Seattle Seahawks: Sidney Rice, not Percy Harvin, is Team’s Most Important Wide Receiver


Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Seattle Seahawks

Joe Nicholson – USA TODAY Sports

The Seattle Seahawks were one of the youngest, hottest and most improving teams in the NFL at the end of last season. The future looked extremely bright. All of this was before the addition of Percy Harvin, who was acquired from the Minnesota Vikings for three draft picks in March.

The last time the Seahawks took the field in a game this past January, the offense gained nearly 500 yards and scored 28 points in a last-second loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

The last 11 games of the season saw the Seahawks score at least 20 points in every contest, including an incredible three-game stretch last December when they scored 58, 50 and 42 points in convincing wins.

With this being said, before anyone thinks the sky is falling because Harvin will miss significant time, they need to understand that the Seahawks’ offense, which became great in the second half of last season, was when he did not play for the team.

Obviously, Harvin is a great talent and would have made an already good offense even better. However, the Seahawks’ receivers are in perfectly capable hands, led by the likes of Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin.

Another thing to consider is that the Seahawks are only going to continue improve without Harvin. With the exception of fullback Michael Robinson, who is 30 years old, the Seahawks’ offense consists of no starter older than 27 years of age. Virtually every Seahawks starter on offense is, at or entering the prime years of their careers. There is almost no way the offense won’t get even better this season.

If there is cause for alarm, it should be with Rice recently being in Switzerland with respect to his knee. I wrote this past offseason that Rice is a legitimate No. 1 receiver, and even if the stats don’t always show that, he is making an impact. Defensive coordinators are smart enough to double him, which leads to simply his presence on the field making the job of all other receivers much easier.

Great players make those around them better, and that’s what Rice does for his fellow receivers. Losing Rice for any significant time would be much more detrimental to the team than losing Harvin.

Anyone who says the Seahawks can’t make it to the Super Bowl in New Jersey due to having lost Harvin should commit themselves into an insane asylum. This is a young team that improved itself in the offseason and is only getting better. Losing Harvin makes the road to New Jersey harder to travel, but it’s a path still well within reach for the Seahawks.



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