Former Seahawks All-Pro really wants former Eagles LB to come to Seattle

As part of a major overhaul this offseason, the Seattle Seahawks let Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner leave in free agency and brought in Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker to play inside linebacker. The thinking is that Dodson and Baker are better fits in new head coach Mike Macdonald's defense. For one, they cover better than Wagner and Brooks could.

The hope is that Dodson, who will be the green dot on Seattle's defense, and Baker gel quickly. If that doesn't work out, Seattle has a bit hole in the middle of its defense. That by itself is likely enough to doom a potentially promising season.

The other hope is that should Dodson and Baker perform as well as expected neither player gets hurt. After the two starting ILBs, the Seahawks are extremely thin at the position. The remaining four inside linebackers currently listed on the depth chart have a combined 34 defensive snaps in their career. Seattle took Tyrice Knight in the 2024 NFL draft but he might not be ready to contribute immediately.

Lofa Tatupu believes the Seahawks should sign linebacker Zach Cunningham

Former Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Lofa Tatupu believes he has an answer to the depth question for Seattle, though. There are still a number of free agents available, and while Seattle doesn't have a lot of money to spend, picking up a bargain basement linebacker could be a great thing. Tatupu thinks that player should be former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zach Cunningham.

Speaking on the Locked On Seahawks podcast, Tatupu said of Cunningham, "(He is) one of these underappreciated guys, everywhere he goes, he just racks up 130 tackles, sacks, interceptions, just makes plays. And so I think that would probably be the best fit, especially for what Mike (Macdonald) likes to do."

Since being drafted in the second round of the 2017 draft, Cunningham has bounced around a bit. He has been on three teams - Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, and Eagles - in the last three years. His career year so far was 2020 with Houston when Cunningham led the NFL in combined tackles with 164 and he had three sacks. Since then, however, he hasn't come close to those numbers (he hasn't had a sack at all since 2020).

Over the course of his career, Cunningham has been solid in coverage allowing a decent 9.5 yards per reception. He has been good in run defense as well, but he has missed at least 12.1 percent of his tackle attempts since 2020 which is far too high for a linebacker. Overall, the linebacker has not contributed much in terms of putting pressure on quarterbacks.

Cunningham would at least add needed experience as a backup to Dodson and Baker. If he was forced to pick up a lot of snaps, the team would have an idea what to expect. With every other backup inside linebacker the Seahawks have, how good the player can be is just a hope and a dream.

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