Analysis: 4 Seahawks Poised to Benefit Most From Bye Week
Sometimes, players just need a clean break to restart their season. Whether it is because of an injury or the need for extra time to self scout, bye weeks can be beneficial for players and coaches to work on their craft.
Heading into the second half of the season, here are four Seattle Seahawks primed to benefit most from having a week off:
Devon Witherspoon
Witherspoon has had a very odd third season so far to say the least. While many were expecting a breakout year from Spoon, that hasn’t exactly come to fruition due to a lingering knee injury that kept him out of the lineup in five of the first seven games. And when healthy, he has not looked the part of a former top-five pick.
According to Pro Football Reference, Witherspoon has been targeted 13 times in coverage, allowing 11 completions for 95 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns for a 136.7 passer rating. That’s a small sample size and it’s worth noting that he wasn’t close to 100 percent when he played in Week 4 against the Cardinals, but those are still dreadful numbers.
Considering that Spoon hasn’t played up to standards and has been dealing with injury issues for much of this season, a bye week was completely necessary for him. Hopefully that extra week helped him finally get over the hump with his knee issues and the Seahawks will see a return to form from the game wrecking do-it-all cornerback in the second half.
Klint Kubiak
This one might surprise some people, but it does make some sense after the past couple of games. Kubiak has been a good play caller this season, particularly scheming up the passing game to help Sam Darnold thrive on play action. However, getting too cute has been an issue for him on several occasions.
The latest example of Kubiak’s own smarts getting in the way came on a passing play against the Texans where receiver Cooper Kupp rolled out to pass near the red zone on a trick play. The pass was intended for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but unfortunately the pass was so poorly thrown that it was easily intercepted by Texans safety Calen Bullock. Taking the ball out of Darnold’s hands proved to be a disastrous decision and cost the Seahawks at least three points.
In the fourth quarter, after the ‘Hawks had built a comfortable two score lead, Kubiak made several other questionable decisions as a play caller. Instead of running the ball to work the clock, Kubiak he decided to call a bunch of pass plays, and one of them ended up being intercepted on a poor throw by Darnold. Fortunately, the Texans got stopped at the goal line on the ensuing drive, or else that game may have ended up going down to the wire when it shouldn’t have.
Coming off one of his worst games, Kubiak absolutely needed time to go back to the drawing board. The Hawks should’ve beat the Texans by a lot more, but because of those questionable calls, the game wound up being way closer than it needed to be. Hopefully the bye provided a chance for reflection and he will be far sharper in the second half.
Boye Mafe
Mafe, who is in a contract year, has endured a challenging fourth season thus far. Along with only nine total tackles, he has yet to record a sack and has just two quarterback hits so far in seven games. He does have more than 20 quarterback pressures, per PFF, so he hasn’t been a complete non factor, but those pressures have yet to turn into much actual on-field production as a pass rusher.
If Mafe wants to have any chance of earning a second contract with the Hawks, now is the time for him to show what he can do with two months and change left to play. In previous seasons, he has proven that he can be a disruptive pass rusher, and if he can rediscover the juice that helped him nearly hit double digit sacks in 2023 coming off the bye, that would be a major boost for an already top-five caliber defense.
Anthony Bradford
To say things have been rough for Bradford so far this season would be an understatement, as he has struggled mightily at the right guard spot once again. Pro Football Focus currently has him rated as the 73rd best guard in the league out of 81 qualified players with a 44.4 overall grade. His pass block grade currently stands as 79th in the league out of 81 guards with a grade of 18.0 (!). His run block grade currently stands as 46th in the league out of 81 guards with a grade of 57.8. None of those numbers are satisfactory, especially with a sub-96% Pass Block Efficiency rate.
While Bradford has cut down significantly on penalties after drawing 10 of them last season, it can be argued nobody needed the week off more than the former fourth round pick as he aims to turn his season around. With the trade deadline coming up on November 4, playing better in Washington may be the difference on whether he remains the starter or not in the second half.
