Seahawks hungry for more after season ends in wild-card round

After Seahawks safety Ryan Neal showed up for locker-cleaning day Sunday, he went into the training room around 9 a.m. to check out.

“And guess who’s in there working out?” Neal said to reporters later in the locker room. “(Quarterback) Geno (Smith).”

To Neal, that said everything he needs to know about the future of a team whose present ended with Saturday’s 41-23 wild-card-playoff loss to the 49ers.

“That sets the pace, that sets the tone,” Neal said. “When your quarterback is doing that, your leader is doing that, everybody follows suit. ... He was in there getting that work in. That sets the tone for what we want to do.”

The Seahawks, of course, will first have to assure that Smith remains the leader of the team — he can become a free agent when the new league year begins March 15.

But in what felt as consequential as anything that happened Saturday, Smith said after the game he hopes to remain with the Seahawks because he wants to “repay” the team for its faith and “finish my career in Seattle.”

Smith is one of 26 players who can become an unrestricted free agent, a list that includes a few other key players such as Pro Bowl kicker Jason Myers, starting defensive lineman Poona Ford, center Austin Blythe, linebacker Cody Barton and running backs Travis Homer and Rashaad Penny, who each ended the year on the injured reserve. Neal will also be a restricted free agent.

But retaining Smith will be the priority and possibly something Seattle will hope to wrap up before March 15 rolls around.

“Those things will work themselves out,” Smith said. “We’ll get to that when the time comes. But I feel really great about it.”

Bringing back Smith will go a long way toward solidifying an offense that was ninth in points scored in 2022 at 23.9 per game and 13th in yards at 351.5.

Seattle has some fine-tuning to do with its offense, likely hoping to add competition for the No. 3 receiver, and on the interior of the offensive line, and maybe addressing running back depth depending on what decision it makes with Penny.

Much of the offensive core is under contract (receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, tight ends Will Dissly and Noah Fant), and the team had rookies emerge as reliable starters — if not future stars — at right tackle (Abraham Lucas of Washington State), left tackle (Charles Cross) and running back (Kenneth Walker III).

Still, as the loss to the 49ers showed — the Seahawks gave up 505 yards, their most ever allowed in a playoff game — there’s major work to be done on defense.

And the biggest area of possible change is the front seven.

The secondary could return basically intact after showing a lot of promise in 2022 with the emergence of rookie cornerbacks Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant and with Neal also showing he can be a legitimate starter.

Assuming Jamal Adams makes it back from the knee injury suffered in the opener, the Seahawks could have one of the stronger secondaries in the NFL heading into 2023.

But Seattle needs improvement in rushing the passer and defending the run after ranking 30th against the run 2022. Linebacker is a particular area of concern, with middle linebacker Jordyn Brooks suffering an ACL injury Jan. 1 and Cody Barton a potential free agent.

The Seahawks also need to play together better on defense, an issue this season under first-year coordinator Clint Hurtt.

“You can see, we’ve got to eliminate big plays,” said safety Quandre Diggs after the Seahawks gave up eight plays of 21 yards or longer against the 49ers. “Explosives lead to big plays and we saw that firsthand yesterday. For us, you’ve got to understand what your task is every game ... you just have to understand what your job is each and every play.”

Diggs said one of his messages to teammates was to not just assume improvement will happen without working at it.

“Guys got to understand you can’t come back the same player you were this year — you’ve got to be better,” Diggs said. “You’ve got to find a way to find different techniques, find different ways to get the job done. Because you can always get it done.”

Neal seemed to promise that will happen, saying everybody “is eager and hungry as hell, just hungry and eager for more.”

But while there was focus on the future as players packed away gear and equipment and said their goodbyes. There was also reflection on a year in which they surprised almost everyone but themselves by earning a playoff spot in the first season without Russell Wilson or Bobby Wagner since 2011.

Barton admitted to feeling especially emotional after the game, in part because his future is uncertain, but mostly because he was hit hard by the sudden finality of the season being over.

“This team, there is something special,” said Barton, who said he hopes to return but knows there are no guarantees. “The camaraderie, the brotherhood, the relationships that we’ve had on this team, it’s been different from my other three years here. After the season has ended, you just don’t want it to end. The biggest thing I was feeling yesterday is just (being) grateful for these guys and to just go to battle with these guys — including preseason, it’s 21 games — and growing with these guys and seeing everyone develop as players and men, it’s pretty special.”