5 Seattle Seahawks players on the hot seat entering 2024 season

Dre'Mont Jones - Seahawks edge rusher

Jones had a poor start to his Seattle career after signing as a free agent in 2023. At the time, it was the most expensive contract general manager John Schneider had offered a free agent. Seattle was probably hoping for better than the 4.5 sacks and 20 total pressures that Jones delivered. He was ill-used by former defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt's scheme, but Jones did not do much to overcome that.

This season, Jones is being moved to more of an edge rusher. This should help the Seahawks' run defense which was terrible (31st in the league) last season, and should open up Jones to get more pressures. He was more efficient last year after being moved outside the tackles late in the season.

Head coach Mike Macdonald also is smart enough to find creative ways to use Jones. His cap number is just below $11 million in 2024 but moves to $25,645,418. If he doesn't increase his production this season, Seattle could release him and save $11,572,500.

Tyrel Dodson - Seahawks inside linebacker

The Seahawks are putting a lot of faith in Dodson as this will be his first season in his five-year career that he will be a presumed starter entering a season. Dodson was very good for the Buffalo Bills when he started 10 games after numerous Bills linebackers had been injured, but he only has 15 career starts. He will be tasked with being the green dot in Mike Macdonald's defense.

The linebacker did take advantage of the situation he was put in and finished as Pro Football Focus's (paywall alert) top-graded linebacker last year. He excels in coverage, can be an efficient blitzer, and plays the run fairly well. At least, that is what he has done in minimal starts in four years.

Dodson was only signed for one season so this is a bit of a make-or-break season for him. If he plays as well as the Seahawks hope, John Schneider will aggressively pursue Dodson in hopes he re-signs. Otherwise, Dodson might be one-and-done with Seattle.