Is DeMarcus Lawrence better than we think? Seahawks edge defense preview

The Seahawks haven't had a great edge rusher in over 30 years?

The Seahawks and great edge rushers are having such a hard time finding one another that the other day I overheard oil and water saying, “Geez, let’s never let it get THAT bad!”

The most career sacks by any Seattle player in this century are 39 by Michael Bennett from 2013-2017 and Bennett could hardly be called an edge rusher.

The next-most sacks are 38 by Chris Clemons from 2010-2013. Frank Clark had 35 and Cliff Avril had 34.5.

Consider that Aidan Hutchinson, going into fourth year and having missed most of last season, already has 28.5. Hutchinson will probably reach 40 sacks before December.

As Boye Mafe enters his fourth season, having only missed three games, he has 18 career sacks and 32 QB hits, and Mafe should definitely be called one of the Seahawks best “hits” at the position in the past 30 years. What would it feel like for Seattle to actually hit on an edge rusher at a league-wide level and not just compared to other Seahawks?

To quote a Simpsons character: “You not scum, you just scum compared to Krusty.”

As Seattle enters year two of the Mike Macdonald era, a defensive coordinator who got 9.5 sacks out of the same Jadeveon Clowney who only had three sacks for the Seahawks, expectations are elevated for the edge rushers this season. Between one of the most notable free agent additions of the era, another back from injury, and two relatively early draft picks during John Schneider’s tenure, something should give this season.

But it hasn’t happened in such a long time that fans can’t be blamed for being skeptical that it’s about to happen in 2025.

Excitement/Worry Levels

DeMarcus Lawrence: 7.05 excitement

Lawrence is one of the most interesting free agent signings of Schneider’s career, but at the same time that news was practically dismissed by the national media and overshadowed locally by the addition of Cooper Kupp. That didn’t prevent Lawrence from being the star of Seahawks training camp in the opening few days.

Defensive coordinator Aden Durde warned us that Lawrence would bring a different level of effort to Seattle and Mike Macdonald confirmed it after practices last week:

“He’s like the best drill player I’ve ever seen in my life. You could ask him to do any drill known to mankind, and just the trust he has in why you’re doing it, it is 1,000% every rep.”

Playing a position that is so heavily dominated by one stat (there may not be any role in football that is more defined by one stat than edge rushers and sacks), Lawrence has flown under the radar for the past six seasons because he’s only accumulated 27.5 sacks. That’s an average of less than five per year.

But without high sack totals, Lawrence still made his presence known on the Cowboys:

• In 2022, the Cowboys ranked 5th in points allowed and Lawrence made the Pro Bowl despite only six sacks

• In 2023, the Cowboys ranked 5th in points allowed and Lawrence made the Pro Bowl despite only four sacks

We don’t really care about Pro Bowls here, but isn’t that telling that voters would notice Lawrence in a crowded field of edge rushers even without many sacks? And last year Lawrence missed all but four games and what happened to the Dallas defense? The Cowboys ranked 31st in points allowed.

That may have had something to do with the loss of Dan Quinn. I’d rather just convince myself that it was all DeMarcus Lawrence.

Film clip of the day: When DeMarcus Lawrence was a sack technician by Voch Lombardi

Derick Hall: 6.15/10 skeptical

There is nothing about Hall’s speed and power that should surprise anyone. These are the traits that got him drafted in the second round in 2023 and we wouldn’t expect Hall to stop being a great athlete this early, which is on display at training camp:

Jarran Reed says he sees a lot of similarities between Derick Hall and DeMarcus Lawrence: "They’re crazy as hell. They play one way, and that’s balls to the wall. That’s all you could ask for. That’s the standard we’re trying to set with this defense, fast and physical as shit."

My skepticism comes from the fact that I think Hall is a more controllable edge rusher for good tackles than we tend to believe he is based on decent sack and pressure totals last year. Hall and zero sacks and five pressures as a rookie, then 8 sacks and 29 pressures in year two; I think the reality lies somewhere in the middle.

Hall threw Josh Jones to the ground in practice last week? Okay, nice. Has anyone heard anything good about Josh Jones so far?

There’s a big difference between being worried and being skeptical. I’m not anti-Hall or Mafe, but their careers to this point warrant skepticism in the same way that any players with 2+ years of experience who haven’t been week-to-week consistent would, and now the next step for both is to have an actual breakout season. Not just a good sack total season. Although a breakout season will result in a lot more consistent pressure on the quarterback.

Boye Mafe: 6.03/10 skeptical

As a 2026 free agent who is 2.5 years older than Hall, Mafe probably has a steep wall to climb in order to get a second contract with Seattle. If he proves to be a lot better than Hall, then of course the Seahawks will try to re-sign him.

If he’s worse or about the same as Hall, won’t Seattle consider taking the compensatory pick and running?

Uchenna Nwosu: 9/10 worried

A player who has missed most of the last two seasons also “isn’t close to returning to practice” per Macdonald.

"We'll see," Macdonald said. "We're going into the season probably throughout the rest of camp and then we'll go from there, but I think we'll hold onto the timeline right now. But we're not necessarily close right now."

The only justification for keeping Nwosu on the roster this year was that his re-done contract wasn’t terribly more expensive than outright releasing him. And given the rest of Seattle’s options at the position, Nwosu playing 8 games in the second half of the season could be really valuable.

But if this is not Nwosu’s last season with the Seahawks, he will have had to played a lot better (and more often) than most of us expect him to right now.

Jamie Sheriff: 6/10 curious

Macdonald calling Sheriff the team’s “off the ball pass rusher” is interesting, but anything more than him simply making the roster would be a remarkable and rare feat. Undrafted players (especially year two UDFA) doing nice things in training camp and preseason games is not rare. That player moving up the depth chart from 5th/6th to 2nd/3rd in the regular season is rare.

And the rest (Jared Ivey, Tyreke Smith, Seth Coleman, Jalan Gaines, Connor O’Toole)

We’ll see if any additional hype happens for anyone else between now and final cuts. The Seahawks have had a need for a premium edge rusher for decades, but the more pressing matter is that they have a need for one right now.

Will one of them emerge in 2025? The best I can answer is “hopeful”, but given the options today it looks like Seattle will have to go fishing again in 2026.

Seaside Joe 2341