When the Seahawks let Boye Mafe walk in free agency, Dante Fowler Jr looked like the obvious next man up. Seattle didn’t draft an edge rusher, didn’t make a move in the UDFA market, and didn’t add another pass rusher through trade or free agency, so the veteran seemed positioned for a much bigger role at a far lower price than Mafe’s $20 million-per-year deal.
That hasn’t happened.
Through three games of the 2026 regular season, Fowler has logged just 39 defensive snaps, including no-plays because of penalties. That’s barely 20 percent of Seattle’s defensive snaps. By comparison, DeMarcus Lawrence played 45 snaps against the Washington Commanders, Derick Hall had 35, and Uchenna Nwosu had 36 - each of them matched or topped Fowler’s total in a single game.
The production has been modest but not empty. According to NextGenStats, Fowler has three pressures on 19 pass-rush snaps, a 15.8% pressure rate.
Two of those quick pressures came against the Arizona Cardinals. He still hasn’t recorded a pressure by winning on the outside.
The bigger issue is usage. Fowler has been lined up almost entirely as a situational rusher, with 12 of his 19 pass-rush snaps coming on third down.
On first and second down, when he’s been on the field, it has mostly been against the run. In other words, Seattle is treating him less like a core piece of the rotation and more like a specialist.
That is a sharp break from how the Seahawks handled this edge group last season. In a three-week sample when all four were available and not leaving games early, Hall played 99 snaps for 48.7%, Boye Mafe had 78 for 38.4%, Nwosu posted 120 for 59.1%, and Lawrence checked in at 136 for 67%. Even with Mafe seeing the fewest snaps of the group, Seattle still kept the rotation humming with four players involved.
This year, the numbers look very different. Through Week 3, Hall has played 56.8% of the snaps, Nwosu 48.9%, Lawrence 61.6%, and Fowler just 20.5%.
Hall’s workload makes sense because he just got paid. Lawrence is on pace for a bigger share than he had last season, while Nwosu is down a bit. Fowler, though, is way off the pace, and this is the lowest his snap share has been since the 2023 season with the Dallas Cowboys.
Seattle has essentially been rolling with a three-man edge rotation and only an occasional Fowler appearance. Nick Emmanwori has gotten some edge snaps, but he didn’t play in Week 1 and barely played in Week 2.
Tyrice Knight had some edge looks in training camp and the preseason, but in the regular season he has just one passing-down rep, and that came with him covering the flat. There’s no real replacement-by-committee happening here.
As for why Fowler is barely seeing the field, that part isn’t clear. He hasn’t been bad in his limited work, but something is clearly giving Mike Macdonald and the staff pause.
If that doesn’t change, Seattle will be asking three edge rushers to carry the load instead of four, and one of those three has already said he’s retiring after this season. Without a true 10-plus-sack anchor in Lawrence, Hall, or Nwosu, that’s not a great place to be as the schedule gets tougher and the Seahawks start facing better offenses than they have so far.
In Other News...
Cooper Kupp Sends Seahawks A Needed Wake-Up Call After Loss
After Seattles first loss of the season against Washington, Cooper Kupp didnt sugarcoat where the Seahawks stand. The veteran receiver pointed to execution as the issue and made it clear the answer has to come from the locker room, where a team coming off a fast start now has to clean up the mistakes that showed up in its most recent outing.
Kupps message lands at a useful moment for a Seahawks group sitting at 2-1 in the NFC West and already chasing an undefeated San Francisco 49ers team at the top of the division. The bigger test now is whether Seattle can turn that wake-up call into a sharper response, because the margin for error in the division is already getting thin. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Loss Reopened A Roster Debate Fans Wont Ignore
Seattles loss to Washington did more than blemish the record - it reopened a few roster debates the Seahawks thought they had already settled. Special teams came under the microscope right away, with Cody Whites departure lingering as a point of comparison, while the right guard spot kept churning between Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens as the line searched for stability. Even before the offense could fully find its rhythm, the game pushed those personnel choices back to the front of the conversation.
Rashid Shaheeds role only added another layer to the discussion, because the Seahawks are still trying to sort out how best to use him in an offense that has not yet been able to mask its line issues. Injuries have only sharpened the scrutiny, leaving the team with familiar questions about protection, field position and whether the current mix is getting enough out of the roster. For a loss that looked straightforward on the scoreboard, it left behind a longer list of decisions Seattle will have to keep living with. [Read more 🡒]
Former Seahawks Backs Suddenly Have A New NFL Opportunity
The Dolphins backfield took a hit when DeVon Achane suffered an ACL tear and was ruled out for the season, pushing Miami to look for quick depth behind the remaining running backs. Among the players brought in for tryouts were two familiar names to Seattle followers, Kenny McIntosh and Damien Martinez, both of whom have spent time with the Seahawks organization.
For McIntosh and Martinez, the timing offers a fresh path back into an NFL backfield after recent stretches as free agents or practice-squad options elsewhere. Miami is still sorting through its next move at the position, and the Seahawks former runners are suddenly part of a real opportunity to stick somewhere with a clearer opening. [Read more 🡒]