John Schneider assembled an impressive number of immediate contributors

What’s wild about this Seattle Seahawks roster is that this actually marks the second time the team was supposed to go through a rebuild and has steadfastly refused.

In 2018 after the last members of the Legion of Boom rode off into the sunset, the media promptly prescribed a rebuilding season for Pete Carroll and Co.

They made the playoffs.

This time around, without their 10-year star quarterback, GM John Schneider has brought in nearly a quarter of a team that contributed to the Week 1 win over the Denver Broncos.

It’s remarkable, and really shatters the glass ceiling on what widespread estimates were of the Seattle potential this year.

Here are key contributors in the win over the Broncos, all in their first year with the team:

• Uchenna Nwosu, free agent

Nwosu will get the bulk of praise here, because as of Monday Night Football he’s the best acquisition of the offseason and it’s not close. The new outside linebacker had 7 tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss, a pass deflected, and was in on both forced fumbles on the one-yard line. This may have been missed in all the pile, but he and Quandre Diggs caused the first fumble, and Nwosu himself knocked the ball free the second time. He was an absolute menace out there.

• Shelby Harris, The Trade

Harris beat a double team, by himself, on the second-to-last-drive with 6:17 in the 4th quarter, to hit Wilson in the face on 3rd down, forcing the incompletion in the endzone. After the game he said “Let’s Ride”, and I love him.

• Austin Blythe, free agent

Look, it’s the center, and I know nobody watches unless something goes bad, but Blythe had two of the coolest hustle plays I’ve seen from a lineman in some time. First, he had the fumble recovery at the end of Penny’s 25-yard run.

25 yards down field. Recovered by a center. Man it was so cool. Later in the game, Metcalf caught a pass near the first down marker, and it was Blythe who suddenly took off to go get his guy. He didn’t make it before action resolved, but he was booking it. In general he held up very well, and this was a huge signing to stabilize one of the three holes on the line.

• Mike Jackson, signed to practice squad in 2021
• Charles Cross, rookie

This will be the last highlight before this turns into another winners / losers piece. Cross did give up two sacks, but had essentially stonewalled Bradley Chubb until halfway through the 4th quarter. He very clearly is not outmatched, and I think his rookie progression will be the most interesting outside Tariq Woolen. There are some incredible pass rushers in this division and he looks to be up for the challenge.

• Abraham Lucas, rookie
• Tariq Woolen, rookie

Coby Bryant and Boye Mafe didn’t noticeably stand out yet, and Kenneth Walker hasn’t even hit the field yet. Noah Fant had one nice first down but wasn’t a huge factor either.

Again, this is all both impressive (and useful!) because most of these guys are here for multiple years. The team is potentially set up extremely well for the future, or apparently right freaking now if Geno Smith can do this every week. It’s also a vast shift from multiple years of hoping one or two rookies can contribute by the end of the year, and missing big on signing after signing of tackles and defensive ends, mostly.

Once again - and even if they still lose quite a few games this season - the Seahawks have turned the ship around quicker than expected and reloaded a ton of promising talent onto this roster.