Seahawks 2020: Poona Ford needs to take a step forward

The Seahawks need some young interior defensive linemen to make impacts soon. Poona Ford has that chance in 2020 and needs to be very good.

In 2018 Poona Ford showed just enough in limited time to make it seem as if he would be the next piece of undrafted gold the Seahawks had found. The 2010s were a good decade for Seattle in this area with players such as Doug Baldwin making huge impacts. Ford could be penciled in as a starter at defensive tackle for the next few years.

But in 2019, Ford seemed to lose a little faith from the Seahawks coaching staff. Between weeks 13 and 17, Ford played four games with some of his fewest snaps of the season. The weird part was that according to Pro Football Focus, Ford was just as good as he was in 2018. So why did he not get more snaps?

The problem with Ford is that he doesn’t supply much as far as the pass rush. He can eat up space and stop the run but when it gets to be passing downs, he is lost. Seattle had massive issues with pass rush last year and Ford couldn’t help fix that.

Poona Ford’s ability

Ford has the quickness to get a rush. He lacks height – he is just 5’11”, but Aaron Donald of the Rams isn’t the tallest player either and he is possibly the best pass rusher on the planet. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Ford has Donald’s talent. But Ford needs to be more than one dimensional to keep getting a lot of snaps in games.

Here is the potential upside of Ford, though, as he has the raw skill to improve in all areas. Ford could learn a move to two and uses his immense strength to be the kind of player that gets 4 sacks a year.

Sounds like a low number, right? Still, it would have led the Seahawks in 2019. If Ford can get to that number in 2020, he will keep the heat off the edge rushers and Seattle can get back to 40 sacks or more. That number might be enough to make the Seahawks a Super Bowl team.