Analysis: Reviewing Seahawks’ 2024 rookie class after two weeks of season

SEATTLE – As the season began, the only member of the Seattle Seahawks’ eight-man 2024 draft class who seemed assured regular playing time was first-rounder Byron Murphy II.

A universal truth of the NFL is that things can change quickly.

Sunday, when the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 23-20 in overtime, four draftees saw significant playing time – Murphy, two filling in for an injured veteran and another working his way into a possible rotation.

Let’s review the class after two weeks:

DL Murphy (first round, 16th overall): As expected, Murphy has become a significant piece of the team’s interior defensive line rotation. He has 78 snaps in two games, third most of the interior DLs, behind the 97 of Leonard Williams and the 80 of Jarran Reed. As expected, he has played more in passing downs – 47 of his snaps have come against the pass, 31 against the run. Murphy often subs in when run-stop specialist Johnathan Hankins comes off.Murphy has six tackles and received credit for a half sack Sunday against the Patriots, teaming with Williams to bring down Jacoby Brissett on the third-down play before Julian Love blocked a field goal with just more than 2 minutes to play.

Murphy has a 59.7 grade from Pro Football Focus (on a scale of 1-100), just a little below average. His pass rush grade is 71.0 and run defense 56.1.

Wrote PFF this week about Murphy: “Murphy was productive as a pass-rusher in his second week of NFL action, as he generated four pressures and tallied his first career sack. His play strength continues to be an asset, and he is starting to show a successful swim move. Murphy led Seattle with a 74.6 PFF pass-rushing grade on the day. He did struggle with New England’s run game, though, and missed a tackle against Jacoby Brissett as he was evading the pocket.”

G Christian Haynes (third round, 81): Haynes played just one snap at right guard in the opener against Denver when Anthony Bradford had to come out for a play because of injury. His playing time increased against the Patriots as he got one series in each half at RG in place of Bradford. On his series in the first half the Seahawks drove 70 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown.

Haynes earned just a 18.3 pass blocking grade from PFF but an above-average 74.8 run blocking grade and a combined 64.7.

“I thought Christian played pretty solid,” coach Mike Macdonald said on his radio show Monday on Seattle Sports 710, adding he “probably deserved a few more reps the way he played.”

Bradford received a 67.1 pass block grade and 63.1 run block grade. He also has been flagged for four penalties – two in each game – two for holding (both against Denver) and a false start and unnecessary roughness (each against the Patriots).

Macdonald said Monday Bradford and Haynes will continue to compete at right guard.

LB Tyrice Knight (fourth round, 118): Knight did not play in Week 1 on defense but got 44 snaps against the Patriots when starting weakside linebacker Jerome Baker had to leave with a lingering hamstring injury.

Knight finished with seven tackles and had a solid 70.3 run defense grade from PFF. He was also given responsibility for giving up a 35-yard pass to tight end Hunter Henry in the second quarter, which was the longest gain of the day for the Patriots. According to PFF he gave up four receptions on five targets for 55 yards, leading to a below-average 41.3 pass defense grade from PFF.

“He made a couple of tackles in the run game, and then him along with the rest of the front seven, there’s a couple of other ones where he can be a little faster to diagnose, a little bit cleaner in his alignments,” Macdonald said. “But overall, he made a couple of impressive stops as well. So good foundation to build off of.”

TE AJ Barner (fourth round, 121): Barner has been the backup tight end to Noah Fant the first two games as Pharaoh Brown continues to deal with a foot injury. Barner has played 57 snaps (Fant has played 107 and Brady Russell seven). Barner has not had a pass thrown his way and has primarily been a blocker – 31 of his snaps have come on running plays and he’s also had five pass-block snaps. He has an overall grade of 49.8 from PFF, which includes a run blocking grade of 60.8 but a pass block grade of just 29.5.

CB Nehemiah Pritchett (fifth round, 136): Pritchett has served as essentially the fourth corner the first two games with veteran Artie Burns not active. But he has not played on defense as the team’s top three corners – Devon Witherspoon, Tre Brown and Riq Woolen – have all stayed healthy. Pritchett has played 11 snaps on special teams, all on the punt return team.

OL Sataoa Laumea (sixth round, 179): Laumea is listed as the backup to left guard Laken Tomlinson but has not been active for either game.

DB D.J. James (sixth round, 192): James was waived in the roster cutdown to 53 and not re-signed to the practice squad. He signed with New England’s practice squad on Monday.

OL Michael Jerrell (sixth round, 207): Jerrell is listed as a backup at right tackle, where Stone Forsythe started Sunday in place of the injured George Fant, who was starting in place of the injured Abraham Lucas. Jerrell was not active for Sunday’s game as McClendon Curtis was activitated off the practice squad to serve as the backup swing tackle. They also had Jalen Sundell active Sunday and while he’s listed as a backup center he played one year of left tackle at North Dakota State and was likely viewed as being able to back up at both spots. Neither Curtis nor Sundell played on offense Sunday.

Two undrafted rookie free agents have also seen action, running back George Holani and cornerback/returner Dee Williams. Both have played on special teams.

Holani saw six snaps Sunday, five on the kickoff return team and one on punt return. Williams has 32 snaps on special teams, mostly on returns. He returned three punts for 38 yards against the Patriots but has no kickoff returns, though he has been back deep for 10.