3 Seattle Seahawks next in line to be Pro Bowlers

The Seattle Seahawks have a new head coach in the person of Mike Macdonald. More importantly, and maybe even more exciting, is that Seattle will have a new defensive direction. For years, 12s have had to watch as Seattle's defense was awful on third down, including giving up 10-yard chunks when a quarterback simply threw the ball into the middle of the field.

Macdonald should fix most of these issues. No defense is perfect, of course. Teams are going to score against Seattle. Plus, year two under Macdonald will probably be even better than year one.

But some players should improve under Macdonald's tutelage. The three that follow have never made a Pro Bowl before. They easily could with Macdonald coaching them.

No. 1 - Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe

Mafe took a big leap forward in his second season in the NFL. He played about twice as many snaps in 2023 than in 2022, but his sacks tripled (from 3 to 9), his quarterback hits quadrupled (from 4 to 16), his tackles for loss tripled (from 3 to 9), and his missed tackle percentage dropped. Mafe was obviously more confident in 2023, but he still seemed to hit a proverbial wall.

Mafe had 7 sacks after his first eight games, but then only had 2 sacks in his final eight and both came in the same game. In seven of Mafe's last eight games, he had zero quarterback hits or only one. While teams adjusted to what Mafe was doing early in the season, Seattle's coaching staff did not seem to know how to get Mafe to re-adjust.

Mafe has immense athletic ability. He is probably capable of consistently getting double-digit sack totals each season. He is also just 25 years old. Macdonald will know the best positions to put Mafe in and if teams do adjust again to him, Macdonald will know how to teach Mafe to try some different. Mafe could get 13 sacks in 2024 and make the Pro Bowl.