Rylie Mills may have given the Seattle Seahawks something that is hard to find: a defensive lineman who can genuinely live everywhere.
After missing most of 2025 because of a knee injury suffered the previous year in his final season at Notre Dame, Mills barely had time to settle in with Seattle before flashing the kind of upside that gets a staff’s attention. He logged just five snaps in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, but one of them was enough to announce himself. His sack of quarterback Drake Maye came with a violent finish, as Mills essentially engulfed both his blocker and the quarterback on the play.
What makes Mills stand out, though, is not just the splash play. It’s the range.
At 6'5" and 295 pounds, Mills has the size and strength to move across the defensive line, and he said on Seattle Sports 710 AM on Wednesday that Seattle is asking him to do exactly that. When Mike Salk and Brock Huard asked about his role, Mills laid it out plainly: "For me, it's anywhere across the defensive line that (the Seahawks) need someone to go in...
I can play anything from the shade (nose tackle position) to the nine (defensive end). I'll play anything they put me at, and I just wanna be dominant...
We definitely got guys that play D-tackle, nose, or maybe a little bit of 3-technique and end, (but) I think right now it's just kind of me playing kind of all those spots."
That’s where Mills becomes especially interesting for Seattle. He’s not merely one more lineman who can shift around. According to Mills, he’s the only Seahawks defensive lineman being asked to handle all three spots.
That makes him a useful piece in a front that already includes Byrom Murphy II, Leonard Williams, and Jarren Reed. Seattle has talent up front. Mills gives Mike Macdonald something a little different: a movable chess piece who can help disguise where pressure is coming from and keep opposing offenses guessing.
Macdonald has made disguise and flexibility a major part of how he wants to play, and that shows up all over the roster. The secondary already has players like Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori, and, likely, rookie Bud Clark who can move from slot corner to safety and beyond. Mills brings that same kind of versatility to the line.
That matters for more than just confusion. It also gives Seattle a chance to rotate bodies more effectively and keep linemen fresh while making it harder for offenses to anticipate who is lined up where. Even a split-second of uncertainty can change how a play unfolds in the NFL.
There’s also the simple fact that Mills should be on the field more now that he’s fully recovered from the knee injury he dealt with in 2024. He’ll still be rotated, of course, but the ability to handle multiple jobs should mean a significant bump in reps.
If that Patriots performance is any hint, Seattle may have found a long-term answer in a place where few teams ever do. For Mills, 2026 looks like the start of something bigger.
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The Seahawks have already invested in pass catchers such as Rashid Shaheed and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, which makes Hortons emergence more than just a nice camp story. If he keeps building on this start, Seattle will have a real decision to make about how much to lean on him, even as the team stays mindful of his injury history and the need to keep him available once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]