Seahawks heavily featured in ESPN’s NFC West All-Decade team

ESPN released its All-Decade teams for each NFL division, as voted on by the beat reporters of those respective divisions. As expected, the Seattle Seahawks were well represented across the board.

Russell Wilson was the Seahawks’ top player of the decade and that’s not really up for debate. Eight years ago, Matt Flynn was the presumptive starter, then a third-round rookie swooped in and won the job, quickly won the hearts of Seahawks fans, and won the Super Bowl. Brady Henderson listed Bobby Wagner as the honorable mention, which was a minor surprise but can make quite a bit of sense when you read his write-up:

Honorable mention: Bobby Wagner, LB, 2012-present. If your knee-jerk pick was Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas or Marshawn Lynch, consider: Wagner’s six Pro Bowls as a Seahawk are tied with Thomas for the most among the four, and his five first-team All-Pro selections with Seattle are two more than any of the others. Sherman’s tip in the NFC title game and Lynch’s Beast Quake run are signature plays, but Wagner’s overall body of work gives him the nod as runner-up to Wilson.

Of course, Wagner is still on the Seahawks roster, something that cannot be said for Sherman, Thomas, or Lynch. There’s still time for Wagner to add to his legacy as one of Seattle’s greatest ever players.

In addition to Russ, Marshawn Lynch, Doug Baldwin, Max Unger, and Russell Okung cracked the All-Decade offense. If you want to stretch this out further, current Seahawk Mike Iupati is also in at guard, but his best years were with the San Francisco 49ers. Okung is listed as right tackle because Joe Staley is the other tackle, but I’d just ignore the designation.

The defense features the main Legion of Boom trio of Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, and Earl Thomas, as well as Wagner as one of the three linebackers. While I would’ve loved to see Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett have some recognition on this All-Decade team, it’s hard to deny Chandler Jones and Calais Campbell their spots.

Lastly, special teams has Tyler Lockett as returnman — this feels more like “by default” because Lockett really has only had two quality seasons as a returner — Stephen Hauschka as kicker, and Johnny Hekker as punter/Rams’ best quarterback.

In total, 11 of the 25 player selections came from longtime Seahawks, with current Seahawk Iupati making it a fitting 12. Your NFC West coach of the 2010s is Pete Carroll, because... I mean do you really want to argue otherwise?

Here’s the full NFC West All-Decade team:

OFFENSE

QB: Russell Wilson, Seahawks, 2012-present

RB: Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks, 2010-2015, 2019

RB: Todd Gurley, Rams, 2015-2019

WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals, 2004-present

WR: Doug Baldwin, Seahawks, 2011-2018

LT: Joe Staley, 49ers, 2007-2019

LG: Mike Iupati, 49ers, 2010-2014; Cardinals, 2015-2018; Seahawks, 2019

C: Max Unger, Seahawks, 2009-2014

RG: Rodger Saffold, Rams, 2010-2018

RT: Russell Okung, Seahawks, 2010-2015

TE: George Kittle, 49ers, 2017-present

DEFENSE

DE: Chandler Jones, Cardinals, 2016-present

DT: Aaron Donald, Rams, 2014-present

DT: Justin Smith, 49ers, 2008-2014

DE: Calais Campbell, Cardinals, 2008-2016

LB: Bobby Wagner, Seahawks, 2012-present

LB: Patrick Willis, 49ers, 2007-2014

LB: NaVorro Bowman, 49ers, 2010-2017

CB: Richard Sherman, Seahawks, 2011-2017; 49ers, 2018-present

CB: Patrick Peterson, Cardinals, 2011-present

FS: Earl Thomas, Seahawks, 2010-2018

SS: Kam Chancellor, Seahawks, 2010-2017

SPECIAL TEAMS

KR/PR: Tyler Lockett, Seahawks, 2015-present

K: Stephen Hauschka, Seahawks, 2011-2016

P: Johnny Hekker, Rams, 2012-present