3 overhyped Seattle Seahawks players fans need to pump the brakes on in 2023

Dre'Mont Jones - Seahawks defensive lineman

Dre'Mont Jones is by far the most general manager John Schneider has spent on a free agent since he came to Seattle in 2010. Before Jones, the highest contract went to edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu. Nwosu signed in the 2022 offseason and the total of his contract was $19,055,000 with an average of a bit more than $9.5 million per season. Jones signed with the Seahawks this offseason and the total of his contract is $51,530,000 over three seasons with an average of $17,176,667.

But because Seattle is trusting Jones with such a large contract, they are also going to expect great things from Jones. Can he be one of the best interior linemen in the NFL? He's paid like it. Jones is the sixth-highest-paid defensive end in 2023 and 2024, currently, and moves up to fifth-highest in 2025. Therefore, he needs to produce like a top-six defensive end.

In 2022, Jones' snap count with his former team, the Denver Broncos, jumped from 59 percent of available snaps to 81 percent of his available snaps (meaning the snaps he could have played when healthy). But his raw statistics didn't go up very much. He played 716 snaps in 2022 and in 2021 he played 616. His total pressures in 2022 were 45 and in 2021 they were 40. He played more but on a per-snap average, he produced less last year.

Seattle also signed Mario Edwards, Jr. this offseason and he might sub in at times for Jones on obvious rushing downs. But for Seattle to be very successful, Jones needs to better against the run this year than he was last year. Oh, and 10 sacks or so would be nice as well.