ESPN recently ranked the NFL’s best edge rushers. Not surprisingly, the Seattle Seahawks did not have a representative on the list. No one in the top ten. No one among the four honorable mentions. Not even one of the seven edges in the “others receiving votes” category. Is this a bad omen for the Seahawks as they get serious about preparation for the 2025 season?
It's not surprising that of the fourteen playoff teams from 2024, 10 of them had at least one edge recognized on the ESPN list. One team – the Houston Texans – had two, and both players, Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, were in the top ten.
Still, four of 2024’s playoff teams – Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Washington, and Super Bowl champs Philadelphia – had no edge rushers honored. So perhaps it is not essential to have one dominant player rushing the passer from the outside, provided your defense can generate pressure in other ways.
Where are the Seattle Seahawks likely to get their pass pressure from in 2025?
The Seahawks have four players with the pedigree to be plus edge rushers. Each has had at least eight sacks in a season. The problem is that the club has been unable in recent years to develop sustained success.
Dre’Mond Jones was supposed to be a major part of a consistent edge presence, but the big-time free agent signee back in 2023 never lived up to expectations and was released this offseason. His ostensible replacement, DeMarcus Lawrence, has been one of the most consistent two-way edge players in the league for much of the past decade.
However, Lawrence is 33 years old now and coming off a season-ending injury. Even if health were no concern, he is far removed from his pass-rushing glory days back in 2017 and ’18, when he put up 25 sacks over two seasons.
As it stands now, Seattle’s most productive pass-rushing edge defender from 2024 is Lawrence’s backup. Derick Hall exploded on the scene in his second year, piling up eight sacks in just over 600 snaps.
If Hall can build on those accomplishments, he will force his way onto the field, whether at the expense of Lawrence or someone else. The problem for Seattle fans is that they have seen this story before. In 2023, it was Boye Mafe who reached nine sacks, and in 2022, Uchenna Nwosu was the new star, with 9.5 sacks.
Nwosu has not been able to stay healthy, and Mafe, though still a quality player, has not proven to be the dynamic pass rusher Seattle was hoping for. 2024 was the second straight season that a Seahawk edge burst out of the gate with impressive sack numbers, only to fizzle as the season wore on.
Mafe had seven sacks through week nine in 2023, but only two after that. Last year, Hall had five sacks by week five, and just three more the rest of the season.
Is this a sign of something, or just a flukish coincidence? The jury is still out.
The Seahawks' defense gets very good pressure from its defensive line. Leonard Williams is the best pass rusher on the team, while Jarran Reed has always provided pressure up the middle. Still, it is hard for defenses to shut down quality offenses if they aren’t generating strong pressure on the outside.
Just as concerning is the fact that both the Rams and the 49ers do have top-ten edge rushers. Those are the two teams Seattle is likely competing with for the NFC West in 2025, and in Nick Bosa and Jared Verse, they both have a dangerous presence on the outside coming after the quarterback.
At least one of Seattle’s four quality edge players has to have a big season if Seattle is going to have an above-average defense. Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme is predicated on active ends and linebackers harassing opposing quarterbacks.
In 2023, the Ravens’ lineman Nnamdi Madubuike led Baltimore in sacks, in the same way that Leonard Williams led the Hawks last year. But Madubuike was backed up by a couple of edge rushers in Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, who combined for 18.5 sacks.
Seattle has not been able to rely on that kind of production from its edge rushers. If they hope to challenge for the playoffs in 2025, that needs to change.
