Seattle Seahawks Executive 'Excited to See' Jerome Baker, Tyrel Dodson's Contrasting Styles

Replacing two proven starters in Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks, the Seahawks will be counting on Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson's unique skill sets to fill the void.

The Seattle Seahawks filled two major voids at linebacker in free agency by signing Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson. /

RENTON, Wash. - Now in the midst of his fifth season as Vice President of Player Personnel for the Seattle Seahawks, Trent Kirchner's important role on John Schneider's staff encompasses everything and anything in regard to roster construction, from overseeing college scouting to tracking opposing practice squads during the regular season.

But while Kirchner has plenty of involvement in Seattle's pre-draft scouting process, evaluating pro talent remains his bread and butter. Before being elevated to his current role, he held positions as Associate Director of Player Personnel, Pro Personnel Director, and Co-Director of Player Personnel, spending the majority of his time assessing players already in the NFL or in other pro leagues such as the CFL and XFL for free agency purposes.

Not surprisingly, given his previous background, Kirchner carries a powerful voice in the room for the Seahawks when it comes to free agency decisions. Among the difficult choices that had to be made during an offseason defined by change with a new coaching staff coming on board, he and the front office were tasked with finding not one, but two starting-caliber inside linebackers on the market following the departures of legend Bobby Wagner and former first-round pick Jordyn Brooks.

As Kirchner acknowledged in an interview on the Locked On Seahawks podcast, losing both Wagner and Brooks in the same offseason stung and put the pro personnel department into a challenging situation.

"It's always tough losing two starters there," Kirchner said. "Bobby [Wagner] being the player he was, just the the leader on the defensive unit. And then, you look at Jordyn [Brooks], and he's continued to recover nicely from that injury and he's gonna go on to great things. I don't doubt that at all."

But in the aftermath of their respective exits, Seattle managed to bring in two veterans in Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson who Kirchner believes have what it takes to be quality replacements, signing each player to a one-year deal shortly after Wagner left for Washington and Brooks signed with Miami.

Breaking down their strengths and weaknesses, some of Kirchner's optimism in Baker and Dodson lies in their contrasting styles and skill sets. The former started for the Dolphins for six seasons and thrived in large part due to his athleticism and quickness finding the football in all phases, while the latter demonstrated a more traditional downhill, physical style in his first extended starting action last year with the Bills.

"Bringing in Baker and Dodson, they're different types of athletes," Kirchner assessed. "Baker's fast, athletic. Not to knock him because it's just a term of use, he's more finesse than he is physical at the point of attack. He's got the athleticism to run around some blocks and still make plays and Dobson's more of the opposite of Baker where he's more of a thumper, more physical at the point of attack to use his hands."

During his time in Miami, Baker eclipsed 100 tackles three times, producing 587 combined stops in 94 games with 82 starts. He also generated 31 tackles for loss, demonstrating the consistent ability to rocket into the backfield and create negative plays for the opposing offense.

Tall and lean for an off-ball linebacker at 6-2, 225 pounds, Baker has had his issues getting swallowed up by blocks and using his hands to shed has never been a strong suit in his repertoire. But as Kirchner noted, he's often been able to avoid his size being a hinderance as a run defender due to his quickness and instincts, navigating around blocks to track the ball and corral ball carriers.

Unlike Baker, the 237-pound Dodson didn't have near as much NFL film to evaluate, as the former undrafted signee out of Texas A&M started just five games and logged fewer than 500 defensive snaps in his first four years in Buffalo. But he shined in place of an injured Matt Milano last year, racking up 74 combined tackles and eight tackles for loss while starting a career-high 10 games, ranking ninth among qualified linebackers in PFF's run defense metric (86.1).

Along with getting the job done against the run in different ways, Baker and Dodson succeed in coverage with contrasting styles as well. If there's an area where Kirchner believes they have the most in common skill set wise, it comes in the blitzing department, where both excel as aggressive, efficient rushers that should fit Mike Macdonald's defense quite well and make them potential weapons hunting down quarterbacks for the Seahawks.

"Really, while they're both effective in coverage, Baker's athleticism shows up more," Kirchner remarked. "But Dobson has the awareness and feel in zone coverage. It's going to help him. They can blitz, they're both really good, effective blitzers, so I'm excited to see what they can they can do for us."

As a pass defender, Baker has amassed five interceptions, including returning two for touchdowns, along with 10 pass breakups in coverage. He's been at his best when sent as an extra rusher, hitting four sacks at least three times in his career, including a career-high seven sacks in 2020. He nearly hit that mark again in 2021 with 5.5 sacks and recorded 31 pressures, second behind only Devin White for off-ball linebackers that season.

Efficiency-wise, Dodson stacked up favorably against his peers in 2020, ranking seventh in PFF's Pass Rush Productivity metric (19.2) while generating 12 pressures and 2.5 sacks on only 42 blitz opportunities. He also earned the third-highest coverage grade (88.1) with a pair of pass breakups, though the Bills did often shuffle him out of the lineup in nickel and dime packages on obvious passing situations.

With OTAs winding down this week, Seattle has yet to get a glimpse of what Baker and Dodson can do in Macdonald's defense due to injuries. Baker underwent offseason wrist surgery and per Macdonald, he won't be back until the start of training camp, while Dodson has been mostly limited during offseason workouts by an undisclosed issue, which has likely created a bit of angst for fans without Wagner or Brooks on the roster.

But it's still early June and as long as Baker and Dodson both are ready to roll when camp comes around in late July, Kirchner has plenty of confidence the new duo will be more than capable of taking the torch and playing quality football in the middle for the Seahawks. Since both players are slated to be free agents again next March, he will certainly be watching closely from a personnel perspective as he keeps an eye on 2025 and beyond.