The Seattle Seahawks gave up a lot to obtain defensive end Leonard Williams from the New York Giants. As part of the deal, they sent their 2024 second-round draft pick, plus a fifth-round pick in 2025.
Williams is a special player, though. One can argue whether or not Seattle gave up too much draft capital to land him, but now that they have him it would probably be the wrong move to let him go. Williams will be on the wrong side of 30 years old next season. However, he’s also been the team’s best defender and most-consistent performer overall since the trade went down.
In the six games that Williams has played in a Seahawks uniform, they’ve gone 1-5. Williams has balled out, though – racking up 18 total tackles, three sacks, four tackles for a loss, eight quarterback hits and 10 pressures. The numbers themselves are impressive, but given the context they are magnificent, as Williams has faced a high rate of double teams since arriving in Seattle.
Williams’ impact is the single biggest reason why the pass rush has performed relatively well despite the team’s recent losing streak. There are major problems on defense, but they’re related to scheme, poor tackling and bad coverage on the back end.
The #Seahawks in the NFC are:
– 2nd in Pressure% (22.9)
– 3rd in Pressures (122)
– 3rd in Sacks (39)all while being 14th in Blitz% (22.9)
The defensive problems aren't within the pass rush. pic.twitter.com/fxQfBO5RpV
— Seahawks Today (@TodaySeahawks) December 13, 2023
Seattle can still get a high comp pick if they let Williams go, but at this point we’d prefer to re-sign him rather than try to find the next Leonard Williams in the draft. The defensive line is where they should be spending their resources, anyway.
Jarran Reed and Dre’Mont Jones have also played at a respectable level this season. However, in order to get past teams with great pass rushers like the 49ers the bar has to be set extraordinarily high. John Schneider may have to be more aggressive than ever to match the defensive lines this team needs to beat to get back to the Super Bowl.
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