Mailbag: What the Seahawks are up to at linebacker as training camp looms

SEATTLE – Things other than the weather will start heating up in the NFL this week as teams begin welcoming some players back for the start of training camp.

That includes the Seahawks, whose rookies will report Wednesday and injured players Thursday to prepare for the start of training camp on July 24.

So, as the season begins to kick off, it’s a good time to again open the Seahawks Twitter mailbag,

We’ll start with two questions about the linebacking corps.

@ToddASmith7 asked: “Are they waiting for cuts to find linebackers? Seems like this is the thinnest group.’’

I don’t think they are waiting for cuts as I think they have more confidence in what they have at that spot than fans might.

I’d agree with your assessment that the inside linebacking spot is one of the team’s bigger question marks heading into camp – and depending on what kind of answers they get the first few weeks, they could consider some additions.

To quickly recap, gone are Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks, the middle and weakside linebackers last year (and Wagner the man in the middle for all but one season of a first-ballot, Hall-of-Fame-career that began in 2012).

In their place are free-agent signees Tyrel Dodson (of Buffalo, in the middle) and Jerome Baker (Miami, weakside).

Neither was on the field during the offseason program while dealing with injuries. Coach Mike Macdonald said the team is optimistic each will be ready for the start of training camp, or at least early on. With those two out, the Seahawks went with the relatively inexperienced Jon Rhattigan (middle) and Patrick O’Connell (weak side) as the starters inside throughout the offseason program.

Rookie fourth-round pick Tyrice Knight usually worked with the second-team defense behind O’Connell at WLB.

If the season started today, that would probably be the five-man ILB group on the 53-man roster. The Seahawks typically had five or six ILBs on their 53-man roster last year.

Certainly, that group is not going to have the same kind of resume as one that included Wagner.

But Baker, 27, does have 81 career starts and led Miami in tackles every season from 2019-21. If he’s fully recovered from the knee and wrist injuries that hampered him late last season, there’s no reason to think he can’t be similarly productive in Seattle.

The 26-year-old Dodson is a little more of a wild card, starting only 15 games in his NFL career. But 10 came last season when he also earned the highest grade of any linebacker from Pro Football Focus (San Francisco star Fred Warner was second, Wagner was seventh and Baker 41st).

True, that leaves the depth untested. Rhattigan has just 19 defensive snaps in three NFL seasons, O’Connell has played in just one game with no defensive snaps and Knight obviously has yet to play an NFL game. All three would be expected to contribute significantly on special teams, as is common for backup linebackers.

That’s a not-uncommon ILB roster structure to have two veterans getting decent-sized salaries (Baker and Dodson combine for almost an $11-million cap hit) backed up by players on rookie or relatively inexpensive deals (Rhattigan signed a one-year contract worth a nonguaranteed $2.985 million, and if the Seahawks want to create a little cap space they could give him a new deal, throwing in some guarantees and maybe another season to bring down this year’s cap hit).

That may be a long-winded way of saying I think the Seahawks hope what they have on the roster right now is good enough, but that Macdonald and GM John Schneider will adjust course if necessary.

And @Cosmo3Kramer asked: “Who’s playing LB? How many LBs will be on the field or does it even matter anymore with LBs/DEs/“Edge”/Big Safeties all playing the same or similar positions in today’s NFL?”

Hopefully the above answer makes clear who is playing where and the depth chart heading into camp.

As for how many will be on the field at any one time, it might not be all that different from the past.

The Seahawks usually had their two ILBs on the field last season – Wagner played 98% of snaps and Brooks typically played 80% or more in games when healthy, coming off the field when they went with six defensive backs (or, what is typically called a dime defense).

Baltimore did similarly last year with Macdonald as the defensive coordinator as the two starting ILBs – Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith – played 92% or more of the snaps (Queen 96.89% and Smith 92.22%, according to Pro Football Reference).

The Seahawks will undoubtedly often be in a nickel package, with Devon Witherspoon serving as the nickel in a role to allow him to play inside more. In that package, teams often go with four down linemen, two ILBs and five DBs.

When teams throw another DB out there to go with a dime package, someone else on the front comes off the field. Under Pete Carroll, this was usually the WLB, though the Seahawks didn’t use much dime in the Wagner/K.J. Wright days since Wright was such a good pass defender.

Macdonald made liberal use of the dime in Baltimore. While sometimes that meant an ILB coming off the field, it also often meant the Ravens going with one fewer player listed as a defensive lineman. The Ravens had only two DLs last year play more than 40% of the snaps. The Seahawks had three who played 64% or more (Jarran Reed, Dre’Mont Jones, and Leonard Williams, who played 74% or more of snaps in all but one game after being traded to Seattle at midseason.)

One thing that attracted the Seahawks to Dodson and Baker is that each has been regarded as good in pass coverage – Dodson had the third-best coverage grade last year from PFF of all LBs and Baker was 19th – and don’t necessarily have to come off the field in obvious passing situations.

@insanobrandon asked: “When you look at the interior of the defensive line who could be a surprise cut? Given that they have way too many players in the middle.’’

Following the offseason program, I published a 53-man roster projection in which I had the Seahawks keeping seven interior defensive linemen – Reed, Williams, Jones, Byron Murphy II, Johnathan Hankins, Mike Morris and Cameron Young.

That’s a similar makeup to what they had most of last season.

In fact, that’s almost exactly what the Seahawks had to end last season other than adding Murphy and Hankins in place of departed free agents Mario Edwards and Myles Adams.

That means the interior DLs I did not have making it are Adams, nose tackle Matt Gotel and defensive ends DeVere Levelston and Nathan Pickering,

I’m not sure any of those is really a surprise.

The battle for a final spot on the DL could come down to Adams or Mike Morris. Adams has been on and off the roster the last four years and has played in 22 games. If the team has to choose between those two, I think they’d go with Morris, who the Seahawks might feel there would be more of a danger he could get claimed, but Adams could clear waivers and re-sign to the practice squad.

Also worth noting is that we didn’t see Young on the field during the offseason program as he was battling what Macdonald called a lower body injury. If that injury lingers into camp, that obviously could impact the makeup of the DL on the 53-man roster.