Seahawks Player Rankings: Nos. 31-40

Fan favorites, special team standouts, and Seattle's potential breakout stars

After already ranking 51 players on the Seattle Seahawks, nearly one entire roster, we are getting into the portion of the list where almost every name is a fan favorite.

If you see that your favorite player didn’t make the top-30, don’t take it as an insult to the person, but as a compliment to Seattle’s roster.

In case you missed or want to review:

Player Rankings, Part 1: Nos. 81-91

Player Rankings, Part 2: Nos. 71-80

Player Rankings, Part 3: Nos. 61-70

Player Rankings, Part 4: Nos. 51-60

Player Rankings, Part 5: Nos. 41-50

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Here are Seahawks #31-#40, a group that will largely overlap with Wednesday’s article about Seattle’s elite, number one ranked special teams unit.

Do you see your favorite player yet?

Players 31-40

40. TE Eric Saubert

You come into Eric Saubert’s backyard, you’re likely to get blocked into next door.

Saubert was signed in 2025 as a blocking tight end and that’s what he did, playing 276 snaps (in only 11 games) and running just 66 routes. This chart at Mile High Report (Saubert’s former team) shows that he was the fourth-most likely tight end to be out there for blocking only:

In the playoffs, Saubert played 50-percent(!) of Seattle’s offensive snaps. He had more tackles (3) than targets (0).

And yet that didn’t stop Saubert from making the most important catch of the year for the Seahawks in Week 16 against the Rams.

Or from Seattle giving Saubert an extension during the 2025 season. It feels like Saubert should be ranked higher—maybe so—but he’s in a tough position too because unless Elijah Arroyo is a bust or moves full-time to wide receiver, Saubert is still destined to be TE3. In some capacity.

Blocking tight ends are cool and Brian Fleury (one of his former coaches in SF) may have bigger things in mind for him next season, but ultimately Saubert’s value is adequately reflected in his $2 million price tag. He’s the secret weapon that Seattle wants to keep a secret.

39. LB Tyrice Knight

Knight feels like “old news” but just a year ago we were talking about him as potentially being Mike Macdonald’s breakout player on defense. Well, I’m not giving up on him that fast.

Only 25, Knight enters his third season with 858 career snaps and maybe just as many lessons. His size advantage over Drake Thomas doesn’t seem like a lot, but is noticeable. Knight will start out with a role on special teams, where he had a career-high 158 snaps last year, but he should also have some role on defense.

By the end of camp, someone like Chris Paul could end up leapfrogging him for the next-man up at linebacker. But I’d put my bet on Knight, in which case he’s just one snap away from a second chance. Who said that a breakout season has to always show up on time?

38. QB Drew Lock

Lock is everything that a backup quarterback should be:

• Talented (former 42nd overall pick)

• Experienced (28 career starts)

• Capable of filling in for a game or two (beat the Eagles in 2023)

• Not THAT great

If Lock was as good as Sam Darnold, he would be a starter somewhere. As much as we can appreciate Lock’s obvious talents, he plays a position that the NFL is desperate to overrate and overpay when there’s a hint of starting abilities, and yet he’s been rejected by three different teams (Broncos, Seahawks when Geno Smith won the job, and Giants) as it pertains to starting.

I don’t have my “Anti-Lock” brakes on, in fact he was my pick to win the QB competition in 2022. And it’s possible that he could have a Geno-like comeback somewhere eventually. But Seattle’s lucky to have Darnold starting and Lock as the backup; if the 2 has to become the 1, I think the Seahawks could do a better job of surviving than most teams.

Who is your favorite Seahawks backup QB of all-time and is it Seneca Wallace?

37. WR Jake Bobo

For whatever reason, Bobo didn’t seem to mesh as well with Klint Kubiak as with Seattle’s previous two offensive coordinators, earning just two targets in 11 games, until finally getting three more in the playoffs and scoring a HUGE touchdown.

Perhaps the Seahawks’ decision to match his offer sheet from the Jaguars is an indication that Fleury is a guy with a Bobo deficiency and he knows it.

Look, you can’t create targets out of thin air. If the Seahawks want to give Jaxon Smith-Njigba as much as he deserves, and they plan to increase the target share for Rashid Shaheed, and they also have to feed Cooper Kupp, A.J. Barner, Tory Horton, and Arroyo, it’s going to be hard to dramatically increase Bobo’s playing time.

Kupp may be ramped down a bit, but Seattle did double-down by letting his salary guarantee for 2026.

Bobo’s contributions as a blocker and a special teamer are more likely to get him on the field than as a pass-catcher. In that respect, he’s very much like the wide receiver version of Saubert. Bobo averaged 10 snaps per game in 2025—down from 19 snaps/game in 2024—but I could see him going up again next season. At least we know he won’t be traded to the Raiders.

