The Seattle Seahawks wrapped up Year 1 of the Mike Macdonald era with a 10-7 record after beating the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s season finale.
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It marked the Seahawks’ first-10 win season since 2020, but they fell just short of the playoffs after the Rams claimed the NFC West crown over Seattle by virtue of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker. As a result, the Seahawks are the first 10-win team to miss the postseason since the NFL went to a 17-game slate in 2021.
With the 2024 campaign in the books, here’s a look at where some of Seattle’s top players and the team as a whole finished on the league leaderboards.
OFFENSE
• 18th in points per game (22.1)
• 21st in points per drive (1.89)
• 14th in total yards per game (332.2)
• 8th in passing yards per game (236.5)
• 28th in rushing yards per game (95.7)
• T-29th in sacks allowed (54)
• T-24th in turnovers (24)
It was an up-and-down season for the Seahawks’ offense under first-time NFL offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who was relieved of his duties on Monday morning. Geno Smith & Co. put up big numbers through the air, but Seattle’s rushing attack was among the league’s worst. Many of the issues stemmed from the continued struggles and injuries along the offensive line, which led to frequent pressure and limited space for the run game to get untracked. Turnovers were also a major issue, especially in the red zone.
DEFENSE
• T-11th in points allowed per game (21.6)
• 5th in points allowed per drive (1.78)
• 14th in total yards allowed per game (332.7)
• 11th in passing yards allowed per game (211.9)
• 16th in rushing yards allowed per game (120.8)
• T-8th in sacks (45)
• T-16th in takeaways (18)
It was a tale of two halves for the Seahawks’ defense, which underwent a dramatic midseason turnaround after some early growing pains in Macdonald’s cutting-edge scheme. Through the first eight weeks of the season, Seattle ranked 19th in points allowed per game (24.4) and 29th in rushing yards allowed per game (148.4). But Macdonald’s defense hit its stride after that, ranking fifth in points allowed per game (19.2) and seventh in rushing yards allowed per game (96.2) over the final 10 weeks.
QB GENO SMITH
• 4th in passing yards (4,320)
• 5th in completion rate (70.4%)
• T-13th in touchdown passes (21)
• 3rd in interceptions (15)
• T-2nd in fourth-quarter comebacks (4)
• T-4th in game-winning drives (4)
Smith’s season was particularly difficult to evaluate, especially given the poor pass protection he dealt with. On one hand, the 34-year-old veteran set single-season franchise records in both passing yardage and completion rate, finishing top-five in the NFL in both categories. He also delivered four fourth-quarter comebacks, which give him an NFL-best eight fourth-quarterbacks over the past two seasons. But he also threw the third-most interceptions in the league, including a league-high four red-zone picks.
DL LEONARD WILLIAMS
• T-10th in sacks (11.0)
• T-9th in tackles for loss (16)
• T-3rd in quarterback hits (28)
Williams had a monster first full season with Seattle after being acquired from the New York Giants in an October 2023 trade. The 10th-year veteran became the first Seahawks player to reach double-digit sacks since Frank Clark and Jarran Reed both achieved the feat in 2018. He also tied for the second-most tackles for loss in a single season in franchise history, trailing only Michael Bennett’s 18 in 2015. He even had a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown, which was the longest pick-six by a player of 300-plus pounds in NFL history.
WR JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA
• T-9th in receptions (100)
• 12th in receiving yards (1,130)
Smith-Njigba exploded over the second half of the season for a breakout second-year campaign. The 2023 first-round draft pick tied Tyler Lockett for the single-season franchise receptions record and finished 12th on the Seahawks’ single-season receiving yardage list. Smith-Njigba totaled 742 receiving yards over the final nine games of the season, including a franchise-record seven straight games with at least 70 receiving yards.
WR DK METCALF
• T-25th in receiving yards (992)
Prior to an MCL sprain in Week 7, Metcalf was on pace for the best season of his six-year NFL career. The star wideout ranked third in the league with 568 yards through the first seven games, including a franchise-record three straight 100-yard receiving performances in Weeks 2-4. But after missing two games, Metcalf’s production dropped off over the second half of the year as Smith-Njigba took off. Yet despite the second-half dip, Metcalf joined Hall of Famer Randy Moss as the only two players in NFL history with at least 50 catches, 900 yards and five touchdowns in each of their first six seasons.
CB RIQ WOOLEN
• T-10th in pass breakups (14)
Woolen had an up-and-down third season, but still managed to come up with three interceptions and finished just two pass breakups shy of the career-best 16 pass breakups he racked up during his spectacular 2022 rookie campaign.
LB ERNEST JONES IV
• T-13th in tackles (138)
Jones was a revelation in the middle of Seattle’s defense after arriving in an October trade with the Tennessee Titans. The fourth-year linebacker played a major role in the midseason defensive turnaround, especially in the dramatic improvements the unit made against the run. His impact went far beyond the stat sheet, but he still put up big tackles numbers, ranking ninth in the league with 94 tackles since joining the Seahawks in Week 8.
P MICHAEL DICKSON
• 8th in yards per punt (49.4)
Dickson had another strong season, posting the third-highest yards-per-punt average of his seven-year career.
PFF RANKINGS
Here’s a look at where some of Seattle’s top players ranked at their respective positions in Pro Football Focus grading.
• Leonard Williams: 4th out of 132 interior defensive linemen
• Julian Love: 6th out of 98 safeties
• Kenneth Walker III: 7th out of 63 running backs
• Devon Witherspoon: 10th out of 116 cornerbacks
• Charles Cross: 10th out of 81 offensive tackles
• Geno Smith: 10th out of 44 quarterbacks
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 18th out of 132 wide receivers
• Jarran Reed: 21st out of 132 interior defensive linemen
More on the Seattle Seahawks
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• Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald explains why OC Ryan Grubb was let go
• Seattle Seahawks let OC Ryan Grubb go after one season
• Ernest Jones IV gives strong statement about future with Seahawks
• Rost: Explaining the story of the 10-win, no-playoffs Seahawks