The Seattle Seahawks defense took about half a season to become quite good in the first season with Mike Macdonald as head coach, but the unit did appear to start to mold into one many 12s hoped it would. Seattle jumped from 25th in 2023 to ninth in 2024 in terms of yards allowed per play, for instance. Macdonald made a difference.
The coach still needs the pieces to have the defense be even better, though. In the secondary, Devon Witherspoon is fantastic, but Riq Woolen is somewhat inconsistent. The outside cornerback opposite Woolen was a rotating group. Josh Jobe might have played the best, but he certainly is not a sure-fire long-term answer to play one of the key corner spots.
Seattle could draft a cornerback in the first round, but this would be unexpected. The team has greater needs than corner. The Seahawks are also limited in free agency because, currently, the team is over the cap. Even if the team creates cap space, which they will, should that money go toward signing one of the top free agent cornerbacks? Unlikely.
Proposed trade would have Seattle Seahawks adding cornerback Marlon Humphrey
Bleacher Report, however, has an interesting trade idea that would bring an All-Pro player with ties to Macdonald to Seattle. Marlon Humphrey has had some injury issues in his career, but when he is playing in his best form, he is clearly one of the best players at his position in the league. Humphrey was a First-Team All-Pro this season, and he was in 2019, too. He is a four-time Pro Bowler.
Humphrey played under Macdonald when the Seattle head coach was the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023. The cornerback made the Pro Bowl in 2022 but played in only 10 games in 2023. He would understand the concepts behind what Macdonald does, and there is little doubt a cornerback trio of Witherspoon, Woolen, and Humphrey would elevate the defense.
The issue for Seattle is that Humphrey is extremely expensive. His cap hit is $25,377,800, though not all of that would transfer to the Seahawks. Seattle would have to create cap room to add Humphrey, but the difference between him and a free agent corner is that 1) Humphrey is probably the better player, and 2) he has played under Macdonald before.
The trade proposed by B/R is certainly affordable for the Seahawks. Seattle would send a 2025 third-round pick (No. 82 overall), 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 137 overall), and 2025 sixth-round pick (No. 212 overall) to the Ravens for CB Marlon Humphrey and 2025 fifth-round pick (No. 176 overall). In essence, Seattle would give up a third-rounder and fourth-rounder for Humphrey.
General manager John Schneider is definitely not opposed to working a trade for a presumed high-quality player. Seattle traded for Jamal Adams in 2020, Jadeveon Clowney in 2019, and Duane Brown in 2017. It is about time he makes another splash move. Humphrey to the Seahawks would make sense.