Seahawks position preview: Defensive end breakdowns, starters and cuts

There is a lot to be wondered about the Seahawks d-end group in 2020 without Clowney. Will young guys step up? Who will start? Who will be cut? Let me answer these questions for you.

The Seahawks are headed into 2020 with a gaping hole in their defense at pass rusher. The Seahawks only had 28 sacks last season, tied for second-worst in the entire NFL. PFF also just yesterday (July 20) ranked the Seahawks as the worst defensive line in the NFL going into 2020. It is also looking like Seattle will be moving on from their best defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.

The Clowney saga is a long one that seems to be going nowhere until teams can bring him in and have their own doctors evaluate his health. If there weren’t a global pandemic right now, Clowney would almost certainly be at camp with a team right now.

Numbers around $12-15 million have been floated around for Clowney’s services, and even with Seattle’s low cap space, they could still make a deal work as I discussed a few weeks ago. But with the Clowney signing looking unlikely we must look ahead to what the Seahawks had behind him last year coming back, and the new additions.

Seattle brought back two former Seahawks Super Bowl champs by signing Bruce Irvin (2012-2015) and Benson Mayowa (2013). The Seahawks also have four pass-rushers returning from last year’s team and brought in four rookies including two draft picks (Darrell Taylor round 2 and Alton Robinson round 5). So let’s meet the new Seahawks, refresh on the old, and figure out who will start and who will be cut.