RENTON — From the middle of the Seahawks defense, to the weakside, to outside the organization.
It’s been an eventful few weeks for Tyrel Dodson, who was waived by the Seahawks on Monday. It’s not often that a team’s leading tackler who has played 98 percent of the snaps is cut loose. But, when a team drops to 4-5 after losing four of its last five, nothing is off the table.
“We really appreciate T-Dot,” Seahawks head coach and defensive play-caller Mike Macdonald said. “He’s worked extremely hard. … It was really the best thing for us to move forward and get the other guys in the (linebacker) room an opportunity to step up and help those guys take that opportunity by the horns and run with it.”
The one attempting to grab some horns will be Tyrise Knight, a rookie fourth-round draft pick out of UTEP. Knight started two games this season in place of Jerome Baker, the former starter at outside linebacker, who like Dodson was signed by Seahawks general manager John Schneider prior to a 2024 season he will finish elsewhere.
Dodson, the wearer of the green dot on his jersey as the one who calls out the defensive plays, had struggled in Macdonald’s defense, particularly against the run. Seattle traded Baker and a fourth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 23 for linebacker Ernest Jones IV. Jones started the next two games in the middle, while Dodson moved outside.
The move is another attempt by the Seahawks to fix a run defense currently ranked 26th in the NFL, allowing 139.4 yards per game.
“Holistically as a defense, we weren’t getting it done,” said Macdonald, the NFL’s youngest head coach. “We put a lot on our linebackers. I hate that it had to work out just through those two guys, because those are two guys that we respect a lot. They’ve come in and worked really hard, but sometimes you’ve got to make these decisions and do what you feel is best for our defense to take the next step.”
The linebacker position has been through a lot the last few years. Bobby Wagner, a likely Hall of Famer, wasn’t resigned in 2022, came back last year, and then wasn’t resigned after the 2023 season. Another starter, Jordyn Brooks, took off to Miami without any apparent offer from the Seahawks.
Seattle signed Baker ($7 million) and Dodson ($4.26 million) to one-year deals, but neither made it through that year.
“Sometimes you have to make really tough decisions,” Macdonald said. “It’s part of my responsibility, and it’s part of John’s responsibility, at all times. And we owe that to our fans and to our football team, the rest of the locker room, so we’re always going to take that mindset.”
Dodson, placed on waivers, can be claimed by teams in inverse order of the overall standings. If claimed, the Seahawks escape paying approximately $1 million of his $2.25 million base salary, which is guaranteed due to his vested veteran status.
This story originally appeared in seattlesportsnow.com, of which Aaron Coe is a co-founder. Follow Seattle Sports Now on X.
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