Mike Macdonald didn’t just say Leonard Williams deserves more respect — he all but launched an All-Pro campaign from the podium. The Seahawks head coach called his veteran lineman “more than deserving” of All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors and dared voters to “turn the tape on” and find many defensive linemen playing better right now.
Williams quietly anchored Seattle’s defensive front during a breakout 2024 season and is stacking another big year in 2025, but his coach made it clear he doesn’t think the national spotlight has caught up yet.
Mike Macdonald Makes the Case for Leonard Williams’ All-Pro Resume
Macdonald was asked directly about Williams’ frustration over missing out on All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors last season. The question noted that Williams “had quite a year” but came away with no major awards, and that it “bothered him a little bit.”
Macdonald didn’t hedge.
He said he believed Williams was “more than deserving last year,” then threw down a challenge to anyone doubting his status.
“Turn the tape on and show me players that are playing better than him,” Macdonald said, adding that he’d be willing to watch that tape — and that it “wouldn’t be a long tape.”
From there, Macdonald shifted into what sounded like a stump speech for his veteran lineman. He described Williams as a player who constantly sets others up, not just chasing stats for himself, and he made it clear that kind of work doesn’t show up easily in box scores or fan-voted awards.
Why Williams’ Impact Goes Beyond His Own Stats
Macdonald said one of the most underrated parts of Williams’ game is how much he “sets his teammates up for success.”
He pointed to multiple examples:
- Eating double teams so another rusher comes free
- Running stunts designed to spring teammates
- Forcing runs to spill where help is waiting
According to Macdonald, there are “at least a dozen plays every game” where Williams does something only a handful of players on the planet can do, and many of those plays don’t end with Williams getting the sack or tackle.
Later in the press conference, Macdonald lumped Williams in with Byron Murphy II and Jarran Reed as “two tremendous tackles” doing similar dirty work up front. But he also noted that Seattle is asking even more of Williams in terms of position flexibility.
Macdonald said the Seahawks are putting Williams in “more position flexibility” than Murphy right now, not because Murphy can’t do it, but because Williams’ experience allows them to move him around the front and let others play off him. That’s a huge part of the vision Macdonald and defensive line coach Aden Durde brought from Dallas, where the front is built on movement and multiple players attacking the point of attack together.
Stats, Role & Context for Williams in Seattle’s Defense
The tape isn’t the only thing backing up Macdonald’s argument.
Since arriving in Seattle via midseason trade from the New York Giants in 2023, Williams has become one of the most productive interior defensive linemen in the NFL. He followed that trade with a monster 2024 season, posting a team-high 11 sacks and 16 tackles for loss, plus a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown against the New York Jets — the longest pick-six ever by a 310-pound defender.
Through the first 12 games of the 2025 season, Williams has already added another strong sack total with seven and a steady stream of pressures and tackles, keeping him near the top tier of interior pass rushers leaguewide.
Even with those numbers, Williams’ awards case has been bumpy. He was left off the initial Pro Bowl roster after the 2024 season despite leading or tying other NFC interior linemen in several key categories, including tackles, tackles for loss, sacks and quarterback hits, and only later made it as a replacement.
That’s part of why Macdonald’s public push carries weight. Seattle gave up a second-round and fifth-round pick to land Williams in 2023, then doubled down with a three-year extension worth more than $60 million in 2024. The Seahawks clearly see him as a foundational piece of a defense that’s climbed toward the top of the league under Macdonald.
Now the head coach is saying the quiet part out loud: if voters want to know whether Leonard Williams deserves All-Pro and Pro Bowl recognition, they just need to turn on the tape, and they won’t be watching for long before they see his case.
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