It isn't often that a team decides to cut ties with their leading tackler in midseason. It turns out the Seattle Seahawks did exactly the right thing as they returned to the win column in Week 11. But when they made the move still baffles me.
You might look at Tyrel Dodson's performance for the Seahawks as a solid piece of work. After all, he led the team in tackles. That's what you'd expect your middle linebacker to do, especially in Seattle. It's worth noting that through Week 9, safety Julian Love had 11.5 combined tackles per 100 snaps.
Dodson had 11.8 per 100, so it's not like he had a huge edge above Love.
A better comparison is what new middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV has done in his three games with the Seahawks. He's now totaled 37 combined tackles after the huge Week 11 win over the 49ers. Those have come in 216 snaps. Not to get mathy or anything, but that's 17.1 tackles per 100 snaps. Not that you need context with a difference that stark, but that's even beyond Bobby Wagner-level. In 2023 when BWagz again led the league in tackles with 183, he averaged 15.6 per 100 snaps.
The Seattle Seahawks clearly made the right move, but did they do it the right way?
I can understand why the Seahawks moved on from Tyrel Dodson. Maybe. But how they moved on - that makes absolutely zero sense. Ernest Jones IV has been playing lights-out football. He had a couple of miscues in his first game in Seattle, true. But considering he'd had three days of practice, that's a bit understandable.
The decision to trust the weakside position to rookie Tyrice Knight proved to be a solid choice. He was second on the team in tackles with 10, only behind Jones' 13 (of course). He missed zero tackles, which we've come to expect from the young tackling machine. The Hawks held the Niners to 94 yards rushing and 294 total in Week 11. Compare that to the embarrassing 228 on the ground and 483 totals of the Week 6 loss. It's just one game, but it doesn't look like Seattle made the wrong decision.
When and especially how they chose to move on from Dodson, still puzzles me. John Schneider and Mike Macdonald had just made the decision to bring in Jones for the underperforming Jerome Baker three weeks prior. Dodson had the same issues as Baker. He was good in coverage for an inside linebacker, exactly what Macdonald wanted. A few weeks ago, I wrote that the Hawks were right to let Bobby Wagner go in the offseason. He's playing like - well, like Bobby Wagner for the Commanders. But he still has that one small bit of kryptonite in his game: his coverage.
According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Wagner grades out at 62.8. Dodson's coverage rating is much better at 73.3.. The problem for the Seahawks was that Dodson was so bad against the run, 52.0. The Hawks simply gave up far too much against the run, and it was killing them game after game. So yeah, I get why they needed to move on from Dodson, too.
But why make the move a week after the trade deadline? It's not like he was playing amazing ball all season, then suddenly couldn't stop the run in their bye week. Dodson was confused by the move, and rightly so. It turned out fine for Dodson, as he was snapped up by the Dolphins almost immediately. But Seattle got Ernest Jones IV for Baker and a fourth-round pick. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume they'd get an even better deal for their leading tackler?
The Seahawks still need the offensive line to improve. Yes, Bob Condotta graded their performance as a B against the 49ers. Condotta is terrific, but I think he whiffed on this one. Seattle allowed four sacks and seven quarterback hits on Geno Smith. Considering that Nick Bosa went out of the game midway through the third quarter, that's awful. The Hawks couldn't pick up one yard with two tries to pick up a critical first down. They still need help on the offensive line, and why they didn't use Dodson to get it is beyond me.