back in 2015 but he's a free agent after that so the chances of him being around in 2016 are minuscule.
Wilson's passing numbers did decline this year but some of that can probably be attributed to losing Golden Tate and not replacing him with another experienced option. Matt Waldman had Norwood and Richardson rated as his #6 and #8 WRs last year so I think it's pretty reasonable to think that at least one of them will be ready for a starter role next year. Wilson isn't he passer that Rodgers and Luck are but he's still very good. I think in the next two years we'll see his passing attempts increase significantly. He'll likely run less but should still contribute on the ground. All that's really separating him from being elite right now are those "dud" games where he only has 15 pass attempts. Those should become fewer and farther between in the future, improving Wilson's floor on game-to-game basis.
That's a good point. Hadn't considered that. Good insight.Are you a Seattle "homer?" Do you anything about how Norwood and Richardson (especially Richardson) have looked in practice? Is their lack of PT due to just being rookies, or is it because they havne't picked up the playbook, have bad habits, etc?
I know this wasn't directed at me but I'll take a stab at it anyway...
My understanding is Richardson has really started to take off by showing excellent routes and great hands. I think for him he wasn't getting in games as much because of experience and not being used for special teams, but since Harvin was traded we've used him for kick returns which also got him gametime route experience (the Seahawks value ST highly and if you can't play them, you often don't get activated). I think everyone I've talked to is very optimistic.
For Norwood it's different. He was injured to start the year and again it was tough for him (once healthy) to crack the active list because of Harvin and our need to carry Bryan Walters (punt returns). When he's been active he's been ok at route running but excels at being the big body and making "contested" catches.
With Kearse out for at least week 17 I think we'll see both of them active with Richardson sliding into the #2 spot in 2 wide sets and then get Lockette/Norwood out wide and Richardson sliding inside for 3 and 4 wide sets.
I think 2015 we'll see a lot more of Richardson as he becomes more of the Desean Jackson of our passing game (although temper that notion with the number of times we throw the ball). I like Norwood but he'll need to beat our Kearse and Lockette next season to get real time. And I also semi-expect the Seahawks to draft a WR at some point in the draft...