The Seattle Seahawks already had a pretty strong edge rotation going into the 2025 offseason. It got even better when they swapped out the underperforming Dre'Mont Jones and replaced him with DeMarcus Lawrence, a four-time Pro Bowler with 61.5 career sacks. Lawrence is slated to start opposite Uchenna Nwosu, who's one of the game's most-gifted all-around defenders when he's healthy.
As good as that starting 1-2 combination looks, Seattle's best edge rusher might be coming off the bench. Derick Hall also has a ton of potential, but Boye Mafe appears to have the highest ceiling in the group, according to Dave Wyman of Seattle Sports radio.
"Mafe, a 2022 second-round draft pick, showed big-time potential during his breakout nine-sack season in 2023 – which included a franchise-record seven consecutive games with at least one sack... “I think he’s the one that’s the most talented,” Wyman said. “… I feel like you’ve kind of seen the glimpse of what Boye Mafe’s upside is, and it’s good. It’s very good. But we’ll see if he can put it together and maybe have one of those superstar type of seasons.”
This take is right on the money.
Mafe may have only finished the 2024 season with six sacks, but that belies how disruptive he was and how consistently he's performed when given the opportunity. He's not just a mindless rotational pass rusher, either. Since he was drafted in 2022 Mafe has only missed 10 tackles in three seasons and he's one of the team's best run defenders.
Looking ahead, Mafe is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Seahawks do have several other strong 2022 draft picks to consider for extensions, but paying Mafe should be the easiest decision in the bunch.
