5 Seattle Seahawks players with the most to prove in 2024 season

Linebacker Tyrel Dodson

Dodson was the top-graded linebacker in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He was elite in run defense and in pass coverage and pretty good in pass rush. But grades can prove to be meaningless, or, at least, a one-year blip. For instance, safety Ryan Neal was graded as a top-five safety for Seattle in 2022, signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then was so bad he is now a free agent.

The issue is that Dodson could be this year's version of Neal. Until last season, Dodson had only started a combined five games for the Buffalo Bills in the previous three seasons. Much like Neal, Dodson was good once he got a chance to play consistently, but Neal could not sustain his level. We won't know if Dodson can until well into the 2024 season.

Edge rusher Darrell Taylor

Taylor has 21.5 sacks in three seasons. That seems pretty good, right? There are a lot of proverbial red flags that go along with that, however. For one, even though Taylor played the second-most snaps of his career in 2023, and just 19 fewer snaps than his career high in 2021, he had a career-low in sacks (5.5), quarterback hits (8), and tied for his low in tackles for loss (7). Taylor did not seem motivated that he was going to be a restricted free agent and Seattle might have been interested in signing him to a multi-year deal.

Taylor continued his lack of consistency in terms of pass rush as well. He did not get a sack in his first five games, then got sacks in back-to-back games, went another three games with nothing, then had back-to-back games with sacks, followed by four games of zero. This is the same disappointing trend he has had his entire career.

Yet, what Taylor truly stinks at is run defense. He was the 10th-worst-graded edge rusher overall, per PFF, and seventh-worst-graded in run defense. If he doesn't show Mike Macdonald that he can be more well-rounded in training camp, Taylor might be a roster cut before Week 1.