Overshadowed Seahawks

3 defensive Seahawks who get a lot of credit, but not enough

From trades to draft picks to difficult decisions to release franchise stars and even firing the most successful head coach in team history, the Seattle Seahawks have focused almost all of their resources on fixing a defense that ranked bottom-10 in each of Pete Carroll’s final five seasons at the helm.

After one season of installing what makes him different than Carroll as a head coach and defensive coordinator (and an improvement from 30th in yards allowed to 14th), Mike Macdonald knows that the pressure is on him this year to prove that he is the best in the world at keeping opponents out of the end zone.

That pressure extends to the players that fans have honed in on for “breakout seasons” in 2025 like Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy II, and Nick Emmanwori, a rookie who has to live up to the label of being another Kyle Hamilton in Macdonald’s defense. But maybe as we talk about what they “could be” with more development, we’ve overlooked some of the Seahawks best players who already ARE.

In reading comments left by Seaside Joe subscribers in recent days, I was inspired to highlight a few of these defensive players who are being overshadowed to one degree or another. It’s not like we forgot about them, but there’s no reason that they can’t get another day in the spotlight after MONTHS of talking about new, shiny toys.

DL Leonard Williams

It’s rare that a team’s best player is also one of the most overshadowed, but that could be the case with Williams. He quietly had the highest AV (Adjusted Value) on the Seahawks in 2024, a distinction that belonged to Geno Smith in the previous two years (QBs have a huge position advantage in this stat), and since 2012 the only defensive players to lead Seattle in AV are:

• Bobby Wagner (4 times)

• Richard Sherman (2 times)

• Leonard Williams

Nobody doubted that Wagner and Sherman were elite in their prime, but with Williams it seems like he’s left out of the conversation when talking about premier defensive players in the NFL and within the NFC West. One of the anonymous comments from our “Seahawks Truth” segment did highlight some of the hidden value of having Williams:

Anonymous: The young guns on the Hawks' D-line/Edge-group Will benefit heavily from Leonard Williams' intensity - even if he cannot stay healthy all year, there will be exponential development. The young guns in the Receiver group Will benefit heavily from Cooper Kupp's intensity - even if - same as above...

Williams had 11 sacks, tied for the 10th-most in the NFL, and he’s the only player at the top of the leaderboard who really isn’t an ”edge rusher”.

Williams also had 28 QB hits, tied with Myles Garrett and George Karlaftis for the third-most in the NFL behind Zach Allen and Trey Hendrickson; Williams posted these numbers in 16 games, not 17 games like many others.

By the way, the Seahawks went 10-6 with Williams, 0-1 without Williams, and Seattle was 6-0 when he got at least one sack in 2024. So in terms of “most valuable players”, Williams has a great argument for himself among all DEFENSIVE players in the league.

How is it possible that the Seahawks could trade for a guy who is this formidable without fans constantly mentioning him as the lynchpin of a potential top-5 defense next season?

Is it just because Seattle wasn’t the team to originally draft him? Is it because he’s a DE/DT instead of an OLB/EDGE? Or is it because more often than not, Williams is closer to 4 sacks instead of 11?

There is an inconsistency element with Williams, but the same could have been said about Cam Heyward prior to his first Pro Bowl season in his seventh season. Since Heyward’s breakout season at age 28, he has built a Hall of Fame resume with four All-Pro nods, including last season at age 35.

For a defensive line that has tried to stack talent since trading for Williams, including first rounder Byron Murphy II, the 31-year-old veteran continues to look like the one who has the brightest future and most potential to carry the Seahawks defense to a Super Bowl.

S Coby Bryant

If you’re not overlooking Williams at the front of the defense, then maybe you’ll make a mistake by forgetting about Seattle’s underrated starters supporting the back end of it. Another “Truth” left last week was this one highlighting that of all the 2022 defensive draftees about to hit free agency, Coby Bryant might be the most important to keep:

Grant: By the end of the season, the question of who should be extended first between Mafe, Woolen, and Bryant won't even be close. It's Coby Bryant. He's going to be our best free safety by the end of 2026 if we're smart enough to extend him next offseason. If Nick Emmanwori emerges as a good player, capable of playing SS full time, it will be Love's role that is first marginalized and then obsolete.

