100 days of Seahawks: Cortez Kennedy wore number 96 the best

In honor of the Seahawks start to the 2019 season, we count down each player to wear a certain jersey. And Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy wore number 96.

Good news, 12s! The Seahawks are getting closer to week one. To help count down the days until Seattle’s first game of the 2019 season, I will doing an article naming the best player to wear the uniform number of the days left until the season begins. Today marks 96 days until game one. Clearly, the best player to wear number 96 for Seattle was Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy.

Kennedy was the third pick overall in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft. He played his entire career in Seattle on some mostly bad teams. Still, this did not stop Kennedy from being a dominating presence. In Kennedy’s third season, Seattle went 2-14 but Kennedy finished with 92 tackles, 14 sacks and four forced fumbles. For his effort, Kennedy was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Kennedy also stayed remarkably healthy is his 11 year career. Except for 1997, when he missed 8 games, and 1998 when he missed one, Kennedy played every game of every season. But not only did he show up, he played at a level few defensive tackles did before or have since.

Kennedy was named by the AP to either the First-Team or Second Team All-Pro teams five times. Seattle made Kennedy a member of the Ring of Honor in 2006. He was inducted into the NFL in 2012. And the Seahawks retired Kennedy’s number 96 the same year.

Sadly, Kennedy passed away from natural causes on May 23, 2017. During his time as a Seahawk, though, he made a moribund franchise better. Just imagine had Kennedy been younger and played on the Seattle teams from earlier this decade. What were great defenses already may have easily been the best ever with the addition of Kennedy.