12th Man Rising
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Final defensive grades for the Seahawks in 2019

By Lee Vowell

SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 08: Bobby Wagner #54 of the Seattle Seahawks yells in the fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at CenturyLink Field on September 8, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 08: Bobby Wagner #54 of the Seattle Seahawks yells in the fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at CenturyLink Field on September 8, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /

Linebacker

Bobby Wagner was First-Team All-Pro this year. Again. He is great. Wagner had the second-most tackles of his career at 159 and that led the NFL. But it is telling that Wagner fell to the 11th highest graded linebacker in the NFL for 2019, according to Pro Football Focus. Wagner also had a bad year in coverage and that might be a sign he is losing a step.

K.J. Wright was pretty good this season after an injury marred his 2018 year. But Mychal Kendricks wasn’t as good as expected and struggled in coverage at times. Seattle changed its base defense to a 4-3 and never really got to the point where they looked good doing that. Then Kendricks got hurt and instead of transitioning back to a 4-2-5 and using some talent in the secondary, Norton Jr. just plugged in a rookie linebacker.

Not that that rookie, Cody Barton, didn’t try because he showed some promise for next year as a starter if Seattle maintains that 4-3 base. Hopefully, they won’t though because teams can take advantage in a pass-happy NFL. And Shaquem Griffin showed some promise as an edge rusher but in a very limited capacity.

Grade: B

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