I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll repeat it. The Seahawk's defensive struggles have as much to do with personnel decisions as anything. For example, according to PFF, DJ Reed is a top 10 corner, and Griffin is in the top 15. Both guys are roughly the same age as Michael Jackson, who, although showing promise, continues to make game-changing mistakes. Imagine either of them opposite Woolen, and you have a formidable young secondary. Similarly, go through the roster, and you'll find several instances where we've moved on from good players and replaced them with young inexperienced players or career journeymen.
This season, it feels intentional, like the front office is choosing the future benefits of developing young players over maximizing our chances to win today. And our struggles were compounded by the injury to Adams, who the defense was designed to feature. So the team is still scrambling to adjust to losing him, which is why we still see Jones, who is not a better player than Neal but is a better fit in this scheme.
Finally, I don't think the team anticipated Geno being this good to start the season. And it would be easier to write this off as a transition year if both sides of the ball struggled at the start. Instead, the defense stands out because the offense continues to look good enough to win games while the defense struggles.