2024 offseason questions: How can the Seahawks rebuild their tight end depth?

Brock Bowers is a fun but unlikely dream. So who else?

Free agency is nearly here, and the NFL Draft is soon to follow, so it is time to ask the prescient question… what are the Seattle Seahawks going to do at tight end?

Even if this isn’t the number one concern on most of our minds right now, it certainly will be when the Seahawks are facing a game-changing third down and need a big target to post up at the marker; or when they need to hit a safety valve with run-after-the-catch upside a’la Noah Fant on a 2nd and long. The reality is that the Seahawks are slated to have some potentially big vacancies that they will need to fill, and they don’t have a ton of cap space to do so. In fact, tight end may be a position where they can actually save money. Michael-Shawn Dugar put it aptly in his recent piece for the Athletic:

Parkinson is set to hit free agency at 25 years old. Fant, 26, will also be a free agent. Dissly turns 28 in July, and his 2024 cap hit of $10.1 million ranks 12th among tight ends. The Seahawks would save $7 million in salary cap space by releasing or trading Dissly. It feels unlikely that all three tight ends return, and in Dissly’s case, he probably won’t be returning on that deal as currently constructed.

While many things remain shrouded in mystery, what is clear is that the tight end group in 2024 is all but guaranteed to look significantly different than it did in 2023, on paper and on the field. There is little question that at least one — and likely more — of these players listed above will not be on the roster next fall. The real questions in my mind are (1) whether they will choose to rebuild this group through Free agency or the Draft, and (2) how critical they view the vacancy at the position.

Starting with the first question, I believe it is fair to say that the group of FA Tight ends is underwhelming. Not only this, but the biggest name in the draft — the Georgia Bulldogs star Brock Bowers — is all but assuredly going to be off the board by the time the Seahawks are on the clock. Most recently, the Athletic had him landing precisely on 15, which is one spot ahead of Seattle. Sure, there are some intriguing mid-round prospects like Johnny Wilson of the Florida Seminoles, who is listed as a 6’7 “receiver” who weighs a little shy of 250 and boasts plus speed… but this doesn’t seem like a realistic solution to a sudden lack of veteran leadership at the position. But it does beg the question: how critical will pass-catching tight ends be in this new offense? Well let’s take a look at some recent history.

Tight ends comprised 87 targets for the Washington Huskies in 2023, or 16.2% of the overall target share, according to Pro Football Focus. This number was slightly higher the previous season, with 95 targets in 2022 making up 17.3% of the total share. In the two seasons prior to the arrival of Deboer and Grubb, the percentage was technically higher, but the total number of targets to go around was significantly lower. In 2021, they collected 22.6% of the targets and 24.3% in 2020, but this was only on 84 and 25 passes sent their way in those seasons, respectively. So volume makes the source of the discrepancy difficult to discern. In addition to this, the Huskies had a triumvirate of talented receivers for Michael Penix Jr. to play with, so there was little need to question the formula. But then again, this isn’t unlike the receiving corps that Grubb will be working with in Seattle.

Whatever value the new coaching staff places on tight end remains to be seen. As mentioned above, Grubb is coming from an offense that was able to succeed without marquee talent at the position. Conversely, Macdonald is coming from an offense that has utilized Mark Andrews in recent years, as he finished third on the team with 62 targets last season (having missed half the season to injury), according to PFF. Whether or not Coach Mike expects this same level of production out of his tight ends in Seattle is probably unlikely/unrealistic, but in any scenario, they will be expected to run some routes and catch some passes. So… who will be running these routes and catching these passes, and where will the team find them?