Huard: How much Seahawks are hurt by injuries to 2 key interior DL

The Seattle Seahawks couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season.

Derick Hall’s breakout game highlights Seahawks’ sack brigade

The Seahawks are one of just two NFC squads with a 3-0 record through the first three weeks and one of five teams across the entire league that entered Monday without a defeat.

But, like any other team in the NFL, Seattle is starting to see injuries crop up. That includes two injuries to significant players during Sunday’s 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins, when defensive linemen Leonard Williams (ribs) and Byron Murphy II (hamstring) each exited in the first half and did not return.

It’s unclear how serious the injuries are at this point. Head coach Mike Macdonald didn’t have updates on the status of either player after the game.

Even without Williams and Murphy for most of the game, Seattle’s defense continued to play well, holding the Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins to just three points and 205 yards of total offense.

But can the Seahawks withstand any sort of extended absences for both Williams and Murphy? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard shared his thoughts Monday morning on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“So you can withstand one,” Huard said. “You could withstand (losing) Leonard, as much as you hate that because I think he’s one of the most irreplaceable guys on this roster with all he can do. But (missing) two (key defensive linemen)? Now you’re putting (Johnathan) Hankins in there for more snaps and more guys are having to play more snaps.”

Williams and Murphy led Seattle defensive linemen in snaps in Week 2 against the Patriots at 52 and 38, respectively.

With Murphy and Williams playing a combined 17 snaps on Sunday against Miami, Jarran Reed, Mike Morris and Hankins all saw increased snap counts. Reed’s 49 snaps led Seahawks D-linemen against the Dolphins. He played 37 snaps in Week 2 against the Patriots. Hankins’ snap count increased from 27 to 33 and Morris’ from two to 14.

Huard compared the rotation to a bullpen in baseball.

“You take away now some of your leverage pieces, it just burdens everybody else and it absolutely stress tests you,” he said.

Potential help

Co-host Mike Salk asked Huard about the prospect of edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones helping out the defense on the inside. Jones has been a player that’s shown the versatility of being able to play both inside and outside on the line of scrimmage, but he lost weight during the offseason with the intention of playing more on the outside this season.

“I think in spots, and certainly in nickel situations or any kind of passing situation, you actually love to have them in there,” Huard said. “So you can mix and match a little bit on early downs. If you’re getting heavy run, that’s probably not an ideal situation as he’s cut a little bit of weight.”

Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on Seattle Seahawks

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• Unbeaten Seattle Seahawks already up two games in NFC West
• Seahawks’ DK Metcalf torches another defense with long TD
• Seattle Seahawks Injury Updates: The latest on Williams, Murphy

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