As the Seattle Seahawks get ready for the last stretch of the 2024 regular season, one of its important players will soon return. Uchenna Nwosu, the team’s best outside linebacker, is anticipated to make a quick recovery from the injured reserve list. Since suffering a season-ending pectoral injury in the middle of the 2023 campaign, Nwosu has been plagued by ailments. In the final preseason game of the year, Nwosu also suffered an MCL sprain, which kept him out until Week 5, when he sustained a thigh injury that has kept him out of action ever since.
When healthy, Nwosu is an excellent defender, but considering his recent performance, it goes without saying that the Seahawks cannot count on him to start every week. It could be prudent to cut their losses and make Nwosu a salary cap casualty for the following season if he sustains another injury before the end of the current one. If that occurs and Boye Mafe and Derick Hall are prepared to take his place and start together at the top of the edge rotation, they might be able to replace him affordably.
The Seahawks may want to look at signing Matt Judon in free agency if that’s the case. In any case, Bleacher Report is anticipating just that.
While Judon would be cheap and does have the added benefit of previous experience with Macdonald, he’s also not the player he used to be – certainly not when he signed his four-year, $56 million extension with the New England Patriots back in 2021.
Judon has made 11 appearances for the Atlanta Falcons this season, but his stats are just 2.5 sacks, four quarterback hits, and seven pressures. That’s not the kind of production you’d hope for, even from a number three option in your edge rush group.
Furthermore, Dre’Mont Jones has just improved after a season and a half of suffering. The Seattle front staff might not need to sign another edge player, even if it’s just for depth, if they choose to retain Jones through 2025.
Only after the draft, and only then, if they haven’t been able to expand their rotation as much as they’d like, might Judon be a viable candidate for a one-year, prove-it contract.
