Seahawks DT Byron Murphy II Makes Big Impact In Return

The Seattle Seahawks' defense plays completely different with the first-round rookie on the field.

Jon Alfano | Oct 22, 2024

Aug 24, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Byron Murphy II (91) stands on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Lumen Field. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

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Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks finally ended their three-game losing streak with a resounding 34-14 road win over the Atlanta Falcons, improving to 4-3 on the season and reclaiming first place in the NFC West.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, the game also marked the return of rookie defensive tackle Byron Murphy II. Just by looking at the stat sheet, Murphy, the No. 16 overall pick in this year's draft, seemingly had a decent return with four tackles, including a tackle for loss.

More importantly, the Seahawks are 4-0 when Murphy plays and 0-3 when he doesn't. To truly see the impact he's making, one must look a little deeper.

First, the Seahawks' run defense is significantly better when Murphy is on the field. In the four games he's played, the Seahawks have allowed 126 rushing yards per game and 4.5 yards per attempt. In the three games he's missed, they allowed 172 rushing yards per game and 5.4 yards per attempt. Considering the Seahawks drafted Murphy to address their atrocious run defense from last season, it's nice to see him making a difference already.

Second, Seattle's allowed far fewer points when Murphy plays compared to when he doesn't, by a shocking amount. The Seahawks have allowed 14.3 points per game when Murphy plays, compared to 35.7 when he doesn't. Even considering the difference in competition, that's a staggering disparity.

Based on these stats and many more, it appears Murphy is a player who doesn't stuff the stat sheet himself, but allows his teammates to wreak havoc thanks to the attention he commands. In some ways, that's even more valuable.

“You got everybody healthy now, so you're able to get a rotation and keep the playing numbers to where you want it, so that’s big," head coach Mike Macdonald told reporters after Sunday's game. "Then Murph, I think he's an underdog. Just what he's able to do to push the pocket, to your point. It's a team pass rush. Kirk [Cousins] does such a great job of getting the ball out on time, so trying to get into a second and third read and then the pocket kind of swims from that point. The sack-fumble was a very rare extended play that you get against him, so we were able to take advantage of that.”

As mentioned previously, the Seahawks drafted Murphy to address some of their biggest weaknesses, and he's doing a great job of it so far.