If you believe the old adage about great players showing up at the biggest moments, then you might want to keep an eye on the Seattle Seahawks’ Derick Hall this season.
The last time we saw him, the 25-year-old out of Auburn was blowing up the Super Bowl. The two sacks he recorded were exactly what John Schneider and Pete Carroll were envisioning when they took Hall in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
40 picks later, the Los Angeles Rams selected Byron Young, an edge rusher out of Tennessee. So far, Young has had a better NFL career. But 2026 could be the year where that changes. Or at the least, it could be the year in which Derick Hall significantly narrows the gap.
Derick Hall is poised for a breakout season with the Super champion Seattle Seahawks
Hall had played about one thousand defensive snaps since joining the Seahawks in 2023. He has recorded about 100 tackles and has managed ten sacks. In the regular season, that is. More on that in a moment.
During his time in Seattle, Hall has been part of a platoon of edge rushers. He initially found himself stuck behind Boye Mafe and Dre’Mont Jones. In his second year, with Jones largely ineffective and Uchenna Nwosu injured, Hall got his chance to shine, piling up eight sacks and 20 quarterback hits in just 674 snaps.
With the arrival of Demarcus Lawrence last season, Hall once again took a back seat, playing the fewest snaps of Seattle’s four primary edge rushers. With Mafe now off to Cincinnati, it seemed as if Hall would have a chance to earn a lot more snaps this season.
Some analysts and fans alike began to question that narrative when general manager John Schneider brought veteran pass rush specialist Dante Fowler, Jr. to town. Would this be another case of a veteran blocking Hall’s progress?
Don’t bet on it. This is Derick Hall’s year to shine.
Mike Macdonald values defensive depth more than any other coach in the NFL. The top six players in their vaunted secondary missed 21 games in 2025 but Schneider has built so much depth that they didn’t miss a beat.
Fowler was not signed out of a position of weakness. He was essentially a luxury item to provide ample rest for Seattle’s talented corps of pass rushers and as insurance against injury. At this point in his NFL journey,
Fowler is largely a one-dimensional player – a pass rush specialist. That is something Mike Macdonald does not typically employ, but pass rushers are a special case. You can never have enough.
If anything, Fowler should be taking over the role that Hall played last year, with Hall moving into a starting-level time share with Nwosu. Fowler will be 32 when the season begins. Lawrence is 34. Nwosu hits 30 at the end of this year. The 25-year-old Hall represents both the present and the future of Seattle’s pass rush.
Go back to last year’s Super Bowl. Hall had two sacks, matching his season total. The second one, in the third quarter resulted in a fumble that led directly to Seattle’s first touchdown and essentially ended the game.
On the play, Hall came from the left edge, got a good push on veteran tackle Morgan Moses, then used his great agility to dip inside to hit Drake Maye as his stepped up in the pocket and cause the fumble.
That play was crucial, but his first sack, in the first quarter, may have been more impressive. This time coming from the right, Hall bull rushed the Patriots’ rookie tackle Will Campbell. Campell, like Moses, outweighs Hall by a good 60 pounds, but Hall had no trouble knocking the rookie off balance.
When guard Jared Wilson tried to help out with a chip, Hall actually used Wilson’s block to launch himself at Maye. He chased the athletic QB down for the sack.
That one play – the conversion of speed to power, the ability to absorb a blow and stay on course, and the simple instincts to understand how to best reach the QB - showed off a lot of Hall’s arsenal.
He has always been an outstanding pass rusher. In his final two seasons at Auburn, Hall piled up 90 quarterback pressures. His pressure and QB hit rates are higher than those of Mafe or Nwosu over the last two seasons.
His trouble has been defending the run well enough to earn more snaps. Hall’s aggressiveness can lead to missed tackles. It can make him susceptible to counter action. If he wants to log snaps in the 700 range with this defense, he needs to lock down his run defense.
He is set up to perfection this year. Mafe is gone. Fowler is a part-time specialist. Best of all, he enters his second season studying under Lawrence. Lawrence has always been one of the best two-way defensive edges in the league. His work ethic and desire are second to none. He is the perfect mentor for a player like Hall.
Add to that the fact that in Aden Durde and Mike Macdonald, he is playing under two of the best coaches of defensive ends and linebackers in the entire NFL and you can see why 2026 could be Derick Hall’s breakout. I expect him to build on that Super Bowl success, earn himself a major role on the defense and put up numbers commensurate with his promise.
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