4 Seattle Seahawks players with soaring stock ahead of 2024 NFL draft

Boye Mafe - Seattle Seahawks edge rusher

Seattle is in a slightly odd spot, though not necessarily a good one. Their skill position pieces are good. The Seahawks do not have needs at receiver or running back - at least not starters - nor do they have to have a cornerback, safety, or an edge rusher. Having a glut of edge rushers is never a bad problem, of course, and Seattle could always use one more than they have, but that spot has Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu, and Darrell Taylor. Taylor will hopefully be better under Mike Macdonald and so should second-year edge rusher Derick Hall.

But Mafe is the player who could take yet another step toward being one of the better edge rushers in the NFL. In his second season, he jumped from 3 sacks in his rookie season to 9 and from 4 QB hits to 16. His total pressures went from 8 to 25. But Mafe has the size and speed to move his production into double-digit sacks and nearly 40 pressures.

This is especially true under Macdonald. He will know exactly how to use Mafe to maximize his productivity and get the player to understand how to re-adjust to what teams are trying to do to him. This seemed like an issue in 2023 when Mafe had 7 sacks through Week 10, but then only had 2 sacks the rest of the season (and both of those sacks came in Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans).

Under Macdonald, Mafe should be more consistently productive and not have the dove-tail of the season that Mafe had under former defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and former head coach Pete Carroll. Those coaches seemed incapable of getting the player to understand what he needed to do to correct, but that won't be an issue with Macdonald.