Byron Murphy II is forgotten, but not gone

Seahawks questions aplenty, from trades (in and out) to win totals and what happened to Seattle's last first round pick?

The Seahawks will have a 53-man roster one week from today. They could have a slightly different 53-man roster only one day after that. Seattle is probable to make more changes after final cuts, but for the most part Mike Macdonald and Klint Kubiak will have solidified their decisions on the roster and especially those all-important bubble jobs.

Every week I send an e-mail to the Super Joes founding members asking for questions and opinions about the Seattle Seahawks. Here are this week’s Qs and As.

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Today is the 2,360th day in a row that I’ve sent out at least one newsletter about the Seahawks Seahawks, a streak over 6.5 years long!

Danno: Seahawks who might be trade candidates before the 26th? What about Christian Haynes? Did anyone else notice how winded he looked in the 3rd quarter? He didn’t even play all the snaps before then. He looked out of shape.

Yeah, I’ve mentioned Haynes as a trade candidate recently. Because the Seahawks have a new offensive coordinator, new line coach, new system, it’s not as hard to believe they’d trade Haynes after only one season even though the system was supposed to fit Haynes perfectly. Unless the return is another player, the most fans could maybe hope for is a 6th round pick.

I don’t think the Seahawks will trade Haynes, I just think it’s plausible.

The only other name that I would say makes sense is Derick Hall and yes I’m really reaching here to even think of anyone else. It would have to be a situation where one of the undrafted free agents like Jared Ivey or Connor O’Toole is just so impressive that Seattle decides to open that roster spot by moving a player with some trade value. However, Hall is backing up a 33-year-old who missed most of last season, so that UDFA would have to be a generational find.

If you think I should have mentioned (insert name) as a trade candidate, that’s totally fine but I’ve considered everyone and this is just my opinion. Which name did you insert?

Dave Stamey: I would love to see an article focused on the other NFC West teams... what are they worried about / excited about going into the season? Begaw!!

I covered a decent amount of the NFC West in last weeks’s Q and A. The only major update there is that Matthew Stafford returned to practice for the Rams on Monday, although that’s a long ways away from lasting for the entire season…or even making it to Week 1 without a setback.

But we can re-visit the NFC West closer to the opening game against the 49ers.

Scott M: Should I put up a thousand bucks on the over? 7.5 wins seems very doable....I won't hold you responsible. Just want your perspective.

Yesterday I was talking to some people about what I do for work and someone asked for my thoughts on the rise of sports betting and whether or not I do any content there. I said there are two major NFL-related subjects that I strictly do not cover but only because of personal failures:

A) I do not play or write about fantasy football.

B) I do not bet on sports or give people betting advice.

The first time I lost $100 doing either of those things, I quit, and that was over a decade ago. (I did make some bets on the draft in 2021 and I was so lucky to break even at the last second that I called that my one freebie and swore it off again.)

I would be surprised if the Seahawks went 7-10 or worse. Very surprised.

Grant: I've read/heard a lot of concern about the NT position (or lack there of) on the roster. Perhaps Pili and Bohanna are changing that for some folks, but to me there was never much to worry about in the first place. Actually, I think those people worried about the NT position are worried about the wrong thing. Instead of concerning ourselves with some player we don't have, we need to focus our concern on who we do have.

I want Byron Murphy in the game as much as possible this season no matter where MM lines him up. Investing in an every-down NT seems like a waist of resources to me, given who we already have on the roster, so I'm happy to role with Hankins or one of these gigantic younger guys as rotational players. Our real concern should be that Murphy isn't as good as we think he is. If MM isn't scheming ways to make him more disruptive, it's because he doesn't believe Murphy is ready, not because he doesn't know how to deploy his defense. It's not exactly fair, but my expectations are high.

I think high expectations are fair.

zezinhom400: Is there a tape study on Byron Murphy like the Zabel one you posted a few days ago? Curious as to how he's doing and what the future perspective is on him (I personally don't believe sacks are as big a success factor for his position as others might, esp in a MacDonald defense -- although they're definitely the difference in getting paid or not)

No, unfortunately. He did play almost every snap with the starters on the opening drive against Kansas City and on the second play he bodies the left guard and takes him to the ground.

