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Mike Macdonald and the Seattle Seahawks are “not exactly crying” about the big move made by their closest rival, the Los Angeles Rams.
They won Super Bowl LX, but the Seattle Seahawks find themselves overlooked in favor of the Los Angeles Rams because their division rivals have made multiple, high-profile moves this offseason, but Seahawks’ head coach Mike Macdonald and his team are “not exactly crying” about the Rams’ biggest deal.
It’s the trade that sent Myles Garrett, the NFL’s record-holder for sacks in a single season, to L.A. Garrett joined the Rams, while Jared Verse went to the Cleveland Browns, and the Seahawks have good reason to be strangely happy about the blockbuster player swap.
That’s according to Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News-Tribune. He analayzed why the Seahawks are still better than the Rams, despite the many offseason prognosticators predicting the Lombardi Trophy will soon leave Seattle, but stay in the NFC West.
One of Bell’s strongest arguments involves what the exit of familiar foe Verse means. Bell also pointed to other hidden advantages for the Seahawks.
Mike Macdonald Has Reason to Welcome Rams’ Trade
The competitive ire between Verse and the Seahawks wasn’t just limited to social media. Verse was also a thorn in the Seahawks’ sides on the field.
Bell noted how the powerful edge-rusher “has been in on three sacks with seven hits on the quarterback in five career games against the Seahawks. He had a sack and three hits on Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold in the NFC title game while playing 90% of the Rams’ defensive snaps at Lumen Field in January.”
GettyVerse was a problem for Darnold and the Seahawks.
Keeping Verse in check proved at least a twice-a-year difficulty for the Seahawks, so it makes sense Macdonald is happy to be facing a different challenge. Even if that challenge involves somehow containing Garrett, who’s the premier quarterback hunter of his generation.
Bell cited Macdonald telling Brock Huard and Mike Salk of Seattle Sports on Thursday, June 4, “Myles is a great player. He was in Cleveland when I was coaching for the Ravens. Jared Verse is a great player. We’ve gone against him, and now he’s going to be playing for the Browns. So we’ll adjust accordingly.”
Part of Macdonald’s adjustment to the Rams boasting a star-studded defense will be to keep his own unit at the forefront of the league. Fortunately, there are good reasons to believe the Seahawks are still owners of the stronger defense.
Seahawks’ Intangibles Remain Key to Rivalry
The Rams have the star power, in the form of Garrett and newly acquired Super Bowl-winning cornerbacks Jaylen Watson and All-Pro Trent McDuffie, but the Seahawks still have Macdonald.
He’s the architect of the schemes every team in the league wants to copy. A revolving mix of disguised coverage and elaborate pressure.
Macdonald will maintain the success of his coveted playbook, in spite of an underlying risk up front. The risk can be mitigated by a Macdonald favorite hitting a career-high mark, and the Seahawks still boast a deep and talented defensive line powered by an enduring force who’s tired of all the Rams hype.
A lot of that hype is focused on the loaded defense, but a former member of the Seahawks’ famed ‘Legion of Boom’ sent the Rams a warning about taking their supposed new-found superiority for granted.
Any changing of the guard will be hard fought as long as Macdonald has the players and schemes to keep the Seahawks at the league’s summit.
James Dudko covers the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL and world soccer since 2011, with bylines at FanSided, Prime Time Sports Talk and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy in 2021. More about James Dudko