The Seattle Seahawks have a ton of young talent that is still developing. The last two drafts seemed to have gone very well, and we have already gotten a glimpse of how good the 2022 class might be. And we likely haven't even seen how much depth the class has.
Players like Dareke Young and Tyreke Smith either didn't play because of injury (Smith) or didn't get the show they could catch a ball until late in the season (Young). Both players could potentially have a decent impact on 2023. Heck, Young is already a decent special teams player.
The three Seattle players on the following list, however, could become household names for all NFL fans this coming season, not just 12s. One has already been very productive but hasn't yet gotten his due from all NFL followers. Another hinted at what he could possibly do but hasn't yet taken off. I will start with the third player.
Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Derick Hall
Hall, of course, is a rookie who hasn't yet played a down. But there is something about his size and speed that separates him from most other edge rushers Seattle has on the roster. Darrell Taylor is mostly a speed guy who has a slender build. for instance. Uchenna Nwosu is more versatile than Taylor but not overly thick. Hall looks like he can run by someone or run through an opposing blocker.
Hall is capable of being a three-down player and can set the edge against the run. But his greatest strength to begin his career, before he completely fine-tunes his array of pass-rushing moves, is he can simply get his hands on a blocker and use his leg strength to push a blocker back towards the quarterback. Hall will only get stronger in an NFL weight-training program, but he has the natural strength to play and contribute right away.
In fact, early in the year, if Taylor remains his normally inconsistent self, Hall could take over a starting spot opposite Nwosu. By the end of the season, Hall might have been so disruptive that he is one of the bigger names in the league among new edge rushers. Hall could even have 10 sacks in his rookie year.
Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe
There could be a reason, other than working on an extension with a player before the last season of a player's contract begins is not the Seattle way, that the Seahawks haven't tried working out a new deal with Uchenna Nwosu. Nwosu was easily Seattle's best edge rusher in 2022 and he is still only 26 years old. But he is going to want to make a buch of money in 2024 and beyond. But the Seahawks have Hall and also Boye Mafe.
Seattle might be waiting to see how Hall and Mafe work out prior to thinking of extending Nwosu because Hall and Mafe are under rookie contracts for four and three more years, respectively. Mafe looked fantastic in preseason games last season but when the real games began he didn't produce a lot. This was likely just due to him acclimating to the NFL.
But Mafe also wasn't terrible last season. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Mafe had a run defense grade of 72.6 in 2022. That ranked second on Seattle's roster among edge rushers. His overall grade of 64.6 was also second on the team.
Mafe also missed only 3 tackles in 2022, a year in which it seemed at times the rest of the Seahawks defense forgot how to tackle. He finished with 3 sacks and 10 total quarterback pressures and still played better against the run. Now that Mafe has gotten his feet wet, he could explode in number of sacks in 2023 and get closer to 10 or more. NFL fans tend to notice when players reach double-digit sack totals.
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III
Yes, Kenneth Walker III ran for over 1,000 yards last year and almost reached 10 touchdowns rushing even though he only became a full-time starter in Week 5. Because of East Coast bias or because Seattle just hangs out by itself in the Pacific Northwest, Walker just didn't seem to be appreciated as much as he should have in 2022. He even lost out to the New York Jets Garrett Wilson in AP Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 even though Walker had more total yards and 5 more touchdowns than Wilson.
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Walker, though, might be one of the most productive running backs in the league in 2023, however. The Seahawks did take running back Zach Charbonnet in the second round of the 2023 draft, but Walker should still be the alpha in the running back room. But there are several reasons Walker might explode this coming season.
One is that Seattle chose Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round which gives Seattle its first true potentially high-level WR3 in years (maybe ever). This means defenses will have to be a bit more honest with trying to stop the Seahawks from throwing the ball to DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, or Smith-Njigba. This should mean more open holes for Walker to run through.
Walker finished 12th in the NFL in rushing yards in 2022 with 1,050. He was 10th in rushing touchdowns with 9. But he has the breakaway speed and excellent vision to run for 1,400 yards in 2023 and 15 rushing touchdowns. That will certainly get him noticed.