Seahawks defensive line groups ranked among worst in NFL

ESPN ranked the individual position groups in the NFL. The Seahawks were ranked among the worst at defensive tackle and defensive line.

The Seattle Seahawks are likely to still make more changes to their 2020 roster, maybe by signing defensive end Everson Griffen or linebacker Clay Matthews or both. But as the depth chart currently stands, Seattle might struggles at both defensive tackle and defensive end this year. That is, according to ESPN’s ranking of the two position groups.

ESPN says the Seahawks have the 27th-worst group of interior defensive linemen in the NFL. It gets worse at edge rusher, though. Seattle has the 29th-worst group in the league. More on the edge rusher unit in just a minute as ESPN thinks there is more to that story.

It is easy to believe ESPN when it comes to the defensive tackle position for the Seahawks. Seattle will likely start Jarran Reed and Poona Ford there. Reed was terrific in 2018 with 10.5 sacks, 24 quarterback hits and 12 tackles-for-loss. But Reed will be entering his fifth year in the league in 2020. The other three seasons combined Reed has played compared to 2018 look like this: 5 sacks, 20 quarterback hits and 5 tackles-for-loss.

This means Reed has not been very good for most of his career but that the Seahawks are really hoping he can consistently begin to replicate his 2018 season. If Reed cannot do that, Seattle made a bad investment when they re-signed Reed this offseason to a two-year and $23 million contract.

Ford is a good run-stopper but does little to pressure opposing quarterbacks. After Reed and Ford, though, Seattle has a lot of unknown.

Edge rushers

While ESPN ranks the Seahawks edge rushers even lower than the defensive tackles, ESPN still thinks Seattle’s defensive end group is “one to watch.”

ESPN seems to imply that Seattle’s edge rusher ranking could go up quite a bit if Rasheem Green, L.J. Collier and Darrell Taylor can either improve a lot or, in Taylor’s case, be productive from the start.

And ESPN is right. Seattle needs more sacks and more pressures in 2020. If the Seahawks can get that, the rest of the defense should be good enough to help Seattle make a deep playoff push this season. Maybe even all the way to the Super Bowl.