Julian Love has gone from spending too much time on the sideline last season to looking like one of the Seahawks’ most important defenders in 2026.
The Seattle safety said after Sunday’s rout of the Arizona Cardinals that the injury-filled stretch in 2025 pushed him into a different kind of offseason. Love, who had never missed a game because of injury through his first six NFL seasons, was out for nine of Seattle’s first 12 games last year with a hamstring issue. That experience clearly stuck with him.
“I don’t want to feel like how I felt last year on the sideline watching games,” Love said after Seattle improved to 2-0. “That hasn’t been in my past in my career up until last year, so I put in a lot of work starting early this offseason.
“And my body feels great,” he added. “I’m entering the prime of my career, and so I feel physically good, and mentally that’s just kind of what I do. So yeah, everything’s aligning.”
It’s showing up everywhere on the field. Through two games, Love has piled up two interceptions, three passes defensed and two tackles for loss. Pro Football Focus has him graded as the No. 1 safety by a comfortable margin, and he’s been a steady force behind a defense that has allowed a league-low 3.8 net yards per pass attempt.
Seattle has done all of that without Ty Okada, the other starting safety, who missed the first two games with an injury.
Head coach Mike Macdonald didn’t hold back when asked about Love’s start.
“Julian is an elite safety in our league,” Macdonald said. “He really can do everything.
He can play man-to-man. He can play zone.
He can disguise. He attacks the ball.
He’s a great tackler. He patrols it.
I mean, there’s a lot of stuff going on in our secondary. He makes it seem easy in terms of making the calls.”
Love was all over the place in Week 1, helping Seattle beat the New England Patriots 13-10 with an interception, two tackles for loss and a hard-hitting tone-setter. He kept rolling against Arizona.
In the second quarter, he broke up a third-down throw to star tight end Trey McBride. Later, in the third quarter, Love came from his deep safety spot and slid in for an interception on a third-down pass Jacoby Brissett floated toward the sideline.
“Great play with anticipation on that,” Macdonald said. “I mean, he’s a post safety on that play. To make a play on the sideline as a post safety on a go ball is some high-powered stuff.”
Love has now picked off a pass in three straight games, counting the Seahawks’ Super Bowl triumph over the Patriots.
On Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, Mike Salk said the safety deserves more attention.
“We don’t talk enough about Julian Love,” Salk said. “… Guy is always in the right spot.
He is as good a communicator both on and off the field as you’re going to find. He strikes me, from everything we’ve seen, as a top-tier teammate and a top-tier leader.
Very versatile, incredibly athletic.
“Great teams usually have great safeties,” Salk added. “And I think the Seahawks might have one.”
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