Special teams has a real footprint on the Seattle Seahawks’ initial 53-man roster, and the team has made that impossible to miss.
That emphasis shows up everywhere. It’s in the personnel.
It’s in the way Seattle talks about the third phase. And it’s in the new 3-episode media installment, “The Specialists,” which spotlights Jason Myers, Rashid Shaheed and Michael Dickson.
HBO’s Hard Knocks director, Pat Harris, said on The Official Hard Knocks Podcast last week that the Seahawks are “the best in the biz, right now.” Seattle’s own football people are backing that up with how they build the roster.
Head coach Mike Macdonald put it this way: “You got to back it up with your actions. So, it’s how you invest in it.
It’s who you have out there, it’s who you have coaching them.”
Special teams coach Jay Harbaugh framed it even more directly in the documentary series. “What makes a special teams unit great?
You could go on and on and on about that… All the things that would make a defense or an offense great, combined into one.” Shaheed later said in 2025, “Special teams was our edge.”
That mindset helps explain why Seattle carried five inside linebackers on an initial roster built around Mike Macdonald’s 3-4 defense. It’s a notable choice because the team doesn’t usually rotate that spot much, and last year they kept only three on the initial roster. Holding five there meant fewer openings for players such as Jared Ivey, Noah Igbinoghene, Cody White and Jamie Sheriff.
Macdonald also pointed to Tyrice Knight as a player they want to get on the field: “it’s a good problem to have, from a coach’s perspective, of trying to figure out a way to get him out there, and what’s best for the team.” That fits the Seahawks’ broader approach, which leans into players who can wear a lot of hats.
Brandon Pili and Connor O’Toole are both on the roster, and the two combined for a big turnover in season last year. The defense also has several players who can slide between spots and still help on teams, including D’Anthony Bell behind E-Man at times, Leo Williams and “The Polar Bear” - Rylie Mills, a nickname revealed by “Big Cat” during one of the preseason games - at defensive tackle and edge, Mike Morris and Jared Ivey as big-bodied ends who can also work inside, and both Knight and Drake Thomas taking snaps on the outside edge of the defense.
Harbaugh also said teams work is about more than one side of the ball, noting that it “incorporates both offense and defense, [it’s] interesting to observe different techniques.” That kind of flexibility shows up in the Seahawks’ roster construction, and it gives players like Morris, Patrick O’Connell and Chazz Surratt clear value as defensive pieces who can do real work on special teams.
Shaheed, who entered the league as a former UDFA and made the Saints’ roster, put the job description plainly: “It’s not everybody’s dream to be on special teams, but it’s always a dream to play in the NFL.”
The Seahawks’ special teams identity also runs through the specialists themselves. Myers, who set a record for most points scored in a single season in NFL history after five Super Bowl FG’s, is part of the same spotlight as Shaheed, the Pro Bowl return man, and Dickson, the 2nd-team, All-Pro punter.
And there’s one more piece Seattle seems to value deeply, even if it doesn’t always get top billing: long snapper Chris Stoll. After the Super Bowl win, Mike Dicko, the kicker, said: “Oh yeah, Stoley… he’s the best in the world.
He - some of the snaps today just felt like a video game. They came out so perfectly”.
He added, “to be upside-down and be able to throw a ball backwards through the air to a spot this big brings his hands together to form a circle.”
In Other News...
Seahawks Suddenly Have A Kicking Concern They Cant Ignore
Jason Myers has been one of the more dependable pieces of the Seahawks operation for years, which is why his rough 2023 preseason drew so much attention. He entered camp with the kind of resume that usually lets a kicker avoid much of the noise, including a record-setting 2022 season and strong work in previous preseasons, but this summer has looked very different so far.
Making only 4 of 9 kicks is the kind of line that gets a teams attention quickly, especially for a specialist whose job is supposed to be the steadying force late in games. Preseason numbers do not always carry over, and Myers has earned the benefit of the doubt, but if the swing pattern does not clean itself up before the games count, Seattle suddenly has a kicking issue it cannot simply brush aside. [Read more 🡒]
Former Seahawks Fan Favorite Just Got A Tough Reality Check
DeeJay Dallas is back on an NFL roster, this time landing on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad after his run in Seattle ended and his role around the league settled into something more specialized. For Seahawks fans, Dallas still carries the memory of being the energetic back and return man who could change field position in a hurry, even if most of his recent value has come on kick and punt teams.
Minnesotas move gives Dallas another foothold, but it also places him in a crowded lane. The Vikings already have Rashid Shaheed handling the primary return duties, so Dallas will have to make his case in a supporting role and wait for an opening that may not come quickly. For a player whose NFL career has leaned heavily on special teams, this is the kind of reality check that can keep a veteran sprinting just to stay visible. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Mourn A Carroll Era Coach Players Never Forgot
Kippy Brown, a longtime NFL assistant whose career stretched across several franchises, has died at 71, prompting a round of remembrances from around the league and especially from Seattle. Brown spent time with the Jets, Buccaneers, Dolphins, Packers, Texans, Lions and Seahawks, building the kind of broad, steady presence that often leaves the deepest impression in a locker room even if it never grabs the spotlight.
For Seahawks fans, the tributes from Pete Carroll and Doug Baldwin underscored how much Brown meant to the people who came through that era. Carroll honored Browns positive spirit and contributions, while Baldwin remembered a coach who clearly stuck with him long after the meetings and practices ended. It is the sort of loss that hits harder because so many players carry a private memory of the man behind the rsum. [Read more 🡒]