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.
No. 2 - Edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu
Nwosu probably should have been a Pro Bowler in 2022. He had 9.5 sacks and 26 quarterback hits and was good against the run. Seattle might not have known just how much of an impact Nwosu made against the run until he was lost for the season this year when he tore his pec muscle in Week 7. The Seahawks' defense was not great with Nwosu, but they were certainly worse without him.
Macdonald does not like his defenses to blitz very much but requires them to hold true to their assignments. He also has a way of making complex principles simple and this appears to help the on-field communication as well as helping each player understand what they are supposed to do. Nwosu's assignment will be streamlined some and this should increase his production.
While several years younger than Kyle Van Noy, Nwosu might be used in much the same way. Under Macdonald, Van Noy had his most efficient season as a pass rusher as he set a career-high with 9 sacks with the Ravens in 2023 because he understood what his teammates needed to be doing which freed him up to attack the quarterback.
Nwosu is a versatile linebacker and has more raw athletic ability than Van Noy and Nwosu could exceed 10 sacks for the first time in his career next season. More importantly, his return and Macdonald's defense should allow Seattle to be much better against the run. All of this should hopefully get Nwosu more attention and get him a Pro Bowl nod.
No. 3 - Defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones
I have been critical of Jones over the last couple of months because I do not think he performed up to the expectation that general manager John Schneider had when Schneider signed Jones to the most expensive free agent contract he had ever signed a player to. Jones' season might not have been all his fault, however. Maybe he was just ill-used in a poor defensive scheme.
Jones did not get used much anywhere other than B gap assignments through the first eight games. He had 20 total pressures in those games. In the final eight games of the season, Seattle moved Jones more outside the tackles. Between Weeks 10 and 17, Jones had multiple pressures per game. His raw numbers such as sacks did not improve, but he was clearly more active.
Mike Macdonald will know how to best use Jones. One key is to vary how much Jones lines up at one spot. The Seahawks either had Jones between the tackles for a long stream of games or outside the tackles for a long stretch, but rarely did Jones move around much during a game. In comparison, Justin Madubuike played theoretically Jones' same defensive position but under Macdonald with the Ravens, Madubuike was moved around more which kept offenses guessing where he would be.
I am not saying Jones is as good a player as Madubuike, though he could be in a different defensive scheme. I would expect Jones' production to go up a great deal next year under the leadership of Macdonald. In 2024, Jones might earn the contract that Schneider gave him last offseason.