4 Seahawks who may have lost their jobs in loss to 49ers

Seahawks defensive lineman Poona Ford may have lost his job

Poona Ford should have been drafted when he came out of college in 2018. The Seahawks signed him as an undrafted free agent and Ford has been a mostly very good run-stopper. In 2022, Ford also set a career-high for sacks with 3. He can get to opposing quarterbacks some, but he doesn’t consistently do that well. So Ford needs to be consistently very good against the run. This year, though, Ford was graded higher in pass rush than in run support, per Pro Football Focus.

Against the 49ers, Ford was just atrocious. Ford played 34 snaps against the 49ers, 15 on rushing downs and 19 on passing downs. Ford didn’t record a tackle but did miss on two. Ford was in on 35 tackles this season and missed on 5 or 12.5 percent of the time. That isn’t good enough. Ford is now 27 years old but he was thoroughly outplayed by the 35-year-old Al Woods this season.

Ford was also massively overpaid this year. He made $8,325,000 with a cap hit of $10,075,000. Ford didn’t produce anywhere near earning that contract. If he returns to Seattle but gets paid about half of his 2022 salary, that might be OK. That would be around the going rate for a player of Ford’s experience.

But Ford is also a free agent and the Seahawks need to take an interior defensive lineman who is more versatile than Ford. If Jalen Carter is available at number 5, for example, Seattle should draft him and immediately plug him in as a starter. Seattle can find a run-stopper in free agency who is probably less expensive and as productive or more than Ford was in 2022.