The Seahawks’ first preseason test of 2026 didn’t expose a full-blown crisis on the edge, but it did leave a question hanging over Mike Macdonald’s pass rush.
Seattle still looks built to bring heat. The top of the rotation should be intact enough to cause problems if the group stays healthy and performs the way the team expects.
In 2025, Demarcus Lawrence led the edge group with 626 snaps, or 56 percent of all defensive plays, while Uchenna Nwosu and Boye Mafe each played about half of the defensive snaps. Derick Hall logged the fewest of the main four, largely because of injury and a suspension.
This offseason, general manager John Schneider brought in veteran pass-rush specialist Dante Fowler in May, and Fowler is expected to slide into Hall’s 2025 role while Hall moves up to take the snaps Mafe handled last season after Mafe left in free agency.
On paper, that keeps the group dangerous. The edge rushers are only one part of Macdonald’s pressure package anyway.
Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II create strong push inside, and Rylie Mills appears set to add to that interior disruption this year. Macdonald can also unleash creative blitzes with his athletic back seven, and Nick Emmawori and Devon Witherspoon are described as lethal blitzers.
Noah Igbinoghene nearly gave Seattle its first sack against Dallas.
Nearly was the operative word there. Seattle ended up with no sacks at all, and that’s where the concern starts.
The reserves never got to Sam Howell or Joe Milton on Saturday. The defense did create pressure at times, and Howell’s ability to run plus Milton’s size and strength made both quarterbacks difficult to finish off.
But the pass rush still needed to do more. Even when the sacks weren’t there, Seattle needed its rushers to consistently make the Cowboys’ quarterbacks uncomfortable, and that didn’t happen often enough.
That issue reaches beyond the edge, but the outside linebackers are the group most under the microscope. Seattle has clearly invested in Jared Ivey and Connor O’Toole as developmental pieces, and both made the team last season as undrafted free agents.
Because of the depth ahead of them and the health of the front-line rushers, neither saw much action in 2025. Jamie Sheriff, the other reserve outside linebacker, was in the same boat.
Saturday offered a chance for one of those young rushers to show something as a pass rusher. Ivey did stand out against the run, but none of the young edge players made much noise attacking the quarterback.
The age factor is part of why this matters. Lawrence is 34 and coming off a Pro Bowl season, but production can start to dip at some point.
Fowler just turned 32 and has already seen that happen to him. For now, both can still help, and if they rotate with Nwosu, who will also be 30 by the end of the season, and Hall, Seattle should be fine in 2026.
But if one of the top four misses time, the depth chart gets thin in a hurry.
And this isn’t just about this season. Lawrence has already said this will be his final year.
Nwosu and Fowler are both set for free agency in 2027. That means Schneider will need to reshape the edge group soon enough.
Ideally, Ivey and O’Toole will be part of that future. After one preseason game, though, that looks more like a hope than a certainty.
In Other News...
Jamal Adams Just Revived A Painful Seahawks Reality
Jamal Adams latest setback arrived almost immediately after his first snap with Minnesota, turning a new beginning into a familiar scene for anyone who followed his run in Seattle. In his Vikings debut against the Giants, Adams went down with a knee injury and had to be carted off, another harsh reminder of how often his career has been interrupted by health issues since his time with the Seahawks and later the Raiders.
For Seattle, Adams has long represented a painful what-if, a talented defender whose impact never matched the size of the investment because injuries kept getting in the way. The Vikings were hoping his arrival would add experience and edge to their defense, but Kevin OConnells early read on the injury made the situation sound grim, and it only deepens the sense that one of the more frustrating arcs in recent Seahawks memory may be headed for another difficult chapter. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Fans Have A New Reason To Worry About Jadarian Price
A week into the preseason grind, the Seahawks already have one more rookie-related worry to monitor. Jadarian Price, the first-round running back Seattle brought in with plenty of long-term hope, has been sidelined for a week of practices because of upper leg soreness, a development that is at least worth watching with Week 1 approaching.
Prices college teammate at Notre Dame, Arizona rookie Jeremiyah Love, is dealing with a more obvious setback after suffering a high ankle sprain that will keep him out for the rest of the preseason. The two entered the league as first-round picks in 2026, and while Loves issue is the more severe one right now, Seattle will be hoping Prices soreness proves to be nothing more than a short-term hiccup rather than a lingering concern. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Face A Running Back Decision They Didnt Expect
With the Seahawks running back room already dealing with injuries, the team took a look this weekend at Anthony Hankerson, a former Oregon State back who was recently released by the Miami Dolphins. Seattle had shown interest in him before, bringing him in on a minicamp invite after the draft, and the timing of this workout underscored how quickly depth concerns can force a team to revisit familiar names.
Hankerson entered the league with Miami as an undrafted free agent, but his path has already looped back through Seattle once, and now he is back on the radar as the Seahawks get ready for upcoming practices and games. For a team trying to keep its backfield functional while the injury situation settles, the tryout was less about long-term planning than about whether a known option can help in the short term. [Read more 🡒]