Pass Rush

[D-train]

I found much of this to be pretty interesting.

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
As the Seahawks head to Nashville for two days of joint practices with the Tennessee Titans on Wednesday and Thursday, among the many things they’ll want to get some good looks at is their pass rush.

The Seahawks had 47 sacks last season — tied for 11th in the NFL and only one fewer than any team in the NFC (the top eight teams were all in the AFC).

But that number was bolstered by the Seahawks’ 11 sacks during a Monday night victory against the woeful Giants.

And too often when it seemed to matter most, the pass rush was lacking.

Case in point: The New Year’s Eve home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and backup quarterback Mason Rudolph, which essentially sealed the Seahawks’ playoff fate. If they had won that game and made the playoffs, who knows how the big offseason decisions would have unfolded.

The Seahawks had just two quarterback hits on Rudolph and only one sack, as the perennial backup threw for 274 yards.
Interestingly, this week they will see Rudolph, who is the Titans’ backup behind Will Levis and ahead of third-teamer Malik Willis. They are working behind an offensive line the Titans spent significant draft capital and money to improve.

Hopes for a better pass rush, of course, rest on the shoulders of the Seahawks’ two biggest offseason additions — coach Mike Macdonald and first-round draft pick Byron Murphy II.

Macdonald became one of the hottest young NFL coaches with his work coordinating a Baltimore defense that last season became the first to lead the league in points allowed per game (16.5), sacks (60) and take-aways (31).

Murphy was regarded as the best interior pass rusher in the draft and joins an interior line that includes veteran Leonard Williams. Williams was acquired in a midseason trade, then signed a three-year deal averaging $21.5 million, 10th-highest for an interior defensive lineman this year.

Add Jarran Reed and the addition of run-stopping specialist Johnathan Hankins, and Seattle’s tackle spots seem solid.

More of a question is the edge-rush group, which is essentially the same with a few tweaks.

One tweak is making permanent the move of Dre’Mont Jones to playing outside, which occurred at midseason in 2023.

Jones will also play some inside, but he has the position of rush end on the team’s public depth chart, a designation that didn’t exist under previous coach Pete Carroll. The Seahawks listed two outside linebackers flanking three interior linemen on their roster the past few years.

Under Macdonald, they list a strongside linebacker, middle linebacker and weakside linebacker.

Uchenna Nwosu, listed as an outside linebacker last season, is now listed as the starting strongside linebacker and is backed up by Derick Hall. Strongside means a player lines up on the side where the offense has its tight end.

Jones at rush end is backed up by Boye Mafe and Darrell Taylor.

The designations may seem like semantics, but with Jones it signifies the Seahawks view him mostly as a pass rusher. They hope he can greatly improve on the 4.5 sacks he had last season, his first in Seattle.

Jones missed more than two weeks of practice because of a hamstring injury suffered on the third day of camp.

He was back full go Monday, and the assumption is he will get a lot of work in the joint practices for Macdonald and the staff to evaluate his transition.

The rest of the edge-rush group is the same as last season. In name, anyway. But the Seahawks hope it’ll be a lot different.

One reason for higher expectations: The Seahawks hope to get a full season out of Nwosu. He signed a three-year $45 million contract in July 2023, then played just six games last season before suffering a torn pectoral muscle. He is 100% now.

The Seahawks also hope players such as Mafe, Hall and Taylor improve. Or in Mafe’s case, show that his team-leading nine sacks last season — which included a stretch of seven games with at least one sack, the longest streak in Seahawks history — isn’t a fluke.

Mafe has been healthy throughout camp. But in a sign the team wants to assure he doesn’t take a step back from last season, he played the entire first half of Saturday’s preseason game against the Chargers. The rest of the defensive starters played the six plays of the first two series then retired to the sideline for the rest of the night.

Taylor, meanwhile, remains an enigma. His 21.5 sacks are the fourth most of any player taken in the 2020 draft, which is more impressive considering he missed his rookie year due to injury.

But he fell to 5.5 sacks last season after 9.5 in 2022. He agreed to a one-year deal for a non-guaranteed $3.1 million, creating the option for the team to release him at little cost.

