3 Seattle Seahawks players who must unlock their potential in 2024

The Seattle Seahawks had talent on the roster last year, but in many cases, the coaching staff did not use the talent correctly. Had the coaches maximized the ability of the players they had, Pete Carroll and his staff might still have their jobs. Instead, Seattle's new leaders include Mike Macdonald and Ryan Grubb.

Macdonald has proven in the NFL that he can put his players in excellent positions to succeed. The player's personal success helped the overall success of the defense. Players such as Devon Witherspoon and Uchenna Nwosu could have extremely productive seasons in 2024.

The following three players might have career-years. One was good for the first half of 2023, but then hit a wall that his coaches could not help him get through. The other two were just underused in bad schemes.

Boye Mafe - Seattle Seahawks edge rusher

Mafe was obviously much improved from his rookie season to his second year as almost all of his numbers at least tripled in 2023. He had 9 sacks and 16 quarterback hits as well as 9 tackles for loss. The issue was that Mafe appeared to hit a wall about halfway through the season. Before Week 11, Mafe had 7 sacks, but he only had one more game where he had a sack or a tackle for loss from Week 11 on. Both the TFLs and sacks came in the same game, too - Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans.

Seattle needs to keep Mafe from turning into the next Darrell Taylor where inconsistency becomes the norm. Mafe is clearly capable of being extremely disruptive. Part of his problems after Week 10 might be that opposing offenses adjusted to him and Seattle did not have the talent around Mafe or good enough defensive coaching for Mafe to adjust back.

In 2024, Mafe will get the best coaching of his career, and new head coach Mike Macdonald (who is also the real defensive coordinator) will find the best situations to put Mafe in for him to succeed. The edge rusher could have 13 sacks this season as well as over 50 total pressures. He has the raw skill to make that happen, and Macdonald will move Mafe around where opposing offenses cannot so easily scheme against him.