36. TE Brady Russell

Brady Russell might be the most valuable player in the league who doesn’t kick, punt, return, or have a role on either offense or defense. Through three seasons, Russell has totaled 107 offensive snaps (or 2.5 per game) and one target, which was a dropped incomplete pass from Sam against the Colts last year.

And yet Russell is considered so valuable by the coaching staff that Seattle re-signed him for $2.4 million per season and they continue to try and find some role for him on offense, be it as a tight end or a fullback, just to give him more to do on Sundays.

In the most respectful way possible, it’s as if Russell is that guy in the office who is related to the boss and they’re just throwing tasks and fake titles at him to justify his salary—except that in this case, it’s not nepotism.

It’s hard-ass work on special teams. Russell has led the Seahawks in special teams tackles in each of the past two seasons.

Seattle really likes him, and so do we, and I can’t imagine many teams have a special-teamer who would rank this high on the Seahawks’ roster.

35. RB George Holani

Even though Holani hasn’t done much on offense to date either, he stands a greater chance of anyone ranked lower on the list of becoming an important starter next season. If not a starter, Holani could at least be the complement to Jadarian Price, depending on how training camp shakes out.

And if nothing else, Holani had standout plays on special teams last season, both as a kickoff returner and as a guy returning the other team’s kickoff returns for them to score a touchdown against the Steelers.

Holani rates as a “pretty good” but not “really good” running back at the NFL level, although just a few years ago he rushed for 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns while starting ahead of a young Ashton Jeanty at Boise State.

In the playoffs, Holani had five carries for 10 yards, but four catches for 34 yards. He could end up as Seattle’s third-down back in Week 1.

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34. FB Robbie Ouzts

When I say “fan favorites”, I am most definitely referring to Robbie Ouzts, if nobody else.

“Hey this guy’s a fullback! Fullbacks are weird (these days). Seattle is being so weird and random!”

This makes it sound as if I’m not also a fan of Ouzts, but clearly I am. This is pretty high on the list! The former Alabama tight end got 27-percent of the snaps for the games that he was healthy enough to play in, and there’s a belief that his role could increase in 2026, perhaps including reps back at tight end.

Ouzts was also a standout on special teams at Alabama.

I don’t doubt that Fleury has bigger plans in mind for Ouzts next season, but just as an extra blocker in the backfield would be enough already.

33. CB Julian Neal

When I started the Tournament of THE Champions and created a secondary “Survivor’s bracket” for 20 players who didn’t make the initial list, Neal got a lot of support to move onto the next round. He ultimately didn’t get there, but his placement at #33 is reflective of the support you showed him; and pretty much every player after this will be someone in the tourney or who got a lot of votes from you to advance in the tourney.

Neal has an opportunity to do more than just rotate in for a few snaps on defense next season. As a third-round pick chosen by and for Macdonald’s defense, the 6’2, 203 lbs Neal could starter sooner than later.

Cornerbacks get injured far more often than we talk about them getting injured, so that’s one way onto the field. Another is seeing if Neal gets more reps in training camp should Devon Witherspoon decide to holdout.

We have no idea how good Neal could be in the NFL—this could go either way—but he’s in the right place to excel if he’s the real deal.

32. OLB Dante Fowler

I wouldn’t go as far as some others have in comparing the Fowler signing to the DeMarcus Lawrence signing a year ago. For one, Lawrence has ALWAYS been a much better player than Fowler.

For 10 years, Fowler has been a designated pass rusher and it’s a role he’s pretty good (not great) at. That’s how Seattle was able to get him for just $2.5 million. The investment makes sense as it pertains to replacing Boye Mafe, and Fowler could be a better pass rusher than Mafe.

The upside is looking at how much production Macdonald got out of Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy when they were all on the Ravens. In Macdonald’s system, I could see Fowler getting 9-10 sacks next season.

The worst cast scenario is simply that someone younger looks better in camp (like Connor O’Toole, Jared Ivey, Jalen Gaines, etc.) and Fowler doesn’t make the team at all, similar to Marquez Valdes-Scantling in 2025. Who do you think Seattle’s OLB4 will end up being, Fowler or someone else?

31. WR Tory Horton

Speaking of MVS, now here comes the guy who forced him out of a job last year. The idea had been that if Horton was healthy, MVS would be expendable, and that’s what happened. For a while at least.

After getting no targets in Week 1, Horton averaged three per game over the next seven, and catching 13 passes for 161 yards. Five of those 13 catches went for touchdowns. He also had the longest punt return of the year.

But Horton has to have availability. We haven’t seen him since November 2.

If Horton plays all 17 games next season, a 500-ish yard season is well within range. I don’t think that’s bad at all. Seattle aims to lead the league in rushing attempts and they have the reigning OPOY at receiver, there’s just not as many opportunities for a WR3 or WR4 as there would be elsewhere.

Long-term, as in 1-2 years from now, it could be a different Tory.

Seaside Joe 2677