Seattle Seahawks: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all time

Prior to the 2013 season, head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider made two important free agent signings that would make a good team a great one. One was the signing of defensive end Cliff Avril.

The idea behind Carroll’s defense was to build it from the secondary forward. The defensive backs could shut down opposing receivers and the front-four would get pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz.

This worked for several reasons and one of them was Avril. Avril had never put up huge sack numbers, but he was consistent in applying pressure. He also fit Carroll’s mold of a defensive end that might not be huge, but was very quick. Carroll didn’t want his ends to be run stoppers really, he wanted them to disrupt. Enter Avril.

One could argue a big reason that the Seahawks were in a position to lose to the New England Patriots in the 2014 season’s Super Bowl was the loss of Avril earlier in the game. Prior to being injured, Avril was in Tom Brady’s face a lot and the Patriots offense struggled. After Avril left the game, Seattle’s defense wasn’t the same.

Between 2013 and 2016, Avril had 33.5 sacks for Seattle and 86 quarterback hits. He also forced 14 fumbles and had 29 tackles for loss. In Week 4 of the 2017 season, Avril injured his neck after accidentally being kicked in the chin. He was released by the Seahawks in May 2018. Avril may never play football again, but he left Seattle better than it was before him.