4 surprising candidates to make the Seattle Seahawks 53-man roster in 2023
By Lee Vowell
Through most of the early 2010s, the Seattle Seahawks were a slightly top-heavy team as far as talent goes. There were a bunch of great players but once 2015 rolled around, the drafts were beginning to dry up a bit. By 2021, the team had started to lose some good, but aging, talent and there needed to be a bit of a rebuild.
While the rebuild is still underway some, Seattle appears to be getting good again fairly quickly. The 2022 draft produced some immediately productive players and we probably haven't seen how deep that draft actually goes. Players like Boye Mafe or Tyreke Smith could be in for breakout seasons this year.
The 2023 draft also appears to be a good one, but we won't truly know how good (or disappointing) the players the Seahawks picked up this offseason are until real games begin. But besides expecting players such as Jaxon Smith-Njigba to be on the roster, some other players could make the 53-man squad and be surprisingly impactful as well.
Mario Edwards, Jr. - Seahawks defensive end
Mario Edwards, Jr. might seem like a cheap free-agent pickup to try to help fill out the roster. But he could also end up being a starter in several games. I am not saying Edwards is a better defensive end than Jarran Reed or Dre'Mont Jones but Edwards might do one thing better than either Reed or Jones and that is stop the run. Edwards is an early down player who can set a hard edge playing the run.
Every year since Edwards' rookie season of 2015 that he has played at least 50 percent of his teams' snaps, he has had a plus-run defense grade, per Pro Football Reference (subscription required). This includes 2022 when Edwards was with the Tennessee Titans when he had a good grade of 72.7 Edwards also had 34 total quarterback pressures, so just in case an opposing team does drop back tp pass on first down, Edwards can help a bit there.
The majority of snaps will likely go to Reed or Jones. If Edwards does take reps away from someone it will probably be Reed. But Edwards should be a valuable part of a defense end rotation that helps Seattle be much better against the run this season.