NFL fan voting is seriously underestimating the Seattle Seahawks

Quarterback

No. Sam Darnold was listed in the top ten in previous weeks, on the cusp of making it into the top three for the NFC conference (which is where you need to be to make the roster), but his second half struggles have taken him off entirely. Right now, Caleb Williams, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts, and Jared Goff are ahead of Sam.

The problems with fan voting are immediately obvious here (Caleb Williams is first in the conference with a completion percentage ranked 36th in the league and an offense 12th in dropback EPA). As it pertains to Darnold, I suppose I understand that players like Stafford, Prescott, and Love are putting up much more impressive numbers.

However, Seattle remains top three in scoring and 8th in dropback EPA, something which typically reflects high level quarterback play. I would most certainly put Darnold over Jalen Hurts, and think that Jared Goff is an interesting debate as well. Frankly, I’m not a big Jordan Love fan either, so I do think that this would be a miss, even with recent Darnold struggles.

Running Back

No. Neither Ken Walker or Zach Charbonnet have been in the top ten at any time since I’ve been checking the weekly listings, and it makes sense why. Despite recent improvements, Seattle’s run game, while improving, is still ranked 24th in EPA.

Walker is having his best season ever in my book, but he doesn’t get big volume, remains inconsistent, and has only found the endzone five times in fifteen games. And Charbonnet has been largely disappointing outside of the nine touchdowns.

Not much to be said here. If you gave Walker Charbonnet’s touchdowns and sixty percent of his touches, you might have something, but Seattle has smartly paced their backs in the hopes of having both for the end of the season.

Full Back

Robbie Ouzts - 9th. In fairness, I couldn’t tell you who the best fullbacks in the NFL are once you get past the usual suspects like Kyle Juszczyk and Hunter Luepke. Most teams don’t use them outside of a couple snaps a game. Maybe Robbie Ouzts really is the ninth best fullback in the league. I’d have a hard time naming nine other fullbacks.

What I do know is that Ouzts has played 168 offensive snaps, missed four games with an injury, was a healthy scratch a couple weeks ago, hasn’t touched the ball once all season, and lead blocks for an ineffective rushing attack. He’s become a complete afterthought in the offense and is pretty clearly not moving the needle.

If he makes it (he’s currently 3rd in the NFC in fan voting, but only one fullback makes it), that’s one you’ll have to chalk up to him being a fan favorite and a recognizable name. I have optimism that he’ll become a good fullback in the coming years, but as of now he’s a far cry from a pro bowler.

Wide Receiver

Jaxon Smith-Njigba - 1st. This is an easy one. JSN is having one of the best seasons by any wide receiver in NFL history, particularly given how rarely Seattle throws the ball, and will be taking home virtually every accolade that a wide receiver can take home.

Tight End

No. A.J. Barner is the only tight end even worth considering for Seattle, and he’s 21st in receiving yards at the position. Even with his Barnyard contributions (which I do believe are significant), there’s nothing here with the likes of Trey McBride, Kyle Pitts, Juwan Johnson, and Colston Loveland in the conference.

Offensive Line

Grey Zabel - 7th. I know there are a few metrics that are very friendly to Zabel and suggest he’s been an elite left guard this season, but I have to admit, I don’t see a Pro Bowl caliber player. He shows potential, and I’m high on him in 2026 and beyond, but 2025 has been full of growing pains, particularly in his run blocking. He’s part of the reason why Seattle struggles to run.

I’d much rather see Charles Cross or Abraham Lucas, who have been significantly better, although the level of competition at tackle is much higher. Neither has ranked in the top ten of tackles at any point during the fan voting since the results were made public.

Olu Oluwatimi finally fell out of the top ten for centers this week, a long overdue occurrence given that he has only played 312 offensive snaps this season and was playing at a level that I would generously describe as ‘barely adequate’. How he got to the top ten at any point is a mystery to me.

Defensive Tackle

Byron Murphy II - 1st and Leonard Williams - 6th. There was a short period of time where Leonard Williams was listed as a defensive end when fan voting first started, leading to some significant confusion before this was corrected. Last week, Murphy and Williams were 1 and 2 in the NFC, and looked well on their way to matching accolades.

In the last week, there’s been a transparent effort on the part of Chicago Bears fans and enthusiasts to push all of their players into the Pro Bowl, something that is evident with almost every positional top ten. Both Gervon Dexter Sr and Grady Jarrett now have more votes than Leonard Williams, as does the (much more deserving) Derrick Brown of Carolina.

(And yes, I’m highly skeptical that six combined sacks and the 18th best run defense by EPA warrants one pro bowler, much less two. This is where the coach and player vote will hopefully balance out some of the worst elements of the fan voting.)

In my mind, the three best tackles in the conference are Murphy, Williams, and Brown in some order, so both Seattle tackles should make it, and anything less would damage the credibility of the Pro Bowl.

Defensive End

No. As recently as last week, Seattle had DeMarcus Lawrence just barely holding onto tenth place, but the most recent update has pushed him off. Also, the Pro Bowl ballot makes a distinction between defensive end and outside linebacker that I can’t quite fully understand. Last week, Uchenna Nwosu was listed tenth on the OLB list.

In any case, both have been pushed off, mostly to make room for more Chicago Bears. Neither was likely to make the roster anyway with how loaded the NFC is with edge rushers (Parsons, Hutchinson, Gary, Burns, Sweat, Young), and Seattle is more about having a deep and broad rotation instead of having one dominant rusher. Still, I’d like to see Lawrence make it here.

Linebacker

Ernest Jones - 9th. After several weeks of not making the list at all despite All-Pro level play, it’s a deep irony that Ernest Jones finally made it after probably his worst game of the season. I’ll take it, since I believe that Jones deserves accolades for his remarkable season, but it’s a bit of an odd time to finally recognize him.

He ranks seventh in the NFC, so there’s an uphill battle here. Maybe it’s the two missed games that are causing problems here, but Jones spearheads the top run defense in the league by EPA (by a mile). The Seahawks are second in the NFL in defensive EPA and points allowed, and Jones’s coverage numbers have been impeccable.

That last point should weigh heavy here. Jones’s biggest weakness as a player over his first few seasons was coverage, and he was considered a liability there. He’s instead been mostly locking it down, and has five interceptions to boot. This has been an All-Pro caliber season in my book. Hopefully, the player and coach vote takes care of this.

Cornerback

Devon Witherspoon - 9th. On a per snap basis, Witherspoon might be the best cornerback in the league. Unfortunately, he’s missed five games, and his most overtly bad game (allowing two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Arizona) came on primetime. So I’m pretty happy to have him just make the list, with a chance to actually get into the big game.

As of right now, if you remove the *sigh* three Chicago Bears corners currently listed in the top ten (14th best defensive Dropback EPA, by the way), Witherspoon sits in third place, so he’s actually got a very good shot.

While Tariq Woolen’s coverage numbers have been stellar these last couple months and his tackling has improved, I’m not sure I’d advocate for him in the Pro Bowl this year. Nick Emmanwori has been very valuable and deserves a lot of credit for making this defense go, but there have been enough mistakes in coverage to keep him out of this conversation as well.

Safety

Coby Bryant - 3rd. Little bit of a tragedy here, as I’m sure Julian Love would be here as well if he hadn’t missed most of the season. But Coby has been very solid in a secondary that has dealt with a load of injuries and shuffling of players around him. While it may cost Seattle some money on his contract extension, I’d say the Pro Bowl is deserved.

Coverage numbers are mostly clean, four interceptions, and very few big plays. Coby may even start since the one NFC safety ahead of him right now is Kevin Byard of the you-know-whos. He might miss the last couple games of the season with his recent injury, but even that shouldn’t keep him off the roster (4th place Kerby Joseph is out for the season as well).

Special Teams

Jason Myers - 3rd and Chris Stoll - 8th. Now things get really ridiculous. Only one kicker makes the Pro Bowl on each side, and Myers is currently behind Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys. Both kickers have nearly an identical percentage (Aubrey has a 0.8% advantage on field goals but Myers has a 2.3% leg up on extra points) and Myers has 17 more points scored.

As I’ve written about earlier, Myers is in range of breaking the all-time NFL record for field goals made in a season. Even if he comes up a little short, I would very much hope that he at least makes the Pro Bowl for his efforts. It’s one of the best seasons any kicker has ever had, so it should at least be the best season for any kicker of the year.

I’m not going to pretend I know who the best long snappers in the league are, or if Stoll’s 8th place rank is accurate. Brady Russell falling off the top ten list last week among ‘Special Team Players’ is also not worthy of my attention, although I suspect it’s yet another side product of every player on the Bears suddenly popping up to the top.

But Michael Dickson dropping out of the top ten for punters is highly suspect. The man ranks fifth in punt average, has only three touchbacks, and is 25th in returns allowed. It’s not his best season, and I don’t know if he deserves to make the Pro Bowl, but this implies he’s not even in the conversation.

Perhaps even worse is Return Specialist, where Rashid Shaheed was ranked until this most recent week, falling out of the top ten. You know, the week where his 58 yard punt return touchdown sparked an improbable comeback against one of the best teams in the league on Thursday Night Football. Clearly, this is the week to take Shaheed out of the conversation.

Seattle has the best special teams in the NFL by a wide margin. I’d argue they should be sweeping these position groups just on the basis of that. But at the very least, can we take care of the guys who clearly deserve to be taken care of? Shaheed might be the most feared returner in the sport right now, and he’s not even in the ballpark of a Pro Bowl nod?

No Acclamation Without Representation

The Seahawks are the only team in the NFC with twelve wins. They’ve registered wins against the Rams, Jaguars, Texans, and Steelers, who all have playoff odds somewhere between 92% and 100%. This is an excellent team through fifteen games, and excellent teams are powered by excellent players. And excellent players should make the Pro Bowl.

I’ll accept that the offense, despite being an elite unit in terms of end result, is somewhat top heavy and dependent on JSN carrying them to greatness. But a defense this good should be sending a platoon of players to the Pro Bowl, and the special teams should be richly represented. 

With two weeks left, we’re not seeing proper representation. So, let’s do our part (voting is easy!) and hope the process cleans the final roster up. Maybe the Pro Bowl doesn’t mean much, and I know we’d all prefer if none of our players were participating because they had a more important game to think about. But we should at least try to be properly represented here.