One of many unknowns for the Seattle Seahawks heading into the 2024 season is how well their defense will perform under new head coach Mike Macdonald. It's very difficult to predict just how much of a difference a new scheme will make, but if nothing else fans should be hopeful that the team's collective pass rushing will improve by leaps and bounds.
Last season as the Baltimore Ravens' defensive coordinator Macdonald proved that he can get the most out of any defender, including players who seem to be past their prime along the edge. Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy both posted nine sacks or more in 2023 and neither one of them cost Baltimore much. As a group, the Ravens led the league in sacks and every other significant pass-rushing metric. Manufacturing more of that cheap pressure production will be one key to getting the most out of this unit in 2024, especially because on paper this is a below-average group.
According to ESPN NFL analyst Mike Clay, Seattle's edge rusher unit only ranks No. 19 in the league this year. At the moment our projections for their depth chart at this spot looks something like this:
- Uchenna Nwosu
- Boye Mafe
- Dre'Mont Jones?
- Darrell Taylor
- Derick Hall
- Nelson Ceasar
Nwosu and Mafe are a fine starting pair, both offering 10-sack potential as pass rushers and competence against the run. However, after that the rest of the group amounts to a bunch of questions marks at best.
One significant factor that could go either way is Dre'Mont Jones, who will be sliding outside full-time this year after showing potential on the edge in 2023 after the Seahawks traded for Leonard Williams. The remainder should be considered unreliable until we see something different, though. Taylor has been atrocious setting the edge and Hall had a slow start to his career. The undrafted rookie Ceasar does offer some sleeper potential, but he's far from a sure thing to even make the initial 53-man roster.
Whether they're still considered below-average or up-and-coming by the end of the season will depend largely on Macdonald's scheme and player development.
