5 best Seahawks moments of 2024

Some really good things happened

1 - Hiring Mike Macdonald

(These are in chronological order)

For the Seahawks to fire Pete Carroll, the response had to be either Ben Johnson or Macdonald. Seattle could have really flubbed this up by not interviewing Macdonald during his first open window, but John Schneider was lucky to be able to circle back for the hire after the Ravens lost to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship.

Macdonald’s defense allowed just 27 points in two playoff games, solidifying his status as the defensive coach that every team wanted a piece of. This is a comparison of the Ravens 2023 defense (left) under Macdonald and 2024 defense under Zach Orr (right):

As a defense considered to still be a work-in-progress, the Seahawks have improved from 25th in points allowed to 10th, and 30th in yards allowed to 13th. In October, a finish like this would have felt impossible, and Seattle continued to struggle against good teams like in their loss to the Packers, but nobody expected Macdonald to take last year’s Seahawks and get them to the Super Bowl.

Or even really the playoffs.

All due respect to Dan Quinn and the success he’s having with Jayden Daniels and Kliff Kingsbury, any hire other than Macdonald or Johnson would have felt like a downgrade. Securing Macdonald started the offseason on the right foot and until somebody else proves otherwise, was Seattle’s best move of 2024. (But this order is still chronological.)

2 - Re-signing Leonard Williams

Trading a second round pick for Leonard Williams was not just a gamble, but a bet that not many would make because he had rarely ever been a team’s best defensive lineman. Until now.

The Seahawks had to double-down on their investment by signing Williams to a three-year, $64.5 million contract, making him the 11th-highest paid defensive tackle and third-highest paid on the roster; the kind of money usually reserved for players who sack the quarterback a lot, something Williams was only moderately successful at. Until now.

Seattle hasn’t had a player reach double-digit sacks since 2018 and Williams needs just one more to get there, putting him in the conversation as an All-Pro, something he’s never done before. U

3 - Drafting Byron Murphy

We’ll see what happens, but the Seahawks couldn’t have asked for a better prospect to fall into their laps at 16.

4 - Extending Julian Love

The Julian Love extension in July was definitely not criticized, but maybe there weren’t a whole lot of people who thought that it was all that necessary. The decision to extend Love at $11 million per season now looks like good foresight into the year he would have with Macdonald.

Though Love’s stats don’t really differ at all from his previous two, there is a clear difference in how Love is perceived among the NFL’s top safeties and he’s also in the conversation for All-Pro.

Had the Seahawks not extended him, Love would probably hit free agency with a bare minimum $15 million AAV price tag in mind. That’s about $4 million in annual savings and not unreasonable; Ravens safety Marcus Williams is making $14 million and he’s only the eighth-highest paid.

Love can argue he’s doing a better job with Macdonald than Williams did.

5 - Beating the 49ers

Most others are focusing on the games “Seattle should have won”, but why not pay tribute to the game that the Seahawks were supposed to lose? (And they call me negative.)

Shaping up to be another disastrous loss on the offense, the Seahawks helped themselves in all three phases:

• The defense got a stop to force a punt with 2:45 left

• The ensuing touchback meant that the 49ers only pushed Seattle back by 22 yards, so they really should have gone just for it on 4th and 6

• An all-Geno Smith drive called by Ryan Grubb (what, he gets no credit ever?) ends in a game-winning touchdown run

Had the Seahawks lost this game, we’re never even talking about them as a playoff contender in December. It would have also set Geno back to 0-7 against the 49ers going into the offseason and Seattle’s entire offensive complexion could have changed midseason if the Seahawks had lost this game and dropped to 4-6.

It’s really unfortunate that the Rams finale doesn’t mean anything to L.A., which is why they’ll be sitting their starters and focusing on their health, because that is another rivalry win that Seattle could have used, not just for the playoffs but for their own mental health. The Seahawks didn’t get over the Sean McVay hump this season, but at least they beat the 49ers and with Nick Bosa.

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