Wyman: Why Jordyn Brooks’ game is opening up for the Seahawks

It was unclear whether Seattle Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks would be ready for Week 1 after tearing his ACL on Jan. 1 of this year at the end of last season.

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Not only has the 26 year old played every game for the Seahawks this season, he’s been one of the team’s top defenders.

Through six games, Brooks is second on the team in tackles (57), third in sacks (2.5), tied for first in tackles for loss (5) and has a fumble recovery and pass breakup.

Brooks’ play was one of three topics during the debut of Dave Wyman’s “Roll The Tape,” which airs Tuesdays and Fridays at 3:30 p.m. on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. During “Roll The Tape,” Wyman dives into three Seahawks questions.

“The Seahawks selected Jordyn Brooks right ahead of a (linebacker) named Patrick Queen, who we’re gonna see in a couple of weeks when we play the Ravens,” said Wyman, himself a former NFL linebacker who now is a broadcaster for the Seahawks Radio Network. “If you go look at (Queen’s) stats, he’s made a lot of plays … He’s got sacks, interceptions, fumble recoveries, and Jordyn doesn’t have a lot of that. But I think it’s going to start to come for him because he is playing such good football right now.”

Brooks was the 27th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and has been a key player for Seattle ever since. He’s now in his fourth NFL season, and is playing arguably his best football.

Wyman thinks the return of a veteran is a big reason why.

“I also think Bobby (Wagner) is helping him here a little bit because he doesn’t have to call the huddle,” Wyman said.

Brooks served as Seattle’s third linebacker alongside Wagner and K.J. Wright as a rookie in 2020. When Wright left in free agency, Brooks played next to Wagner on virtually every play in 2021. And in 2022, Brooks had an even bigger role as Wagner was with the Los Angeles Rams. Brooks was the “green dot” on defense, meaning he received the play call from Seahawks coaches and relayed the call to the defenders on the field.

With Wagner back, Brooks no longer has that responsibility.

“He doesn’t have to make all the checks and things like that. Bobby takes care of all of that, which Bobby can do that without even thinking. He can do that stuff in his sleep. It’s his 12th year. So it’s freeing (Brooks) up, I think, too,” Wyman said.

“Jordyn Brooks, it took him a little while to get there. He was always solid. He always does right. And the reason why is because he’s a very smart football player. He picks up his assignments. He gets that done really early. It didn’t confuse him early on … With Bobby back here, it’s starting to open his game up and he’s starting to play really good football right now.”

That was especially true in Week 7 against the Arizona Cardinals, where Brooks was all over the field, recording nine tackles, half a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup.

“The game against Arizona, if you go back and watch that, he had so many good open-field tackles. And I can’t stress how difficult that is to make those kinds of plays,” Wyman said. “… He’s really developing into this just awesome player right now. There’s so much to like on this defense.”

Listen to Wyman’s first “Roll The Tape” segment at this link or watch it in the video player near the top of this story.

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