The Seattle Seahawks have a really good team despite what some may say. They definitely have a big year ahead of them and it will take each player to step up in their role. Here are the defensive Seahawks X-factors in 2019.
Seattle Seahawks Offensive X-Factors
Seahawks X-Factors in 2019: Defense
Bobby Wagner
Bobby Wagner is the most prominent player on this Seahawks defense. Wagner has been one of the top two or three linebackers since entering the league. Linebackers often see a significant decline when they hit the age of 30 but thankfully, Wagner stands nowhere near that steep cliff right now.
He finished as the number one ranked linebacker by Pro Football Focus in 2018 and is headed for a big contract extension.
Tre Flowers
The Seahawks secondary has been looking for a step up for a few seasons now and they are definitely headed in the right direction. Tre Flowers is probably the most exciting player in this secondary right now. He converted from safety to corner for his pro career, and it seems the change has fit him well.
Flowers started 15 games at right corner in his rookie year and had 55 solo tackles and three forced fumbles. His length as a press corner helped him to allow a passer rating of 51.4 on short passes (0-9 yards) in 2018, ranking him second among corners.
Jarran Reed
There were two puzzle pieces to the Seahawks pass rush last season and that was Jarran Reed and Frank Clark. But, with Clark gone, Reed is now the most important piece of the pass rush. Reed took a huge leap in 2018. He finished the season with 10.5 sacks, 50 combined tackles, and 24 QB hits.
Since then, the Seahawks have added several players to help boost their pass rush. However, Reed remains the most important piece of that group for one reason: He’s only headed into year four of his career and has plenty of room to become one of the league’s nastiest interior defensive linemen.
Bradley McDougald
The Seahawks need a safety to rely on after losing Earl Thomas and Bradley McDougald could very well become that guy for them. McDougald easily had a career year in 2018. He had 78 combined tackles, 66 solo tackles, four tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and three interceptions. This was a pretty good performance for someone who faced the pressure of replacing Earl Thomas. Pro Football Focus even credited him and Thomas for having the best coverage grades among safeties.
McDougald will have even higher expectations riding on him going into next season. If he can recover on-time from surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon, he could have an even better 2019 than 2018.
The two best coverage grades among safeties belong to Earl Thomas (92.5) and Bradley McDougald (90.1). They are the only safeties with 90+ coverage grades! #Seahawks
— PFF SEA Seahawks (@PFF_Seahawks) September 25, 2018
Other Seahawks X-Factors
Seattle has a lot of good pieces on their defense that it’s difficult to narrow down who will have the biggest impact on the team. Other players to keep an eye on include Ezekiel Ansah, L.J. Collier, Poona Ford, Shaquem Griffin, and Shaquill Griffin.
Seattle Seahawks Offensive X-Factors
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