Newsletter

Seattle Seahawks defensive line ranked worst in NFL

Just four years ago, the Seattle Seahawks had Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Frank Clark and rookie Jarran Reed as part of their defensive line rotation. Go back a few years and replace Reed and Clark with Chris Clemons, Brandon Mebane and Clinton McDonald.

The Boom Legion grabbed the headlines, but the Seahawks’ dominant four forwards exhausted opponents in both passing and running.

Your 2019 iteration of the Seahawks … didn’t really do that. In fact, they were woefully bad in both pass and run defense and were objectively the worst defensive line the Seahawks have ever drawn under Pete Carroll – 2010 squad included. The 2020 depth chart might see the return of Bruce Irvin, but otherwise, he doesn’t have a single major upgrade yet. As such, Pro Football Focus – I know, I know – has put the Seahawks’ defensive line at the lowest in the league as we (hopefully) approach a new season. Sam Monson of PFF notes that “the best defensive lines have both high end players and depth, and that’s what we relied on when developing this ranking.

Without further ado, here’s PFF’s take on what they obviously considered the worst defensive line in the NFL.

32. Seattle Seahawks

With Jadeveon Clowney still unsigned at the time of writing, Seattle’s best defensive lineman of 2019 is no longer on the list and the gap between him and the next best player is not small.

Poona Ford has impressed in the NFL so far, but more as a running defender than any type of passing force, and he’s only had 19 presses in total over two years. Jarran Reed looked like he had become a all-round force before legal issues disrupted his career and he didn’t look like the same player. In 2018, he registered 55 total presses and scored strong in all areas, but he was significantly worse in 2019.

Much will also be expected of LJ Collier, the team’s first-round pick in 2019. This draft selection was a surprise to most, and his 48.6 PFF rating on just 152 shots didn’t help. this impression. Collier had only a rush of 86 shots rushed into an impressive production shortage. If he can’t take a big leap forward in 2020, it’s hard to see where the pressure will come from.

Darrell Taylor of Tennessee, the team’s second-round pick this year, was an equally disappointing prospect, but represents a significant investment they will likely expect to make. Bruce Irvin returns for a second stint with the team that drafted him in the first round in 2012, but Irvin hasn’t achieved a passing score north of 70.0 since his second season in Seattle.

Rasheem Green saw north of 500 shots a season ago, but had below-par ratings in all facets of the game and just 30 total taps from 376 rushes. Last season, the team experimented with deploying Shaquem Griffin to the edge as a situational pass-rusher despite his weight (likely in the 215-220 pound range), in an effort to generate some pressure. He flashed occasionally but ended up with just 10 taps out of 94 rushes.

The Seahawks’ defensive line was hugely dependent on Jadeveon Clowney in 2019. If they don’t have it for 2020, they must find a new source of the pass rush.

I’m not in the mood to go over PFF’s scoring system, which has been thoroughly reviewed and the subject of many jokes even on this site. However, if Seattle is to surpass its 32nd overall, there has to be dramatically improved productivity from Collier and Green, as well as the instant productivity of rookie Darrell Taylor. Otherwise, you rely on Bruce Irvin and (probably, maybe?) Benson Mayowa as your primary couriers. I’ve already pointed out how poor the race defense was last year, and there’s not much optimism (at least for me) that it will be much better under this list. If I had to bet on someone who will have a big year, it’s Rasheem Green.

Do the Seahawks clearly have the worst defensive line in the NFL? I don’t know and frankly I don’t know enough about the other teams with equally poor fronts to say the opposite. But this is a collection of young players for the most part who need to establish themselves as early as possible or it will be another painful experience watching this once excellent defense.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending