Get ready to be mad, Seattle Seahawks fans.
With this formula, the Seahawks came out as 19th out of 32. At first this is shocking and upsetting if you consider how much this rookie class has helped the Seahawks earn the number one seed in the NFC Playoffs. However, once you go through the 11-person rookie class, it starts to make sense.
First rounder, Grey Zabel was an obvious slam dunk pick. He started all 17 games for Seattle at left guard and led all guards with an 83% run block win rate (no other guard was above 80%). However, guards apparently are not considered a “valuable position.” So Zabel’s position likely lessened his impact. Well, at least according to ESPN’s ranking. If you paid attention to the Seahawks 2025 season, the addition of Zabel has made a tremendously positive impact to the Seahawks offense in both the run and pass game. So, this is just another reason to take this whole rookie class ranking with a grain of salt.
The other big addition for Seattle was do-it-all defender, Nick Emmanwori. ESPN noted that Emmanwori played multiple positions from safety to linebacker to nickel, and was able to finish with 81 tackles, 11 passes defensed, and 2.5 sacks. However, despite this, Emmanwori still missed three games early in the season, which likely hurt his contribution score.
The rest of the rookie class, despite some showing flashes such as Tory Horton, Robbie Ouzts, and Elijah Arroyo, all suffered injuries, which hurt their contribution scores as well. The other rookies who did not get much playing time (e.g. Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman) could also be attributed to the strong depth that Seattle has along their roster.
This entire ESPN rookie ranking clearly does not show the actual impact these players have made on the football field. For example, look at the top three teams in this ESPN Ranking; the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants all had losing records and failed to make the playoffs. Additional markers to compare the Seahawks to would be the Denver Broncos (the AFC one seed came in at 17th on this list), and the Los Angeles Rams (the NFC West foe came in 32nd on this list.)