Lefko: Blueprint for Seahawks lies in Eagles’ Super Bowl win

Feb 11, 2025, 9:40 AM | Updated: 9:47 am

Seattle Sports

There is a tendency to overreact to the results of a Super Bowl. We see the result of the final game of the season and make sweeping pronouncements about what it means for every other team that didn’t win a championship.

Sometimes those pronouncements are unrealistic. I don’t see the Seattle Seahawks (or any other team) drafting a Patrick Mahomes this offseason and suddenly reaching five Super Bowls in six years.

However, there are times when a replicable pattern emerges to build a champion, like this season with the Philadelphia Eagles.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the Seahawks can build a Super Bowl champion within the next three seasons, and after watching the Eagles dismantle the Chiefs I’m even more convinced that Seattle has the core of a team that can do the same. Transcendent quarterbacks winning is disheartening, as few teams can find that elusive white whale. But building a dominant roster with nary a weakness to be found, that can be done.

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After watching the Eagles win, there is one slight alteration I want to make from that earlier article: the Seahawks shouldn’t draft an offensive lineman in the first round. They need defense – more and more stud defenders to play on the line of scrimmage. For a team with a defensive-minded head coach (Mike Macdonald) and its two best players already on that side of the ball (defensive end Leonard Williams and cornerback Devon Witherspoon), the Seahawks are close to turning a good unit into a great one.

The Eagles’ defensive performance in Super Bowl 59 will be stamped in football immortality: 23 yards allowed in the first half, two interceptions (including a pick-six), six sacks for the first time ever on Mahomes, and all without blitzing a single time in the game. A perfect defensive blueprint to emulate, especially for a team that has Williams anchoring the middle of that Seahawks defensive line.

This is also the perfect draft to grab those pieces up front that can transform a line into one that bludgeoned two All-Pro linemen and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah is high on this group of defensive tackles and said as much to Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, breaking down the impact of his projected first-round pick for the Seahawks: Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant.

“He’s got as much ability as anybody in the draft,” Jeremiah said of Grant. “There’s not many people walking around planet Earth that are 340 pounds that can move like this kid can.”

In that same conversation ahead of the Super Bowl, Jeremiah mentioned talking to a member of the Eagles front office who described to him the luxury of having so much depth on defense that their draft picks can develop into the type of impact players they want to see in Year 2 or 3, rather than simply relying on them to completely take over a game on their own in Year 1. That feels apropos for a Seahawks team waiting to see what defensive tackle Byron Murphy, a rookie in 2024, turns into, and what could be possible by continuing to strengthen that group.

The emphasis on defense doesn’t need to come at the expense of the offense, specifically the offensive line. That Eagles blueprint also shows how successful offensive linemen can be found in the second round. Three-time Pro Bowl selection Landon Dickerson was a 2021 second-round pick, while Philadelphia’s 2022 second-rounder, Cam Jurgens, made the Pro Bowl this season in his first year starting at center.

Drafting well is a prerequisite for that blueprint to turn into something tangible, and drafting well for multiple years in a row can amplify a core group of good players into one of the most complete teams in the NFL. It’s also the foundation before the finishing touch: an impact free agent at the biggest area of need.

For the Eagles, that was at running back – a proven presence in Saquon Barkley that turned a deficiency into a decided advantage. For the Seahawks, whether that is in a year or two from now, if there is still one area on the roster that feels incomplete, the final step must involve an immediate fix in order to capitalize on the fleeting windows of opportunity to win a Super Bowl.

So, we have the blueprint for the Seahawks. Build an elite defensive line. Draft capable offensive linemen over the next couple of years. Add the final piece, if needed, via free agency. Schedule the parade.