Winner No. 3 - Linebacker Jordyn Brooks
The Seattle Seahawks are getting to be in a bad spot with Jordyn Brooks. After rightfully not picking up his fifth-year option for 2024 ahead of the 2022 season - Brooks was good but not yet great and paying him $12 million next year seemed like a lot - Brooks then suffered a major knee injury late last year.
Expecting Brooks to come back early in 2023 appeared to be a reach this past February. With the type of knee injury Brooks had, normally a player doesn't fully regain their speed for a year. The hope was maybe Brooks could be somewhat productive by November. But Brooks had other ideas and made it back fully healthy for Week 1 and he has been fantastic all year.
Against the Browns, Brooks had 2 quarterback hits, a sack, a forced fumble, and was in on 10 tackles. He was blazing fast when pressuring the quarterback, and he is getting those kinds of opportunities more this year than in his previous three seasons. He already has set a career high with 3.5 sacks in 2023 (his previous career high was just 1 sack and that happened in 2021 and 2022). He's also set a career high with 4 quarterback hits. He has 6 tackles for loss which is the second-best number of his career.
Jordyn Brooks isn't just having a surprisingly productive year after coming back from knee surgery, but he's having a career year. He will be an unrestricted free agent after 2023, however. Hopefully, Seattle will find a way to bring him back, but he is going to be expensive.