SEATTLE – Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald several times in 2024 called the team’s pass rush “a work in progress.”
He also often noted how judging the pass rush is about far more than just examining the play of the edge rushers.
An effective pass rush, Macdonald said often, is about “marrying the rush and coverage together.”
By the most traditional measure – sacks – Seattle did that pretty well in 2024, finishing tied for seventh in the NFL at 2.6 per game.
And the Seahawks did that while ranking just 18th in blitz percentage, via Pro Football Reference, at 23.6%.
But there were times the Seahawks definitely wanted more out of their pass rush, such as getting just 10 sacks during the six-game stretch at midseason when Seattle went 1-5 to fall from 3-0 to 4-5.
The Seahawks also ranked 16th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate, right in the middle.
If they want, the Seahawks can return all of the key pieces of their pass rush corps in 2025.
But as is the case at most spots, some changes could be afoot as well.
We continue our postseason review of Seattle’s position groups by looking at the edge rushers/outside linebackers.
Rush end
Dre’Mont Jones
Age: 27.
Snaps played in regular season: 617, 54.55%, via Pro Football Reference.
Contract situation: Jones is entering the final season of a three-year, $51.53 million deal signed in March 2023. He is due a $16 million base salary for 2025 that is not guaranteed. Seattle can save $11.5 million against the cap if he is released.
Derick Hall
Age: 23.
Snaps played in regular season: 674, 59.59%.
Contract situation: Entering third season of four-year rookie deal due to make $1.578 million in 2025 on a deal set to pay him up to $9.1 million overall.
Strongside linebacker
Uchenna Nwosu
Age: 28.
Snaps played in regular season: 190, 16.80%.
Contract situation: Nwosu has two years remaining on the extension he signed before the 2023 season, a three-year deal that was worth up to $45 million overall. He is due a base salary of $14.48 million in 2025. A clause in his contract calls for $6 million of that salary to become guaranteed if he is on the roster as of Feb. 10, according to OverTheCap.com. Seattle would save just over $8 million against the cap if he is released while taking a dead cap hit of just over $13 million.
Boye Mafe
Age: 26.
Snaps played in regular season: 608, 53.76%.
Contract situation: Mafe has one year remaining on his four-year rookie contract that can pay him up to $8.5 million overall and includes a nonguaranteed base salary of $1.872 million in 2025.
Key backups: No one else listed at this position played more than the 47 snaps of Trevis Gipson. Gipson ended the season on injured reserve and is now an unrestricted free agent.
2024 review
The best-laid plan for the Seahawks heading into the season included Nwosu coming back fully healthy after missing the last 11 games of the 2023 season and allowing Jones to play more on the outside with the addition of first-round pick Byron Murphy II and a full season of Leonard Williams filling more of the snaps inside.
The hope was using Jones more on the outside would get him more involved in the pass rush after he had 4.5 sacks and 12 QB hits in 2023 after arriving as the team’s big-ticket free agent signee that spring.
The plan also included Hall making a second-year leap and Mafe proving that his 2023 season wasn’t a fluke.
Hall (eight sacks, 20 QB hits compared to zero and five in 2023) and Mafe (six sacks) pretty much did as hoped. Hall, though, ranked just 190th of 211 edge rushers in run defense by Pro Football Focus, leading to a 112 ranking overall. Mafe was 30th overall due in large part to a far better run defense grade, finishing 13th overall.
Hall’s progression in camp compelled Seattle to trade Darrell Taylor to Chicago and save more than $3 million and get a fifth-round pick for a player who didn’t figure into the team’s long-range plans.
But Nwosu suffered a knee injury in the final preseason game that sidelined him four games, and then a thigh injury once he returned that held him out another five.
That forced Jones to play a hybrid inside-out role much of the season, and he finished with almost identical stats to his 2023 season with four sacks and 13 QB hits, which didn’t seem quite the impact the team likely hoped for following the big investment made in him in 2023.
Jones ranked 155th of 211 edge rushers in Pro Football Focus’ final grades this year, and 192nd against the run and now has a $25.645 million cap hit in 2025, fifth highest on the team and second of any defensive player behind only Williams.
Nwosu ended up playing six games with just one sack and five QB hits.
Seattle finished the season on a high, though, with a combined 10 sacks in the last two games against the Bears and Rams.
2025 preview
Given Seattle’s salary cap situation – the Seahawks are just over $30 million over in terms of effective cap space – there could be some decisions to be made with this group.
Jones could be a candidate for a release – if he’s a post-June 1 cut Seattle would save more than $16 million – or a restructure.
Seattle could also consider options with Nwosu whose $21.168 million cap hit for 2025 is just behind Jones’ as the sixth highest on the team and third highest for a defensive player.
The Feb. 10 date when $6 million in salary is guaranteed could indicate where things are heading.
Mafe is now eligible for an extension, and the Seahawks might consider it given that he’s made 15 sacks in two years.
What will likely factor into Seattle’s decisions is the knowledge that this is considered a pretty good draft class for edge rushers.
Wrote PFF recently, “The edge defender group is as good as we’ve seen in several years.” PFF rates five edge rushers among its top 34 on its big board.
Seattle’s cap situation and questions with many of its own key players makes it hard to read yet if the Seahawks will be big players in the free-agent market and ready or willing to make the kind of investment they did two years ago with Jones at this spot.