Don’t call them the Legion. The 2025 version of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense intends no disrespect to the iconic Legion of Boom that terrified opposing offenses in the early 2010s, but they don’t want to be in anyone’s shadow. Hence, the Dark Side.
As safety Julian Love explained on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Thursday, the Dark Side nickname, inspired by the Star Wars megaverse, started as a defensive line thing. But it soon spread to the entire defense. And just as quickly, it became a thing for fans, who started showing up in Dark Side T-shirts. A new nickname was born.
Seattle has drilled that into the public consciousness by playing mostly lights-out football over the past couple of months. Still, when host Kyle Brandt asked Love to break it down a little more and match up Seahawks players with their Dark Side counterparts, Seattle’s safety had to think about it for a moment or two.
Seattle Seahawks embracing their new nickname, and we’re here to help
Love matched up three Star Wars characters with three members of the Seahawks’ franchise. The first name that came to his mind was Devon Witherspoon.
According to Love, in Dark Side lore, Spoon is Darth Maul. Among the original Sith assassins, Maul terrorized opponents with his double-bladed lightsaber. I’ve never seen Spoon use such a weapon, but I have little doubt he could. And he does terrorize opposing receivers and QBs alike.
Then, the man who runs the show. Love labelled head coach Mike Macdonald as Emperor Palpatine himself. Though their personalities strike me as being vastly different, no one can argue that both possess otherworldly strategizing abilities and a “speak softly but carry a big stick” philosophy.
Coach Mac may still only be a senator from the Naboo-esque land of the NFC West, but if he brings home the Lombardi Trophy in just his second year at the helm, I think the “Emperor” title will be in order.
Finally, Spoon said the super-cool bounty hunter Boba Fett had to be Ernest Jones IV. And I am certainly not going to argue that one.
Love ran out of time to go much further, so in the interest of building a brand, let me suggest a couple of other reasonable parallels from these two historic franchises.
Staying on the Dark Side, DeMarcus Lawrence checks the Grand Admiral Thrawn box. He can beat you with his tenacious individual skill, but the veteran is especially dangerous because of his brilliance on the battlefield. DLaw, like Thrawn, is going to find a way to win.
If Macdonald is Palpatine, it’s the genius who no one ever seems to notice, Aden Durde, who is the embodiment of Count Dooku. Hiding right there in plain sight, I suspect his formidable power will become known someday soon.
As for the granddaddy of them all – Darth Vader – it has to be the Big Cat, Leonard Williams. On a roster full of scary figures, no one is scarier
And if Williams is indeed Vader, then I think that qualifies his protégé, Byron Murphy II, as Kylo Ren. Hopefully, he will not fight the same internal battles and will simply develop into the baddest of them all.
That’s it for the defense (Sorry – I just couldn’t find a comparable for Nick Emmanwori. I don’t think George Lucas ever imagined anything like him.)
But the Seahawks are a team. They have a Light Side as well. And it starts with the dynamic duo of Luke and Han – AKA Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Sam Darnold. JSN is a perfect Luke. He looks like the sweetest kid on the playground, but he will cut your heart out with his extraordinary talent.
Plus, when I saw him jump about thirty feet in the air to snag a Sam Darnold pass that was way, way out of the end zone last week, I thought to myself, “Skywalker.”
As for his QB, Darnold shares Han’s square jaw, swashbuckling style, and ability to pull things out at the last moment. Plus, like Han, he has taken his lumps and still comes out as a hero.
Mentoring them on the field, in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, is Cooper Kupp. Tell me they don’t have the same beard.
Mentoring them off the field, the grand master, is Klint Kubiak as Yoda. I wonder how Yoda will fare in Sin City.
And protecting Han as always, we have all five members of the offensive line, as well as A.J. Barner and Eric Saubert, all playing the role of Chewbacca. Chewy, after all, was larger than life.
Finally, I think it’s only fitting to honor the 12 with the best, the scrappiest, and the downright coolest helpers in this or any other galaxy. I doubt this name will catch on, but at least for this playoff run, I’m thinking of Seahawks fans everywhere as honorary Ewoks.
May the Lombardi Trophy be with you. When Light and Dark unite even true patriots will fall.