Seahawks off-season progress: the defensive edition

Outside Linebackers:

KJ Wright, Barkevious Mingo, Paul Dawson, DJ Alexander

KJ Wright is one of the unsung leaders on this Seahawks defense.  He is a pro.  He gets the job done and shows versatility to everything we need in a linebacker.

Barkevious Mingo is our new Bruce Irvin.  (Again, think Super Bowl Years).  He will be an outside linebacker on early downs where he has shown to be capable, not great.  He has the athleticism and length to be a good linebacker in coverage and make the occasional splash play.  Mingo was drafted in the top 10 because he was supposed to be an elite pass rusher.  In Cleveland and Indianapolis he didn’t live up to the pass rush hype.  The Seahawks will use him as a hand on the ground end during obvious pass rush reasons, like they did Irvin.  Seattle is trying to catch lightning in a bottle here and hope that Mingo can live up to his tremendous potential.

Dawson and Alexander are special teams stars for the team.  Both players were highly decorated college linebackers, but haven’t shown much other than special teams skill yet.

Need:  We will likely add a linebacker in the draft here.  If Mingo doesn’t work out, and in case there is an injury.  The competition for the back up roles should be a good one.

Inside Linebacker:

Bobby Wagner, Josh Forrest

Bobby Wagner is one of the best if not the best middle linebacker in football.  I really don’t need to say anything more.

Forrest is a special teams guy, he is big and fast, but really hasn’t had a to chance to show what he is.

Need:  A back up linebacker is probably a need.  I think the Seahawks are looking for a special teams captain here.  Like Heath Farwell used to be for the team or Brock Coyle in his past role here as well.  I don’t think we will draft a linebacker unless they can play all 3 linebacker positions, but look for an un-drafted free agent to come in.