Seahawks Rookies Set Strong Baseline in First Season
The Seattle Seahawks rookie class is recovering after its first full season in the NFL, where things moved extremely fast.
However, in the hustle and bustle of it all, the Seahawks were able to get strong contributions from their first-year players as they were transitioning into the NFL.
"I thought the guys did a great job," Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said. "You go through the list. Christian Haynes, I think he's got a great future and Byron Murphy II, is going to be a great player in this league. He’s already is a great player in this league. He's going to have a great career, he's in a great room so his role can skyrocket and it'll be what he makes of it and he'll create that. But this guy's a three-down player, he's done a great job. We can go through it. I mean Tyrice Knight coming in and playing really significant snaps for us, playing winning football. I think the overall development of the class is what I'm most excited about and then a lot of them were forced into meaningful reps, but that's going to pay dividends for us in the future."
On defense, Murphy looked like a first-round pick on film, but it didn't show up in the box score. That is something that doesn't matter as much to Macdonald.
"Production-wise, I know the sacks aren't there and the pass rush reps, but like every time this guy's taken a three-technique pass rush rep, that means Leonard Williams isn't on the field," Macdonald said. "And right now, I think Leonard (Williams) is probably the best interior d-lineman in the game. So, it's like what do you want to do? We have to be more creative to get him on the field, but he'll earn those opportunities and the production will be there in the long run. I'm convinced of that. This guy's a really good player."
The Seahawks also had a questionable stat line for their top offensive rookie in Haynes. While he didn't start any games for the Seahawks, he still managed to make an impact and impress the coaching staff.
"I think he's got a bright future. I really do," Macdonald said. "When we were making that decision to go to Sataoa (Laumea), it wasn't that Christian hadn't done enough to earn an opportunity. We just felt like Sataoa did more, but Christian's gotten all the reps, he still had meaningful reps early in the season. I thought he played well earlier in the season, good enough to win, but we want more from our entire offense. We want more from our offensive line, guys know that, but I believe in the guys that we have and any opportunity we have a chance to develop those guys and make our team better, we're going to do it."
Now, the rookies can get their bodies right going into their first full offseason, which offers a ton of time and opportunity for growth going into Year 2.
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