It's fair to be worried.
I referenced this a couple times in discussions revolving around the draft. Seattle needs to start culling the next Chancellor/Sherman/Thomas type of talents from the draft. 2013/14 are conspicuously absent those kinds of talents.
And it is for this very reason. Players continually wear down and run the risk of injury. At some point stalwarts that the team relies on heavily will suffer injury and overall, that incidence of injury grows as players advance in their careers.
Our core is moving into the nascent stages of their second deals. Odds are, several of these players will miss some significant time to injury, with one or two possibly suffering a catastrophic 12 month rehab kind of injury over the next couple of years. It happens all across the league. I don't see any reason to expect we'll be immune to the rigors of the violence of NFL contact.
Seattle is less equipped to bridge those injuries now, having a mature, expensive roster. We can't bridge sudden deficiencies with the Chris Clemons' or the Kevin Williams' of the NFL. This is a roster that can't afford to restock injury shortcomings with average NFL salary. It's got to come via the draft.
This is an important year for the Hill's and the Simon's of this team. These guys need to take the next step. I'm still expecting that to happen. I liked their advancement trajectories they showed in year two until they succumbed to injuries themselves.
I absolutely like the early returns on this 2015 class. While I hoped we would address the OL late in R2, I fully concede that getting an impact DL player is so much harder to achieve and is worth so much more. If Clark hits like it looks like he will -- he makes the draft a success by himself.
The secondary concerns me. Attrition has hurt. I've said many times, that losing Lane really foreshadowed the SB49 loss. He was the only CB on the roster who matched up well with NE's quicker, smaller receivers. But also the latest players added to the treadmill don't seem to be ready in the same way that Maxwell was ready to take over for Browner or Lane to seize hold of the slot corner job. Simon, Pinkins and Burley are still unreliable. Simon more so to injury. But as it stands, maybe two of those three don't even make this year's roster. The well has run a bit dry in 2013/14 and I think it's no surprise that Seattle is scrambling to find some bridge players to limp through this season. If Tye Smith can provide some quality earlier than expected, that'd go a long way to getting right in this area.
But Seattle isn't in a position to effectively reload at any of the Thomas/Chancellor/Sherman positions should one go down. And starting off the season still nicked up is an ill omen.
