4 free agents Seahawks should steal from Super Bowl LVI teams

Cincinnati Bengals

Jessie Bates III, safety

If the Seahawks aren’t going to re-sign Quandre Diggs – and here’s hoping they still do – then Bates would be a worthy replacement. He will be only 25 years old in Week 1 of the 2022 season and already has a wealth of experience. Since coming into the league, Bates has missed just two games and started all 63 regular-season games he has played.

In 2020, Bates was second-team All-Pro and had an elite Pro Football Focus grade of 90.1 overall. He had 15 passes defended. While he wasn’t as good in the regular season of 2021 as in 2020, this postseason Bates has a coverage grade of 88.6, per PFF, and had an interception against the Titans as well as 5 passes defended in three games.

B.J. Hill, defensive tackle

Seattle could lose Al Woods to free agency this offseason (Woods was excellent in 2021 for the Seahawks) but even if they don’t Woods doesn’t likely have lots of years left to play. Woods will be 35 years old in the 2022 season. Hill will be 27 and coming off his best season in the NFL.

This year, Hill had 5.5 sacks from his defensive tackle position along with 12 quarterback hits and 6 tackles for loss. He also had 50 tackles while playing 47 percent of the Bengals defensive snaps. Hill has only missed one game in his four-year career but over the last three hasn’t played more than 47 percent of defensive snaps so he hasn’t been overused.