The Seattle Seahawks pass rush looks to build on last season’s strong performance and Mike Macdonald’s first year as head coach. The defense performed well at rushing the passer, ranking seventh in pressures, eighth in pressure percentage, fifth in quarterback hits, and eighth in sacks. The Seahawks’ interior defensive line deserves credit for disrupting the passer, accounting for 47 of the 112 quarterback hits and 17 of the 44 sacks.
One player who didn’t contribute enough as they would have liked was their first-round pick.
Seattle Seahawks’ 1st-round pick had a tough rookie season
Byron Murphy II had a tough rookie season, missing earlier in the year with a hamstring injury, and wasn’t very effective at rushing the passer and stopping the run. He recorded 36 tackles, two TFLs, one quarterback hit, and 0.5 sacks in 14 games and nine starts. Murphy also posted 21 pressures, 20 hurries, 17 stops, a 64.5 pass-rush grade, a 53.6 run-defense grade, and a 57.8 PFF grade.
He looks to bounce back and is poised for a greater role in Year 2.
Seattle Seahawks’ 1st-round pick dubbed breakout candidate by PFF
In a PFF article, Bradley Locker reviews the top new players and breakout candidates for each position. For the interior defensive line position, Locker names the Seahawks’ second-year player, Byron Murphy II. He points to how Mike Macdonald helped Baltimore Ravens’ elite Pro Bowler Nnamdi Madubuike break out in 2023 and believes he can help Murphy take the next step.
“In Year 1, the former Texas star earned just a 57.8 overall PFF grade with a 64.5 PFF pass-rushing grade. Murphy also played only 457 snaps in 14 games, ceding time to Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed — each of whom returns to the team in 2025,” Locker said.
“But, there are still a bevy of reasons to get excited about Murphy, including his 70.0 PFF pass-rushing grade on true pass sets, 10% pass-rush win rate and 76th percentile run stop rate. Macdonald helped Nnamdi Madubuike break out in earnest during the 2023 season, which was Macdonald’s second in Baltimore. Perhaps Murphy will follow a similar arc and become a true disruptor along Seattle’s interior in his second season.”
