Seahawks’ D can be elite, even without slew of stars

The Seattle Seahawks’ legendary Legion of Boom defense featured a rare collection of superstar talent.

With the likes of Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Bobby Wagner all sharing the same field, it almost felt like an all-star team at times. The result was an all-time great run of dominance, which saw the Seahawks finish as the league’s top-ranked scoring defense for four straight years.

These days, Seattle’s defense is on the rise once again under second-year head coach Mike Macdonald. After some initial growing pains last fall, the Seahawks evolved into a top-five defense over the second half of last season. And with nearly every key contributor returning, Seattle’s defense is looking to establish itself as one of the league’s top units.

But unlike those famed Legion of Boom defenses, the 2025 Seahawks don’t have the same abundance of defensive star power.

Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon are both pushing elite status at their respective positions, but the rest of Seattle’s defense is mostly filled with players who are above average, but not necessarily superstars – at least not yet.

That prompted a question for FTN Fantasy’s Aaron Schatz during a recent appearance on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy: Can a defense be the best in the league without a slew of bona fide superstars?

“May I introduce you to last year’s Minnesota Vikings,” Schatz responded.

The Vikings went 14-3 last season behind a defense that ranked No. 5 in scoring, allowing just 19.5 points per game. They were even better in the advanced metrics, ranking No. 1 in FTN Fantasy’s defensive DVOA and No. 2 in RBSDM.com’s defensive EPA per play.

And they did so with no first-team All-Pro selections and only one second-team All-Pro – edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel.

“They’re very similar,” Schatz said of the 2025 Seahawks’ defense and the 2024 Vikings’ defense. “You look at the Vikings’ roster and you’re like, who here is a top-10 player at their position? Maybe Andrew Van Ginkel? … (And) I mean, the Seahawks have a better argument for having players that are actually in the top 10 at their position with Leonard Williams and Devon Witherspoon.”