Field Gulls
League coaches, scouts, and executives clearly didn’t think much of the Seahawks offense, but they had praise for the defense.
The Seattle Seahawks defense had considerable representation in this year’s edition of ESPN’s annual survey of top 10 players by position, as voted by league coaches, scouts, and executives. This is an upgrade from the 2024 offseason, when the Seahawks’ lone representative was Devon Witherspoon.
Who’s made this year’s list? We start off with the Big Cat himself, Leonard Williams. One ballot actually had him as high as No. 2.
First-year Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald helped catapult Williams, who took full advantage of his matchups to have a banner season.
“His play finally matched his abilities last season,” a veteran NFL coach said. “He was dominant. Others have been better than him in previous years, but he always had a high ceiling.”
Williams posted career highs in quarterback hits (28) and tackles for loss (16), an impressive feat in Year 10. He added 64 tackles, 3 passes defended and a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“Has rare length, range and power,” an NFL coordinator said. “Was nice to see him put it all together.”
Dexter Lawrence, Chris Jones, Jalen Carter, Jeffery Simmons, and Quinnen Williams were all ranked ahead of Williams in the aggregate total.
Next up is a first-time entrant into this survey. Julian Love is entering his third season with the Seahawks after a great second season, and he cracked the safety list at No. 10.
Love has used his two-year stint in Seattle to catapult his career, racking up 7 interceptions, 22 pass deflections and 232 total tackles. His 21.8% ball-hawking rate topped all safeties with at least 50 targets this past season.
“Range, dart, combo of physicality and ball production. Has developed into a high-end player,” an NFC executive said. “Remarkable for a guy that was primarily a corner in college.”
The money parallels the on-field ascension. After four years with the Giants, Seattle signed Love to a two-year, $12 million deal in March 2023, only to extend him for three years and $33 million 16 months later.
After the Seahawks moved on from Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, Love’s role increased and he has flourished thus far.
Lastly, ‘Spoon is still considered a top 10 corner, although he’s moved down one spot from last year.
Witherspoon has back-to-back Pro Bowls to match two consecutive top 10s to start his career — achieving the latter in close fashion. Witherspoon won a tiebreaker with former No. 1 Jalen Ramsey for the 10th spot.
Statistically, Witherspoon wasn’t as disruptive as the previous year. His pass deflections dropped from 16 to nine, sacks from 3.0 to 1.0. But he’s the classic tone-setter, the type of player you need to see in...