ESPN’s Brady Henderson wrote about Murphy last week, noting some higher expectations in the building for his second season.

"The thing about Byron that we have to remember was that this guy was having a tremendous training camp last year," Macdonald said of how Murphy was playing before the injury. "That's a tough thing to come back through and play at a high level at the end of your rookie year. Still played at a high level I thought throughout the season, but he felt kind of a different level that he's able to get to, and that's what gave us confidence of what he could become. I think he's doing that again, probably even to another level.

Macdonald said that Murphy has come back in really good shape and “becoming the player that we expected”, but also kind of challenges Murphy to an extent by adding that “we’ve got to go make it happen now”. Is there some skepticism there for when the regular season begins? Or are we just not going to be able to see the improvement until then because we can’t really trust practice reports from the media?

Given how he played against the Chiefs, I would say that some optimism is warranted.

Eduardo: Seeing former safety Jamal Adams now playing LB for the Raiders and hearing Mike Macdonald's aim of finding more snaps for Nick Emmanwori, could the rookie step in and make himself a candidate for WLB snaps? Are the ever-evolving dimensions and demand of the modern weakside linebacker be partial to a guy with Emmanwori's size and skillset beyond just his obvious "Big Nickel" profile? Interested in exploring this possibility especially now with Tyrice Knight dinged up and LB depth nonexistent.

All-22 Films has made Nick Emmanwori film study videos after both preseason games and says Emmanwori is already playing this role in dime. So yes, you are already on the right track to ask that question.

Scott M: With Nick E-Man on the scene playing big nickel/LB/S, does that sort of by de facto push Spoon back to primarily outside corner vs Spoon in the nickel corner/outside corner role he had previously? I always really liked Spoon closer to where the action is...just my two cents.

My understanding is that Devon Witherspoon is still going to be the slot in nickel and that he’s still arguably a top-3 player in the NFL in that role. But the nice thing about having versatile players like Witherspoon and Emmanwori in the secondary is that you don’t ever have to commit to anything. Macdonald can move them around however he wants to depending on how it suits the defense in the moment.

Bill: We’ve seen lots of teams go from worst to first and win their division. I wonder if any team has changed OCs and gone from near worst to near first in offensive performance. I would love to believe that the dominance of the OL last game was real. Has it happened before?

• In 1989, the Blls hired Ted Marchibroda to be the new OC and implemented the “K-Gun” no-huddle offense for Jim Kelly and improved from 14th in scoring (20.6) to third (25.6)… then first, then second, then third, and Buffalo made four Super Bowls in a row.

• In 2017, the Rams hired Sean McVay as head coach and offensive coordinator, improving from 32nd in scoring to first in scoring with his own brand of a modern 11-personel, play action scheme.

• In 2022, the Lions started fresh with new OC Ben Johnson, who had replaced Anthony Lynn midseason the previous year. Detroit went from 25th in scoring to 5th, then 5th, and last year they were 1st.

It happens.

zezinhom400: Would you trade next year's #1 pick for Try Hendrickson, which presumably would be #28 or higher if we had him.

I would not, and I think if the Bengals could get a first round pick for him the trade would have already happened.

Overstated Bob: WHAT A RUSH!! This is the first time I've been so excited about who makes the PRACTICE SQUAD! We're frigging LOADED...Benton's Bruisers are making Smashburgers out of D-lines while Kubiak is playing 3D chess with Chimpanzee's on Offense. Overstated you say? Well, they call me "Overstated Bob" (one of the nicer things I've been called). It's my job to offset the perpetually underrated status of the Seahawks with my bit of overstatement. GO HAWKS!

I would be doing overstated Bob a disservice to add anything here.

zezinhom400: What will be the final score of Seahawks vs 49ers, Game 1 2025?

I like the Seahawks chances. I like their chances by a lot.

What do you say?

Seaside Joe 2360