The Seattle Seahawks defense had considerable representation in this year’s edition of ESPN’s annual survey of top 10 players by position, as voted by league coaches, scouts, and executives. This is an upgrade from the 2024 offseason, when the Seahawks’ lone representative was Devon Witherspoon.
Who’s made this year’s list? We start off with the Big Cat himself, Leonard Williams. One ballot actually had him as high as No. 2.
Leonard Williams - No. 6 defensive tackle
First-year Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald helped catapult Williams, who took
ADfull advantage of his matchups to have a banner season.
“His play finally matched his abilities last season,” a veteran NFL coach said. “He was dominant. Others have been better than him in previous years, but he always had a high ceiling.”
Williams posted career highs in quarterback hits (28) and tackles for loss (16), an impressive feat in Year 10. He added 64 tackles, 3 passes defended and a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“Has rare length, range and power,” an NFL coordinator said. “Was nice to see him put it all together.”
Dexter Lawrence, Chris Jones, Jalen Carter, Jeffery Simmons, and Quinnen Williams were all ranked ahead of Williams in the aggregate total.
Next up is a first-time entrant into this survey. Julian Love is entering his third season with the Seahawks after a great second season, and he cracked the safety list at No. 10.
Julian Love - No. 10 safety
Love has used his two-year stint in Seattle to catapult his career, racking up 7 interceptions, 22 pass deflections and 232 total tackles. His 21.8% ball-hawking rate topped all safeties with at least 50 targets this past season.
“Range, dart, combo of physicality and ball production. Has developed into a high-end player,” an NFC executive said. “Remarkable for a guy that was primarily a corner in college.”
The money parallels the on-field ascension. After four years with the Giants, Seattle signed Love to a two-year, $12 million deal in March 2023, only to extend him for three years and $33 million 16 months later.
After the Seahawks moved on from Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, Love’s role increased and he has flourished thus far.
Lastly, ‘Spoon is still considered a top 10 corner, although he’s moved down one spot from last year.
Devon Witherspoon - No. 10 cornerback
Witherspoon has back-to-back Pro Bowls to match two consecutive top 10s to start his career — achieving the latter in close fashion. Witherspoon won a tiebreaker with former No. 1 Jalen Ramsey for the 10th spot.
Statistically, Witherspoon wasn’t as disruptive as the previous year. His pass deflections dropped from 16 to nine, sacks from 3.0 to 1.0. But he’s the classic tone-setter, the type of player you need to see in person.
He’s stout at the line, with a 90.0 run defense grade last season that ranked third among corners by Pro Football Focus. He also recorded 66 solo tackles, a solid number for a corner.
“Extremely urgent, aggressive, excellent top-down speed from the perimeter or out of the slot,” an NFL personnel evaluator said. “Violent tackler, lower body twitch, good blitzer, disruptive.”
Added an NFL coordinator: “Better nickel than outside corner in my opinion but he makes splash plays. You need to account for him.”
If you haven’t noticed by now, the Seahawks didn’t have anyone in the top 10 on offense and it’s hard to argue against it. There were several Seahawks on both sides of the ball who did receive votes, including Kenneth Walker III at running back, Charles Cross at offensive tackle, Ernest Jones IV at off-ball linebacker, Jaxon Smith-Njigba at wide receiver, and Riq Woolen at cornerback.
In case you’re wondering, neither Sam Darnold nor his Seahawks predecessor Geno Smith received any votes for top 10 quarterback status.
It all seems fair to me from a Seahawks perspective! If all goes right, many of those names who received votes but didn’t get ranked (or, in Darnold’s case, any votes) could find themselves on next year’s top 10 list.
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