The second-year leap is really only happening for one player.

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty ImagesThe Seattle Seahawks are 5-3, which is pretty good, but the team doesn’t feel like it’s making that next step towards being a Super Bowl contender. Geno Smith is not performing to the same level he did last season, and that’s gotten the most scrutiny, but there’s another aspect of the 2023 team that has been lost in the shuffle a bit.

There was justified, widespread praise of the Seahawks’ 2022 draft class, which was integral in lifting Seattle into a postseason berth and immediately maximizing the start of the post-Russell Wilson era. Kenneth Walker and Riq Woolen were both Rookie of the Year finalists, and Charles Cross and Abe Lucas looked like bookend…