"Is this okay?" Pre-training camp edition (Defense)

Do the Seahawks have the defensive pieces in place to be above-average for the first time in years? Seaside Joe 1940

In the first edition of “Is this okay?” for the Seattle Seahawks defense, which was posted just before the draft, I reiterated my beliefs on the team’s draft priorities by round:

In my offense post, I wrote that I believe defense is a priority over offense in the first round and that Seattle’s potential targets could be a OL/WR in rounds 3-4, with maybe a QB/RB/TE in rounds 5-UDFA.

At a certain point in the draft process, I put my foot in the ground for defense being prioritized over offense with the Seahawks first pick, which turned out to be defensive tackle Byron Murphy II. Then Seattle picked OL in the third (Christian Haynes) and a tight end in the fourth (A.J. Barner). The Seahawks didn’t draft any quarterbacks or running backs.

I see a defensive player on day one, probably a DB or EDGE RUSHER, and then LB, DT having a look on day three. I think the Seahawks would like to trade down far enough to get at least one additional day two draft pick—It sounds as though the draft is very weak after the fourth round, so I think Schneider wants to increase his top-100 draft capital by adding one or two picks in that range and I believe we’ll see 2 defensive prospects for every 1 offensive addition.

Murphy is not an edge rusher, but in my original post I split the defensive line between “run stuffers” and “pass rushers” and I do think that Murphy went as high as he did because of Seattle’s intention to get an interior pass rushing presence. If Murphy was mostly a run-stuffer, he would have gone on day two with teammate T’Vondre Sweat.

The Seahawks turned down offers to trade down because Murphy was available, and if he hadn’t been then perhaps John Schneider would have said yes to one of the Eagles’ offers.

The Seahawks did draft a linebacker on day three (Tyrice Knight) and overall the class had a 50:50 split: 4 defensive players, 4 offensive players. And every offensive player drafted by Seattle is a blocker: Haynes, Sataoa Laumea, and Michael Jerrell at guard and tackle, Barner as a blocking tight end.

Defensively, the Seahawks added players at all three levels with cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James joining Murphy and Knight.

We checked back in on the offense last week, now it’s time to review every position and player on the Seattle Seahawks defense…