How new Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald can revitalize Seattle’s defense

Eric Williams

NFC West Writer

Seahawks president of football operations John Schneider hired defensive wizard Mike Macdonald as Seattle’s head coach in part because of the new ideas he’ll bring to reenergize a defense that underperformed in 2023.

Last season, the Seahawks were awful at stopping the run for a second year in a row, finishing No. 31 in run defense. They were No. 21 in pass defense.

Meanwhile, Macdonald’s Baltimore Ravens unit led the NFL in scoring defense and sacks.

“The illusion of complexity that everybody talks about, you can see it on film,” Schneider said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine about Macdonald’s scheme. “It’s the product. You’re watching it, you saw it happen several times this year.

“You saw it happen … a couple of years ago when Mike was at Michigan as well. Where he’s taken that [Ravens] defense is really impressive.”

However, Seattle’s problems on defense were not just scheme, but also a need for better personnel. And if Macdonald is to improve on his new team’s performance on defense, he needs an upgrade in talent up front.

The cupboard is not bare. Seattle should benefit from Uchenna Nwosu, one of the team’s best run defenders and pass rushers, returning from a season-ending pectoral injury in Week 7. Edge rusher Boye Mafe took another step in his development, finishing with nine sacks in his second season, and veteran nose tackle Jarran Reed totaled seven sacks in his return to Seattle after two seasons away.

Seattle must figure out how to keep defensive tackle Leonard Williams in free agency. Acquired from the New York Jets for a second-round pick in a midseason trade, the USC product finished with 17 combined tackles, 11 quarterback hits and four sacks in 10 games with Seattle.

Overall, however, the Seahawks finished without a player totaling double-digits in sacks for a fifth straight season. Specifically, the Seahawks didn’t get a lot of production from defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones (4.5 sacks, 49 combined tackles), who signed a three-year, $51 million contract last offseason that included $31 million in guaranteed money, or second-round selection Derick Hall (no sacks, 38 combined tackles).

Macdonald will have to figure out how to get more from Jones and Hall and where to add talent to the defensive front. The new head coach will also have to determine which linebackers to bring back as starters Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks are set to hit the free-agent market next week.

“We’re always going to be aggressive on how we want to do it,” Macdonald said when asked about the core principles of his defense. “People ask about our blitz rates and all that; that’s not important to me. It’s about putting yourselves in positions to win the down, affecting the quarterback, putting your guys in position to have success.”

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In the draft, players who could make sense for the Seahawks at No. 16 include Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, along with edge rushers in UCLA‘s Laiatu Latu, Alabama‘s Dallas Turner or Florida State‘s Jared Verse.

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In free agency, Macdonald could look to add experienced, foundational players from Baltimore’s defense set to hit the market in linebacker Patrick Queen or outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

In terms of scheme, Macdonald excelled at presenting a muddled picture for offenses pre-snap last season in Baltimore. And because of that, the Ravens consistently created pressure without blitzing.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Ravens finished with 44 sacks by rushing four or fewer pass rushers in 2023, nine more sacks than any other defense. Baltimore also created 121 unblocked pressures since 2022, No. 6 in the NFL.

Baltimore’s illusion of pressure also resulted in more takeaways. The Ravens forced 56 turnovers over the past two seasons. The Seahawks created 44 turnovers over that same time.

New Seattle defensive coordinator Aden Durde knows a thing or two about creating pressure. As the defensive line coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Durden coached guys who could heat it up coming off the edge like Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence.

Durde concentrated on his linemen being assignment-correct and flying to the football. Now he and Macdonald are tasked with bringing that aggressive, attacking mentality back to the defensive side of the ball for the Seahawks.

“When I was in Dallas and I was coaching the D-line, I knew when we were good because I would get in the car on the way home and my wife would be like, ‘They were like animals out there today. They were flying around the field.,” Durde said in his introductory press conference. “Then some days she’ll get in the car and say, ‘It didn’t look like that.’

“I think we all know what we want it to look like.”

Seahawks fans certainly do.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.