Seahawks Confident in 'Prepared' LB Tanner Muse in First Start vs. Rams

Minus Jordyn Brooks in a must-win season finale against the Los Angeles Rams, the Seattle Seahawks will be leaning on an inexperienced replacement in Tanner Muse to step up and capitalize on his first chance to start in the league.

RENTON, Wash. - Seeking the NFC's final Wild Card spot with the spoiler-motivated Los Angeles Rams coming to town, the Seattle Seahawks will have to finish strong without standout linebacker Jordyn Brooks, leaving a massive hole in the middle of their defense.

In his absence, Seattle will be missing one of the NFL's top tacklers from each of the past two seasons. Before Brooks suffered a torn ACL last weekend in a win over the New York Jets, he emerged as a quality leader taking the torch from Bobby Wagner as the team's on-field play caller and shouldering greater responsibility in the locker room, further magnifying the significance of his loss.

With Wagner set to face his former team at Lumen Field for the first time on Sunday and Brooks officially on injured reserve, the Seahawks will have to turn to an untested, unproven replacement in Tanner Muse with the playoffs hanging in the balance.

But while the third-year linebacker has only logged 42 regular season defensive snaps in his career to this point, coach Pete Carroll isn't concerned about him being equipped physically or mentally to handle the job. In fact, coming off a stellar outing subbing in for Brooks last weekend, he expects him to fill in seamlessly.

“He’s actually really handled it well," Carroll said of Muse taking on an expanded role replacing Brooks. "He didn’t show us any signs that he wasn’t prepared for his assignments and responsibility. He did well in the game and he had a really good week."

Previously starring as a safety at Clemson, where he was a two-time All-ACC selection and Third-Team All-American in 2019, Muse isn't a stranger to playing in high stakes situations. During his five years on campus, he played in three national championship games and the Tigers won two of those contests, beating Alabama both times to hoist the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.

Having such extensive experience playing under the lights with championships on the line, Muse shouldn't have any issues dealing with the immense pressure of jumping into Seattle's starting lineup for a de facto playoff game against Los Angeles.

Of course, playing loose only will go so far for Muse as he draws his first career start against Rams offensive mastermind Sean McVay, who has had great success picking on Seahawks linebackers over the years. Even with Wagner on the field for most of those games, he schemed up deep crossers to expose the group in coverage and forced them to cover sideline-to-sideline against jet sweeps and screens.

If there's a reason for optimism on that front, however, Muse's prior background as a safety coupled with his elite athletic profile should suit him well to be able to drop back and defend crossing patterns. At Clemson, he picked off seven passes and registered seven pass breakups in coverage, putting his 4.41 speed on display matched up against tight ends and slot receivers.

Even last week against the Jets filling in for Brooks, Muse narrowly missed out on his first career interception, jumping a throw by Mike White from his zone drop that grazed off of his fingertips. If he would have been a split second quicker, he likely would have been celebrating in the end zone with a pick six. In a limited sample size, he's allowed one catch on three targets for four yards on 20 coverage snaps.

As for his tackling, Muse has been reliable when given a chance to play on defense for the Seahawks at a position that is still relatively new to him. On his 42 defensive snaps, he's made six tackles and per Pro Football Focus, his only missed tackle came on special teams back in Week 8 in a win over the Giants.

Since Seattle took a flier on him off waivers from Las Vegas last season, Carroll has been impressed by Muse's ability to chase down plays all over the field and finish once he gets to ball carriers. Now with more seasoning at the linebacker position, he's looking forward to seeing how he performs with an extended opportunity after playing well in reserve duty in two of the past three games.

"He has really good speed and it shows up," Carroll assessed. "You see him in pursuit and his tackling is really sharp. He had a good week and we feel good about him playing.”

As is the case any time a star player goes down, Muse can't try too hard attempting to fill Brooks' giant shoes. He needs to stay within himself and play to his strengths, using his elite athleticism and natural coverage skills to make plays all over the field as he has over the previous couple of weeks. There's no question McVay and quarterback Baker Mayfield will test him early and see if they can take advantage of his lack of experience.

Well prepared after learning for the past two years behind the likes of Wagner, Brooks, and Cody Barton, Carroll has no doubts Muse will be ready to rock and rise to the occasion for the Seahawks. If he can, with Brooks likely out for the start of next season and Barton heading towards free agency, a strong performance on Sunday could impact the team's offseason plans and put him in a position to vie for playing time on defense in 2023.

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