{"id":213577,"date":"2025-01-29T15:13:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T20:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=213577"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:13:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T20:13:26","slug":"two-takeaways-of-the-new-pro-bowlers-for-the-seattle-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/29\/two-takeaways-of-the-new-pro-bowlers-for-the-seattle-seahawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Takeaways of the New Pro Bowlers for the Seattle Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Seahawks<\/a> (10-7) raced to the finish line of the NFC Playoff chase, only to fall short. They exceeded expectations in the first year of head coach Mike MacDonald. They can thank some of the more established veterans and some of the more underrated players in the league. Second-year Devon Witherspoon<\/a> secured his second Pro Bowl selection with another successful season. Witherspoon won\u2019t be the only one joining him in the 2025 Pro Bowl games. Two more Seahawks were named as replacements for the Pro Bowl on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Takeaways of the New Pro Bowlers for the Seattle Seahawks<\/h2>\n

Jaxon Smith-Njigba Is a Number One<\/b><\/h3>\n

When the Seahawks drafted former Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a> with the 20th overall pick, they had plans to create a more dynamic passing offense. In year two, Smith-Njigba helped accomplish this and more for the Seahawks. While opposing defenses were double-teaming and locking down veteran wideout D.K. Metcalf<\/a>, Smith-Njigba was able to get open with his excellent route-running abilities. He became a fast target to get the ball to with the limited time in the pocket that quarterback Geno Smith<\/a> had.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba caught 100 receptions for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns. He is only one of nine pass-catchers in the league this season to catch at least 100 receptions. In his rookie season the year before, Smith-Njigba caught 63 receptions for 628 yards and four touchdowns. He went from averaging 6.8 yards per target in his rookie season to 8.2 yards this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba is a replacement for Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin<\/a>. He, Dallas\u2019 CeeDee Lamb<\/a>, Detroit\u2019s Amon-Ra St. Brown<\/a>, and Minnesota\u2019s Justin Jefferson<\/a> are all definitive number-one receivers for their offenses. Even the other two replacements, Tampa Bay\u2019s Mike Evans<\/a> and Giants\u2019 Malik Nabers<\/a> are the unquestioned number one receiver.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba was considered the number two or three receiver before the start of the season. With Tyler Lockett<\/a> getting older and Metcalf locked down, Smith-Njigba showed he can take the responsibility of the number one pass-catcher for a playoff contender or fringe playoff team. With continuing rumors of Metcalf on the trade block, JSM proved he can be a star on the young Seahawks\u2019 offense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Include Leonard Williams\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

The NFL is loaded full of high-volume defensive linemen. Leonard Williams<\/a> has seen some of his best productions in his one-and-a-half years with Seattle. This season was another level for the disruptive defensive tackle. In 16 games played, Williams has accumulated 64 total tackles, 37 solo tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 28 quarterback hits, three pass breakups and an interception returned for a touchdown. He had four games this season where he accounted for two or more sacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams had one of his best years as a run-stopper and pass-rusher and outshined several of his fellow defensive linemen. Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter<\/a> had an impressive second season this season by accounting for 42 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks. Carter is often a product of a stellar Eagles\u2019 defense and a stacked defensive line. Tampa Bay\u2019s defensive tackle Vita Vea<\/a> accounted for 42 total tackles, seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 13 quarterback hits. Finally, Green Bay defensive end Rashan Gary<\/a> accumulated 47 total tackles, 7.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss and 15 quarterback hits as the main pass rusher.<\/span><\/p>\n

All three of these defensive linemen had great moments but didn\u2019t have the individual dominance that Williams had in his first full season with Seattle. Williams was a player for the Seahawks that should have been on the initial Pro Bowl roster. At 30 years old, Williams has plenty of dominating years left in the league and will be a fierce leader for a young group of Seahawks\u2019 defenders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Seahawks will have more players joining the Pro Bowl, including one who should’ve been named on the initial roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2349,"featured_media":213605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,36],"tags":[9783,9627,477,1011,179],"class_list":["post-213577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seahawks","category-nfl-news","tag-devon-witherspoon","tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","tag-leonard-williams","tag-pro-bowl","tag-seattle-seahawks"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213606,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213577\/revisions\/213606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}