4. Seattle Seahawks
Yes, the Legion of Boom was still pretty dominant last season. pic.twitter.com/ZMbPVyn9Av
— Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) June 13, 2016
The Legion of Boom lost a bit of its intimidating presence a season ago, but let’s not mistake that for widespread regression.
Seattle still ranked second in total defense, second against the pass and yielded an absurdly low 78.8 quarterback rating last year. It also finished first against the run. That is some utter domination right there.
Overall, the Seahawks yielded 10 points or less in seven outings during the regular season, including a total of 19 points in three late-season outings against Minnesota, Baltimore and Arizona.
For Seattle, it still starts and stops in the secondary where both Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman remain the best in the game at their respective positions. Sherman yielded a sub 70.0 quarterback rating last year while Thomas recorded a team-high five interceptions.
For the Seahawks to remain at this level, they’re going to need more production from a pass-rush standpoint. And in reality, that’s why they are not in the top three here.
Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril combined for 19 sacks. But both are aging and primed for some sort of regression moving forward. Outside of that, there’s not a lot to see here. Bruce Irvin was third on the team with 5.5 sacks. He’s now an Oakland Raider.
Someone from a group of Frank Clark and Chris Clemons is going to have to step up if Seattle hopes to remain dominant on defense. If that happens, we are surely looking at a top-five unit in 2016.