4 players who will benefit most from Seattle Seahawks hiring Mike MacDonald 

No. 3 - Edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu

The star pass rusher of the surprise 2022 overachieving Seahawks, this season Nwosu never got a real chance to lift off. In the first five games of the 2023 season, Nwosu was once again a consistently good player, totaling 2 sacks, and 4 tackles for loss, and 6 QB hits before a pectoral injury against Arizona ended his season. 

On top of his pass-rushing stats, Nwosu was an absolute anchor on his side of the defense at stopping the run. When on the field, the Seahawks had a top-10 rush defense. Without him for the final 12 games, that unit became one of the worst in the league. You can make a strong argument that the run defense was the difference in whether this team made the playoffs or ended up where they are today.

Nwosu has been bordering on being a star in his two seasons in Seattle. Mike Macdonald was able to turn back the clock and turn back the clock on  Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, turning them each into 9-sack guys. Imagine what he could do with Nwosu.

Nwosu is due $7.8 million next season, before his contract balloons to over $21 million in 2025. It's important to Seattle that they get Nwosu healthy, and unlock all that talent he possesses. Continuing to be an anchor in the run game, and pushing past the single digits for sacks feels like a must in 2024, if the Seahawks want to get back to the playoffs.