The three most irreplaceable Seahawks for the 2021 season

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Jan 9, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback John Wolford (9) runs with the ball to avoid the rush by Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Poona Ford (97) during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

Number two: Poona Ford

Poona Ford is one of the biggest reasons Jarran Reed was expendable. Ford has since moved over one spot to Reed’s former defensive tackle position with the hopes that Ford can produce the kind of interior pass rush that Reed was able to, albeit inconsistently, do.

Since Ford came into the league as an undrafted player in 2018, he has been among the best run defenders in the NFL. According to Pro Football Focus, Ford was the 15th-highest-graded interior defender overall at 79.8. Reed, in contrast, was 90th. In fact, Ford had the better grade with pass rush too.

There is no guarantee that Ford will get 5 sacks or more. The most he has gotten is 3 and that was last year. But Ford has also excelled at everything the Seahawks have asked of him since he came to Seattle. Reed wasn’t overly happy in Seattle but John Schneider and Pete Carroll were also willing to let him go because they knew they had Ford.

Ford is now clearly the most versatile of all of Seattle’s pure interior defensive linemen. Al Woods was signed and Bryan Mone is still around but those guys can really just play the run. There is no reason to believe he can’t supply more of an interior rush than he has and having an interior pass rush is a key to helping out the defensive ends. This is why Ford is so important and that he is so far ahead of his interior peers makes him irreplaceable.

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