New defensive rankings should empower one new Seahawks player

This is the time of the year when many sites find it fun to rank things related to the NFL. Best quarterbacks? Best defenses? Whatever you are interested in, you can find a ranking for it. The Seattle Seahawks have not gotten their share of love in many of the rankings.

That changes a little bit with a new ranking by Sports Illustrated of the best defensive trios in the league. NFC West rival, the San Francisco 49ers, have the second-ranked trio with Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Charvarius Ward. New head coach Mike Macdonald's former team, the Baltimore Ravens, has the best trio with Justin Madubuike, Roquan Smith, and Kyle Hamilton.

In the Legion of Boom days, the Seahawks might have had one of the best trios ever and different players could have made up the trio. One might be Michael Bennett, Bobby Wagner, and Richard Sherman. Another could have Earl Thomas instead of Sherman. Seattle had a lot of talent.

Tyrel Dodson named among Seattle Seahawks top defensive trio

Surprisingly, though, while many do still not seem to think that Seattle's defense will be great in 2024, SI has Seattle's top trio ranked in the middle of the league. 17th, to be exact. Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon are part of the three, but the other spot is new Seahawks linebacker Tyrel Dodson. Sports Illustrated could have replaced Dodson with Uchenna Nwosu, so clearly SI thinks highly of Dodson.

The inside linebacker will be the new green dot on Seattle's defense, and, therefore, tasked with communicating Macdonald's defensive play calls to the rest of the defense. If Dodson somehow screws that up or is not aware of where everyone on the field needs to be, Seattle's defense might look like a mess. Dodson was the highest-graded linebacker in the NFL in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus, so he is capable of excellence.

Dodson also has never entered a season in his career where he was a presumptive starter, though. He only started a handful of games before starting ten last year with the Buffalo Bills, and that was only due to injuries to players higher on the depth chart than Dodson. Still, when Dodson did get his chance to start, he proved he could be a threat in blitzes and excel in pass coverage.

He needs to do those same things every game for the Seahawks. He will be going from part-time starter in Buffalo to leader of the defense in Seattle. His personal success or failure could mirror the overall defense's success or failure.

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