Seahawks line up the reinforcements
Seattle heads into season hoping for improved linebacker depth after sub-par 2017
RENTON, Wash. — While Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright remain in place as starters, the Seattle Seahawks have overhauled the rest of their linebacker group this off-season.
D.J. Alexander — acquired in a trade before the start of training camp — joins free-agent additions Michael Wilhoite and Terence Garvin as part of a mostly retooled position group.
Wilhoite and Garvin are competing for the starting job at strong-side linebacker with Mike Morgan, who started three games at the spot last season and didn’t re-sign with Seattle until Day 2 of training camp. Wilhoite comes over from the San Francisco 49ers while Garvin spent last year with the Washington Redskins.
“The way they go about handling their business seems like they’ve been part of our program for years,” linebackers coach Michael Barrow said.
Morgan and Dewey McDonald are the two significant holdovers of note from last year’s squad.
Head coach Pete Carroll had said at the end of last year that he was disappointed in the production from the team’s depth at the position.
“We need to address that,” Carroll said in January. “We didn’t get anybody that made a difference in the last couple of years that can really fight to take those guys’ jobs. Think if someone can battle K.J. and Bobby for their starting time, that’s what we need to draft toward.”
While Seattle didn’t add to the group through the draft, the team infused it through other means.
Alexander was acquired from Kansas City for former fifth-round linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis, who appeared in 34 games with Seattle. Alexander made the Pro Bowl last season as a special teams performer.
Wilhoite and Garvin both join Seattle as former inside linebackers in 3-4 defences adapting to a new role in the Seahawks’ 4-3 scheme.
“It’s different from the vantage point,” Wilhoite said. “You’re just seeing things from a different spot and you’re getting to the ball from a different angle.”
Garvin played as a defensive back in West Virginia’s 3-3-5 defence in college. Though he’s been a linebacker in the NFL, his ability to cover in the passing game is a trait Seattle’s coaching staff covets.
When Morgan was lost for seven games because of surgery for a sports hernia, the Seahawks had to employ a revolving door of options at the strong side last year. Cassius Marsh, Brock Coyle and Jordan Tripp each started games in Morgan’s place. Seattle also used its nickel package with an extra defensive back more frequently.