Even though the NFL season is not over just yet, award season is right around the corner.
Teams around the league are positioning themselves for a playoff run (or the top overall draft pick if you’re the Las Vegas Raiders), but individual accolades are being decided as well.
Candidates for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and other awards are polishing their final resumes in Week 18. The initial Pro Bowl roster is out, and the All-Pro announcements will follow soon.
While these individual achievements may not matter to the average fan, the players certainly care. Just ask Arizona Cardinals defensive end Josh Sweat about not making the Pro Bowl.
One team with lots of candidates for Pro Bowls and All-Pros is the Seattle Seahawks. The 13-win Seahawks are tied for the lead in Pro Bowlers with six players, and they should have some guys named to All-Pro teams as well.
ESPN NFL writer Bill Barnwell agrees, as he had multiple Seattle players on his 2025 All-Pro team.
Barnwell Names Three Seahawks to His All-Pro Team
Barnwell appreciates the Seahawks talent on offense, defense, and special teams. The three Seattle players on his first-team All-Pro list are wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, linebacker Ernest Jones IV, and punter Michael Dickson.
JSN was a no-brainer to make this list and is the most obvious pick of any Seahawks player. He leads the NFL with 1,709 receiving yards and is the favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year.
Here is what Barnwell has to say about Smith-Njigba:
“Smith-Njigba has been a one-man show for the Seahawks in the passing game this season, where the likes of Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed haven’t been able to make consistent impacts,” Barnwell writes. “Smith-Njigba currently has more than 44% of the receiving yards produced by the Seattle offense this season, the highest percentage since Brandon Marshall racked up more than 45% of Chicago’s market share at receiver in 2012.”
His point about JSN being by far the main target in Seattle’s passing attack holds weight. JSN has yet to miss a game, and Kupp’s 564 receiving yards are significantly behind JSN’s yardage total.
For his selection of Jones, Barnwell raves about the linebacker’s coverage ability:
“He has picked off five passes this season, tying him with Devin Lloyd (who was just a hair behind Jones on my ballot) for the league lead among linebackers,” Barnwell writes. “Jones has allowed a 53.7 passer rating in coverage this season, the third-best mark in the league at any position. He has also made 16 tackles stopping players short of a third- or fourth-down conversion — tied for fourth in the NFL.”
Hard to argue with any of that! All of those stats speak to Jones’ incredible value for Seattle.
Last but not least is Seahawks punter Michael Dickson. Barnwell cites the Puntalytics EPA-based model that has Dickson at the top, and compliments the Australian punter on his ability to place the ball in specific areas of the field:
“The Sydney-born punter is only around the middle of the pack in terms of average gross and net yards per punt, but just 35.3% of his punts have been returnable this season,” Barnwell writes. “Just 13.7% of his punts have gone to the middle of the field, the lowest rate in the league for regular punters.”
Leonard Williams Makes Barnwell’s Second-Team All-Pro List
It would have been unjust for Barnwell to scour NFL rosters for an All-Pro list and not mention Leonard Williams. Thankfully, that did not happen, as Williams was listed as a second-team All-Pro selection.
Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans and Zach Allen on the Denver Broncos were the top two defensive tackles, and those are reasonable picks. Simmons has 10.0 sacks, and Allen leads all defensive tackles with 57 pressures.
Williams, who has seven sacks, is joined by Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner on the second team.
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