Over his wildly successful two seasons as the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach, Mike Macdonald has shown an impressive knack for developing defensive talent and pushing seemingly all the right buttons when it comes to defensive personnel decisions.

ESPN’s Fowler: Seahawks likely to lose ‘a bunch’ of their FA class

There was the midseason linebacker shakeup in 2024, when Macdonald and general manager John Schneider acquired Ernest Jones IV in a trade-deadline deal. Jones immediately flourished under Macdonald, becoming a second-team All-Pro this past fall and an integral part of Seattle’s top-ranked scoring defense.

There was the decision to move Coby Bryant from cornerback to safety, where he emerged as a playmaking force in the Seahawks’ secondary. There was the underdog rise of Josh Jobe, a former practice squad player who surged up the depth chart to become one of Seattle’s primary cornerbacks. There was the emergence Drake Thomas, a former undrafted waiver-wire claim who earned a starting linebacker role alongside Jones.

And there was yet another unsung contributor in Ty Okada, a former undrafted free agent out of Montana State who provided quality play this past season while making 11 fill-in starts at safety.

All those examples give Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus confidence that Macdonald & Co. can replace whatever defensive talent they lose in this year’s free agency cycle. Seattle has four notable defensive players – Bryant, Jobe, edge rusher Boye Mafe and cornerback Riq Woolen – who can hit the open market when free agency begins next week.

“I’m not even worried about it. It’s crazy,” Bumpus said during a recent Four Down Territory segment on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. “Like, I know it needs to be addressed, (but) they know the type of guy that they’re looking for … and what attributes they’re looking for. They’ve shown that they understand how to use their players.

“So, you’re gonna lose some guys on the defensive side. Will (the defense) have the same (overall stats) that they had this year? Probably not. It was a historic year for these guys. But are they still gonna be a solid defense? I think so, because a lot of the core pieces are gonna be there, and I just trust that they know exactly what they’re looking for in any position.

“It’s gonna be unfortunate to lose (some of) the guys,” he added, “but I think the scouting department and Mike Macdonald will be just fine.”

Listen to the full Four Down Territory segment at this link or in the audio player above. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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