After making sure their All-Pro running back doesn’t retire and extended his contract, the Seattle Seahawks will look for more ways to improve their offense, and signing tight end Julius Thomas, formerly with the Denver Broncos, is a very good idea, albeit expensive.
Thomas isn’t re-signing with the Broncos, and is one of the biggest names in this free agency, coming off two consecutive seasons of catching 12 touchdown passes each. Sure, it helps to have Peyton Manning throwing you the ball, but it’s hard to teach the kind of size and hands Thomas has in the end zone.
The Seahawks were in the bottom half of the league (20th) in red zone scoring last season, getting a touchdown on only 51.5% of their trips to their opponents’ 20. The Broncos? Third in the NFL with 63.5%, although with Oakland leading the NFL in red zone touchdown efficiency, one might argue that it’s not the most important start in the world.
But when we go back to the Super Bowl and the interception on the final play, maybe the Seahawks don’t run a slant on the one-yard line if they have a big and capable tight end target for Wilson to throw at. Sure, they had the obvious option in Marshawn Lynch waiting to be handed the ball, but that’s dead and buried by now, although it probably still haunts some players and fans at night.
Thomas caught 108 passes for 1277 yards over the last two seasons with Manning have plenty of options to throw at. He’s probably not going to break tight end records in terms of receptions and yardage, but with Wilson desperately needing help in the passing game in the form of trustworthy players to throw the ball to, going hard after Thomas sounds like a very logical move for a team that will try to make the Super Bowl for a third straight season.