Tyrel Dodson signing with the Seattle Seahawks on a one-year, $4.26 million contract was pretty far from a big-headline move in free agency. After playing his college ball at Texas A&M, Dodson went undrafted and eventually signed with the Buffalo Bills. He put in 59 games with the Bills over the next four seasons, peaking last year with 10 starts. Dodson ended the year with 74 combined tackles (eight for a loss), 2.5 sacks and six quarterback hits, all solid numbers for a part-time off-ball linebacker.
It was Dodson's work in coverage that really stood out, though. For his work in that all-critical part of the modern NFL game Dodson earned an 88.4 grade in coverage from Pro Football Focus, the third-highest at his position behind C.J. Mosley and Quincy Williams of the Jets. While it was a relatively small sample size compared to full-time linebackers, Dodson's 90.2 overall grade was the best at his position.
That helped Dodson land his gig in Seattle, where he has the unenviable task of succeeding future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner as their middle linebacker. Difficult as the challenge ahead of him might be and unknown as he is on the national stage, Dodson definitely has his believers. Earlier this month Vinnie Iyer at The Sporting News picked his NFL All-Breakout Defense for the 2024 season and Dodson made the cut.
"Seattle got him on a cheap one-year, $4.26 million contract, and he will be a huge upfield upgrade in the new defense of Mike Macdonald. Fred Warner and Bobby Wagner have dominated the Pro Bowl spots, but Dodson should get a nod if he can stay healthy. Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen both starred for Macdonald in Baltimore, so the coaching influence can't be ignored."
If Macdonald can get the best version of Dodson the Seahawks might not even miss Wagner all that much, which would be a huge relief for a defense that has underperformed in a bad way the last couple of seasons.
Assuming Dodson delivers on the potential he showed in 2023 and he doesn't get exposed in coverage as Seattle linebackers have regularly been by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay it would be a masterstroke from general manager John Schneider - plugging what might have been this defensive unit's greatest weakness the last several years.