My reasoning is that Love and Bryant are too similar. They play the same position and have the same positional flexibility. They both lack the elite athleticism to be great outside CBs and are only adequate as nickel CBs. However, both have good instincts and field vision to diagnose plays, they tackle well enough, and can create turnovers. They both play best as center-fielder free safeties.

They shouldn't coexist on the same roster without one being on a rookie contract, and we should bet on the younger, still-ascending player.

The key point to hit about Bryant’s breakout season is simply the fact that the Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald to be the new head coach and defensive coordinator, creating a clear diversion in Seattle’s plan of how to use each player who was drafted by Pete Carroll. The first two year of Bryant’s career were heavily painted in “What position should he play?”, but as a full-time safety in Macdonald’s scheme he provided a huge boost compared to free agent Rayshawn Jenkins once the change was forced by injury in Week 7:

• 3 interceptions (3-0 when Bryant gets a pick)

• 6.6 tackles per start

• 99.2% snaps played after the change

There’s little question that Nick Emmanwori will NOT challenge Bryant for playing time in 2025, both because of Emmanwori’s need to develop as a safety and Bryant earning another season to prove that he deserves an extension. The only real “flaw” I can see in the argument to replace Julian Love’s contract with an extension for Bryant is that it probably won’t happen earlier than 2027.

Love might seem like a grizzled veteran, but he’s only 27. The prime of Love’s career could happen over the next 2-3 years.

In addition, Love’s cap hit is only $6 million in 2025, and then it jumps to $13.2 million in 2026. If the Seahawks release or trade Love in 2026, they would only save $4.7 million against the cap, and would leave $8.5 million in dead money on it.

The true mark that Julian Love has to worry about is 2027, which is when he turns 29 and the cost savings to release or trade him is $11 million.

It’s unlikely that the Seahawks will let Julian Love stay on the roster with a $15 million cap hit in 2027. This is the “running back position of defense” as teams would rather move on from good starters nearing 30 than continue to pay them, with the best example being Pro Bowler Justin Simmons having to bounce around the league in the last two years.

Is it most likely that Emmanwori was part of a decision to prepare for a change at safety somewhere between 2026 and 2027.

The Seahawks can easily extend Bryant, keep Love through 2026, and not spend very much money on the safety position. Bryant’s first-year cap hit on any extension is going to be relatively inexpensive, just as you see Love’s start with $6 million/year in the first half of the deal. Maybe the total amount of cap space spent on safeties in 2026 will hover just over $20 million — which if we’re being fair is 10x better than spending that much on Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams EACH.

S Julian Love

If Bryant is overshadowed some of the Seahawks “flashier” defensive starters on rookie contracts, then his partner-in-crime is in turn being overshadowed by him because he’s slightly older. (Julian Love is literally one year and 10 days older than Bryant.)

Scott M: I know we all got vent our anonymous thoughts already...but did Julian Love quietly outplay Devon Witherspoon last year? In my humble opinion, if I were picking teams school yard style I'm going for Leonard Williams, Julian Love, Devon Witherspoon...

• In four seasons with the Giants, Love had five interceptions in 64 games.

• In two seasons with the Seahawks, Love has had seven interceptions in 34.

All_22 recently highlighted how Love “finds work” as a safety to make plays that give Seattle wins that they wouldn’t otherwise have without him:

It’s hard to say enough about how hard it is for NFL teams to land free agency gems (the vast majority of signings, in my estimation, are bad investments), but the Seahawks sought out NFL.com’s 79th-ranked free agent in 2023, gave him a two-year, $12 million deal, and he was almost immediately named one of the NFL’s top-100 players.

Seattle had little choice other than to extend Love (3-year, $33 million) and for that reason I would expect him to play two more seasons with the Seahawks. It is more likely that Seattle would restructure Love’s deal than to release him, and safeties are rarely traded. (As noted, Simmons is currently a free agent, so teams feel they can always go find a starter on the market.)

As a 27-year-old who has posted these numbers with Seattle:

• 232 tackles

• 7 interceptions

• 22 passes defensed

• 4 forced fumbles

• 4 tackles for a loss

There’s a chance that eight months from now, the media is talking about Julian Love as a first-team All-Pro safety. Next season’s most productive safety, which is different than saying you’d rather have Love than a player like Kyle Hamilton or Derwin James (for example), but just means that in Macdonald’s defense — the same DC who helped Geno Stone get 7 interceptions in 2024 — Love could emerge from those shadows as an All-Pro.

Seaside Joe 2268