How old is the defense?

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Not too many weeks back, Sammy and I kind of got into it a bit on our podcast over whether the defense is old or "veteran" or what.. and how that might apply to the window closing.

Fieldgulls finally got around to quantifying our argument for us:

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2017/11/29/16714488/seahawks-defense-age-earl-thomas-michael-bennett-clark-avril-sherman-chancellor-griffin-reed

The average age of the Seahawks defense is 26.75, which isn't young but isn't old either. Its 12th oldest..so very middle of the pack, and seems to be getting younger already. Avril may not be back, Kam we don't know.. new guys will be in next season I feel and the focus will be on young playmakers on D.

Hopefully as long as we have Wilson and a good D our window doesn't close and Win Forever.

I'm confident in our front office being able to continue their run on obtaining defensive talent. Are ever yone of their picks perfect? Of course not, but they've put together some great talent and I see no reason to think they won't continue to do so. Go 'Hawks!

When I think how old the defense is I think about how old the nucleus is. Those players have been the same for a few years now and I don't believe any of the younger players have become a part of that nucleus.

Kam, Sherm, Earl, Wagz, KJ, Bennett. = defensive nucleus. You can make a good case for Cliff but the idea of a nucleus is to pair down to the unreplaceable. This is how I see them. The younger guys haven't become a part of this group and are therefore expendable. Frank Clark may be the closest of the young guys and there's hope for Shaq but there is literally no one else. Once our nucleus ages out, we would be left with an entire defense of replaceable players. No one player to build a defense around.

Just thought of doing this: Who would be the younger, 2nd nucleus?

Reed, Clark, Shaq.., I would put Richardson in there but this may be his only season. Thats it. And they better be ready because our defensive nucleus is getting old and busted up.

I think Reed, Jones, Griffin will grow into real solid players, Jones has a chance to be a star. Clark I think is basically there...doesn't have the raw numbers because the Seahawks rotate so much. Its hard to say if we have new starts at safety because honestly, they aren't going to get on the field.

But I do think of Jones, Griffin and Reed as core members already and think they are playing at a high level..I worry what it means that Griffin doesn't have an interception yet though..

I love Clark and hope we can keep him. I also like Jones. Attrition is always an issue when trying to build a consistent winner. But our defense isn't that old. Avril & Kam may be done, but IMHO not because so much because of age but of the severity and possible life-long affects of their injuries. Are we getting older? Of course we are, but I believe we will persevere. Now where's the cool-aid?