Field Gulls
Coby Bryant, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Damien Martinez are three Secret Superstars who could help take the Seahawks over the top in 2025.
Pete Carroll is one of the most impactful figures in Seattle sports history, so when the mutual decision was made for Carroll to move on from his position as the Seahawks’ head coach following the 2023 season, anybody replacing him was going to have a tough road in following a guy who completely redefined the franchise on and off the field.
The team took its time in deciding on Carroll’s replacement, hiring Mike Macdonald on Jan. 31, 2024 — three weeks after Carroll “stepped down.” The former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator had put together great units on that side of the ball both in the Charm City, and for Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines in 2021. Macdonald seemed to have all the attributes to lead a team at the highest level, but even so, moving to an entirely new environment is no small thing.
Overall, Macdonald’s first season struck an interesting balance between frustration and encouragement. The offense floundered under Ryan Grubb, who has been replaced by Klint Kubiak. Geno Smith was cast aside in a trade to the Las Vegas Raiders, where he’ll be reunited with Carroll, the man who saved his NFL career. Sam Darnold, Smith’s replacement, had an unexpectedly great season for the Minnesota Vikings last season, and the marriage between Kubiak and Darnold would seem in principle to be just about perfect.
Will Year 2 of the Macdonald regime bring the first postseason slot for the Seahawks since 2022, and the first playoff win since Jan. 5, 2020? If that is to happen, everyone will have to be at their best — not just the prominent names.
In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we look at three Secret Superstars for these Seahawks — one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent signing, and one underrated draft pick — who could help bring back the glory days.
The 2024 season marked an interesting transition for Seattle’s defense. In the switch from Carroll to Macdonald, the Seahawks picked up a lot of more advanced concepts that Macdonald adopted through his career, and really perfected in 2023.
When players have a new defense to learn, it always takes a minute for everything to hit the right way. That was the case for Macdonald’s Seahawks, who ranked 15th in Defensive DVOA in the first half of the season, and jumped to seventh from Week 10 through the end. Fans should absolutely be excited about what things could look like in 2025 given Macdonald’s own defensive genius, and the talent on the roster.
One guy who really started to show up and show out in the second half of the season was defensive back Coby Bryant, who has seen his own career become a series of transitions. Selected in the fourth round of the 2022 draft out of Cincinnati as an outside cornerback, Bryant...