Then there’s Hall, a second-round pick a year ago and the 37th overall selection out of Auburn who struggled as a rookie. Hall had 5.5 QB hits and no sacks despite playing all 17 games last season. He saw his playing time drop as the season wore on — he had only one QB hit the final 13 games.

Hall said he’s down to about 260 pounds from about 268 last year and feels faster and more explosive.

That seemed to show against the Chargers, as Hall had one sack, two pressures and four tackles on running plays. He was tabbed by Pro Football Focus as the player of the game.

“Learning, growing, trying to take one day at a time and going into the offseason knowing what I had to work on and coming into this year knowing exactly what to expect and being able to roll and play free, fast and confident is the biggest difference,” he said.

Macdonald said he felt the game — including Hall’s play — was a step in the right direction.

“I think you can feel the continuity in the guys playing off one another a little bit better,” he said. “I felt I was pleased with the way the starters rushed. Guys like Derick Hall popped. He showed his power off the edge, so that was pleasing to see.”

Note
The Seahawks on Tuesday waived nose tackle Matt Gotel off injured reserve with an injury settlement. He suffered a high-ankle sprain last week. Gotel could return this season, depending on the terms of the injury settlement. He can also be claimed by any other team.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

If there's any improvent in the pass rush this year 99% of that will be due to Byron Murphy collapsing the pocket and flushing the QB into the arms of one of his teammates. The edge guys by themselves aren't going to be anything special.

[Donn Beach]

A lot can be done with mixing things up, mcdonalds contribution

[D-train]

If there's any improvent in the pass rush this year 99% of that will be due to Byron Murphy collapsing the pocket and flushing the QB into the arms of one of his teammates. The edge guys by themselves aren't going to be anything special.

Mafe was good last year, Nwosu is back, Taylor had 9.5 sacks in 2022, Hall was great last week. At least there is upside unlike our baseball team...

[Pharmabro]

If there's any improvent in the pass rush this year 99% of that will be due to Byron Murphy collapsing the pocket and flushing the QB into the arms of one of his teammates. The edge guys by themselves aren't going to be anything special.

That and Mike McDonald mixing things up. The D under Pete was vanilla and predictable.
I think the D will be much better this year. I think Dremont Jones, Leonard WIlliams, Murphy, Nwosu, Mafe, Reed, Hankins, Taylor, Hall is a group that has a lot of weapons. And both Williams and Murphy can collapse the pocket up the middle.

Let's Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[D-train]

Holy Shit! DHall on this one.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

I'd say Hall is likely to improve on his sack total from last year.

[Donn Beach]

If you guys are looking for content there is a lot of it on Field Gulls, dont know if that gets checked. Heres another look at the scrimmaging. It really seems like a pretty signifigant Mcdonald innovation. Its interesting too the improvement star might be Tiq Woolen. If that guys back thats something. Maybe his shoulder was really bothering him

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Gregg Bell
@gbellseattle
Overarching accomplishment for #Seahawks in 2 ultra-competitive joint practices with Titans here in Nashville: Coach Mike Macdonald found he's got some dogs, esp on defense. Ratchet up intensity to the moment. Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy, Riq Woolen, Uchenna Nwosu did that.

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2024/8/15/24 ... riq-woolen

[trharder]

That would be great if Wollen lives up to his 2022 potential this year.
But watching him in tackling situations last year left a really bad taste in my mouth.

[D-train]

If you guys are looking for content there is a lot of it on Field Gulls, dont know if that gets checked. Heres another look at the scrimmaging. It really seems like a pretty signifigant Mcdonald innovation. Its interesting too the improvement star might be Tiq Woolen. If that guys back thats something. Maybe his shoulder was really bothering him

See new posts
Conversation
Gregg Bell
@gbellseattle
Overarching accomplishment for #Seahawks in 2 ultra-competitive joint practices with Titans here in Nashville: Coach Mike Macdonald found he's got some dogs, esp on defense. Ratchet up intensity to the moment. Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy, Riq Woolen, Uchenna Nwosu did that.

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2024/8/15/24 ... riq-woolen

12thmanrising.com is also good.