Seattle Seahawks urged to make move for Kyle Van Noy clone
By Lee Vowell
Mike Macdonald knows how to work some defensive magic. He did so as a defensive assistant for several years before becoming the defensive coordinator for the University of Michigan in 2021 and then returning to the NFL to do the same job for the Baltimore Ravens for the last two seasons. Now the new Seahawks head coach has a tough task of turning Seattle's defense around.
Macdonald certainly has some good pieces to work with. He might not even have taken the job if he didn't know he would have Devon Witherspoon around for several seasons. Boye Mafe, Uchenna Nwosu, Leonard Williams, and others are going to be better under the new coach. Besides Mafe and Nwosu, however, Seattle's edge rush group is iffy.
Darrell Taylor is inconsistently capable of chasing down quarterbacks and is terrible against the run. Second-year pro Derick Hall was awful in every aspect as a rookie.
Seahawks urged to make a trade with the Arizona Cardinals for edge rusher Zaven Collins
This is where Arizona Cardinals edge rusher Zaven Collins comes in. Collins was suggested by Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine as a potential ideal trade target for the Seahawks. One of the main reasons is that the edge rusher is not a pure pass rusher and isn't simply a pure run-stopper. He might do both well, though he hasn't done so far in three seasons.
Ballentine suggests that Collins hasn't had a defensive coordinator imaginative enough to use the skills the edge rusher might have. Macdonald does because Collins is akin to the same kind of player that Kyle Van Noy was for the Ravens in 2023. Van Noy was a decent player for several years before coming to Baltimore, but under Macdonald, he set career highs in sacks while only starting three games.
Seahawks wait until training camp for second-best move of the offseason. dark. Next. Seahawks wait until training camp for second-best move of the offseason
Van Noy's previous high was 6.5 sacks with the New England Patriots in 2019. He had nine last season. Collins' high is just 3.5 sacks which was last season. He did have 11 tackles for loss in 2022, however. He has also been a full-time starter for the last two seasons with the Cardinals.
Ballentine thinks the Seahawks might be able to pry Collins away from Arizona for only a sixth-round pick, but here is the issue. If the Cardinals have any inclination that Collins will be very good, why would they trade him to an NFC West rival so they would face the player twice a season? That makes little sense.
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