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The Seahawks are mired in a rebuilding process that began after the 2021 season. They started with a relatively bare cupboard and an upside-down salary cap, so the process has been slow. It did not help that the offensive roster was full of holes when they started, as well. That side of the ball has received much of the attention while, for various reasons, the defensive additions have provided marginal improvement thus far. Looking over their defensive roster, this could be the year it starts coming together but a lot of things will have to go right for that to happen. This team might have better odds of picking first than winning a Super Bowl in 2024, but there are some positives.

The 2023 Seahawks were not very good defensively. The passing game was bottom third in yards, interceptions, and points allowed. Their 47 sacks were tied for 11th, but the run defense made up for that by giving up the second-most rushing yards and points on the ground.

The statistics were not pretty, but they resulted in less personnel turnover than might have been expected after such a performance. This likely had more to do with limited resources than a lack of desire to do more. Seattle added several bargain-priced veterans and used four draft picks, including their first round, on the defensive side. The new players alone will not be enough to get this team on a path to the playoffs. For the Seahawks to right the ship this year, they will need better play from their returning members as well.

Defensive Linemen

Coaches and general managers often say building a great defense starts up front. From that perspective, the Seahawks have laid what looks to be a solid foundation. Last year's free agent class brought them Dre'Mont Jones and the return of Jarran Reed. They followed up by trading for Leonard Williams, who joined the lineup in week nine. The selection of Byron Murphy II in round one this year allows the organization to cross defensive tackle off their list of needs.

IDP managers are not likely to find any diamonds among this group, but there could be some gold. Reed works at nose tackle in what is predominantly a 3-4-based scheme. The eight-year veteran was a second-round pick of the Seahawks in 2016 and spent his first five years as a 4-3 tackle under the previous regime. Reed's tours of Kansas City in 2021 and Green Bay in 2022 yielded modest production, so he went back to where it all started in the hope of re-energizing his career. It appears to have worked.

Reed's most statistically productive season came in 2018 when he lit up the box scores for 36 solo stops, 15 assists, 10.5 sacks, and a pair of turnovers. Those numbers made him the fantasy game's number-three tackle. The closest Reed has ever come to repeating that production was last season when he finished 27-27-7  with 2 turnovers and finished 14th. He has seven or more sacks in three of his eight seasons but two or fewer in each of the other five. On the other hand, all three of those seven sack seasons were with Seattle. Reed was a good DT2 for us last year. He is not a lock to repeat but is worth the risk as a late-round DT2 target.  

The Seahawks were in the hunt for a playoff spot when they made the trade for Leonard Williams last season. A 9-8 record left them on the outside, but the trade was intended to be more than just a win-now move. Shortly after his arrival, Williams signed a new contract to keep him with the team through the 2026 season.

The sixth overall pick of the Jets in 2015, Williams has made an on-field impact from the start. He has 40 sacks over his nine NFL seasons, with a career-best of 11.5 in 2020. That was his first full season with the Giants, and he also recorded 56 combined tackles and a fumble recovery to finish third among interior linemen. His second full season with the Giants saw Williams put up the best tackle numbers of his career, going 34-48-6.5 with three turnovers to land fourth at the position.

Williams has at least 5 sacks and/or 50+ total tackles in five of his nine NFL seasons, including three of the last four. He just turned 30 years old and shows no sign of slowing down. He is not an elite target but can be counted on as a priority DT2 with top-ten potential.

Dre'Mont Jones has not yet turned in one of those breakout seasons with double-digit sacks, but it could happen at any time. Despite missing a few games in 2020 and 2022, Jones has gotten to the quarterback 26 times over his five seasons. He is still looking for a 50-tackle campaign but has come close with 47 in 13 games in 2022 and 48 last year.  Unless you are in a league with more than twelve teams or deep rosters, Jones is probably not worthy of consideration right now. If he starts hot and produces early in the campaign, don't hesitate to pick him up.

Byron Murphy II packs 297 pounds of muscle and energy into a compact frame barely over six feet tall. He is quick and explosive off the ball and a low center of gravity helps in the battle for leverage. Average physical traits and mediocre production might keep Murphy from becoming an IDP star but his tenacity and ability to dig and hold ground against double teams at the point of attack will help those around him to excel.  

The Seahawks made no significant changes at the edge position. This year's reinforcements will instead come in the form of a healthy Nwosu Uchenna. The first four years of his career were spent with the Chargers, where Uchenna's role was mostly that of a nickel pass rush specialist.  Considering the limited role that saw him play less than 350 snaps in three of those seasons, his average of 21-12-5, with a turnover and 2 pass breakups, was pretty solid.

The move to Seattle in 2022 showed everyone what Uchenna can do with a starter's workload. He turned 952 opportunities into 42 tackles, 25 assists, 9.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 2 recoveries, and 4 swatted passes for his first top-15 finish. Uchenna was on a slightly lower trajectory last year when his season ended with a torn pectoral in week seven. The injury has healed and he is expected to be full-go at the start of training camp. The question for IDP managers now becomes, is Uchenna a top-20 edge defender as his 2022 production suggests, or will those numbers prove to be a career outlier? All we know for certain is the Seahawks are counting heavily on him.

A wise man once said that IF is the biggest word in the English language. If Uchenna is what they expect, and if Boye Mafe takes the next step in his third season, Seattle might have something at the edge positions. Mafe was the team's second-round pick in 2022. As a rookie, he was the third man in the rotation with Uchenna and Darrell Taylor. Mafe continued to share time at the beginning of last year but when Uchenna was lost, he stepped into the lead role and ran with it.

Mafe logged at least 70% of the snaps in ten of twelve games to finish the year, turning 808 plays into a stat line of 35-16-9 with 3 turnovers and 6 batted passes. That production ranked him inside the top 25 and made Mafe a decent second starter or quality depth at the edge position. As we approach the 2024 season, there is a chance we will see less rotation and a lot more of Uchenna and Mafe, making both of them potential targets as strong depth with upside.

Taylor's 2023 was rather disappointing. The 2021 second-round pick had a solid rookie campaign, going 27-10-6 with a forced fumble. The expectation of a bigger role in 2022 never materialized as the team continued to use a mass rotation. Still, Taylor made the best of his opportunities, recording nine sacks and five turnovers on less than half of the playing time. Strangely, when Uchenna went down last year, Taylor's playing time somehow went down as well. He logged less than 40% of the snaps in seven of the last eight games. If they put him on the field enough, Taylor could hold good fantasy value. After last year, however, it appears he may not get that opportunity until he escapes Seattle.

Derick Hall was a disappointment as the Seahawks' second-round selection last season. He opened the campaign, seeing about 35% of the action over the first four games, but it was downhill from there. Hall played fewer than 20 snaps in nine of the team's final thirteen games and his snaps counts fell to single digits in several outings after the team claimed Frank Clark off the scrap heap ahead of week eight. Hall will get another shot at earning a significant role in year two, but he will have to show improvement to make that happen.     

• Edge Uchenna Nwosu –Target as priority depth with low Edge2 upside
• Edge Boye Mafe – Target as depth with a high floor and high Edge2 potential
• Edge Darrell Taylor – Injury sleeper  
• Edge Derick Hall – No impact expected
• DT Leonard Williams – Priority DT2
• DT Jarran Reed – Target as depth with DT2 upside
• DT Dre'Mont Jones – Injury sleeper with modest upside
• DT Byron Murphy II – No grand statistical expectation
• DT Jonathan Hankins – No fantasy impact