What Byron Murphy brings to the Seahawks defense, and where he best fits

A look at Seattle’s first-round pick and where he fits in the defense.

With the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks drafted interior defensive lineman Byron Murphy. Over the past two off-seasons Seattle has given Leonard Williams a 3-year deal worth $64,000,000 and handed $30,000,000 million in total guarantees to Dre’Mont Jones. Despite that, defensive line was still an area of need for a Seahawks defense that (again) got gashed in the run game last season. They addressed that hole with Murphy, who has multiple tools he can use to defend against the run and the pass, some of which we will review below.

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Alabama game

Despite scoring 34 points, Texas won this game with their defense with Murphy at the heart of it.

The first clip highlights the two things that are ever present with Murphy as a pass rusher: first step explosion and strength. Murphy is constantly able to attack blockers with a bull rush that prevents them from anchoring down or a rip move where he powers through an arm. Murphy obviously does not pick up a sack there, but he does enough to force Jalen Milroe off of his spot and out of the pocket.

The second play is fantastic by the former Texas Longhorn. Murphy hits center Seth McLaughlin with a really quick and effective swim move that allows him to win at the point of contact. He then shuffles parallel to the offensive line, rather than coming downhill, which allows him to stay in the play and fill the running lane. Murphy does struggle to bring the running back down on his own, but picks up a half a tackle.

Some defensive tackles get cleared out by double teams, others, as in Murphy’s case in the third clip, get beaten by the center who knocks him to the ground. But he maintains his play strength and is able to get up, take on the right guard and get his nose on the ball carrier. There are a lot of defensive lineman in the league who would’ve been washed out of the play the second they hit the ground. However, Murphy has both the play strength and motor that allowed him to stick with it and pick up a tackle.

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Washington game

Against the Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line, Murphy made his presence felt throughout the entire game. On the first play, Murphy dominates the right guard off of the snap. He looks as if he is trying to set him up for a swim move, but with how much space he has to his left he decides to just attack the outside shoulder. Murphy gains leverage, pushes the guard back into the pocket and then beats him with a mix of speed, power and hand usage. If his hands were on the outside of Julius Buelow’s shoulder or he wasn’t as accurate with his late swipe, it is likely that Murphy doesn’t even register a pressure.

Play two is all about pure desire from Murphy, who at first does not look like he is going to be involved in the action. He works down the line of scrimmage and once he recognizes the cutback has the upper body strength and balance to throw the blocker aside and make the tackle.

Plays like the third one shown are why sacks are one of the most misleading stats in football. Murphy does everything right here from the snap but is unable to finish the play. Off the snap he engages with Buelow and then shuffles down to take the center who he hits with a devastating swim move. He gets skinny like a running back which paired with his quickness allows him to beat the right guard to the spot who is trying to double him. One criticism of Murphy is his inability to finish plays such as this one, but moving a quarterback off his spot in this manner is still extremely disruptive.

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So where does he fit?

How Murphy is utilized is going to be interesting because of the other pieces this Seahawks defense features. He has the athleticism to line up wide as a 5-tec in some packages, but I think he is going to do the majority of his work as a 3-tec. Texas did use him at times lined up right over the center, but seeing as he is “just” 297 pounds it is difficult to see him playing that role in the NFL.