Seahawks 2024 Season Awards: Veteran DL Takes MVP, DPOY

The awards mirror that of the NFL’s leaguewide awards, with the addition of a Most Improved Player honor. The other awards are: Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.

The final Seahawks awards of the 2024 season are Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year — merged into one since the same player won both. On the final voting tally, the number listed before a player’s name is their total points received and the number in parenthesis is the first-place votes received, if any.

Seahawks Defensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player: DL Leonard Williams

Final MVP voting: 1. 50, Williams (5); 2. 21, JSN; 3. 19, Smith

Final DPOY voting: 1. 30, Williams (3); 2. 26, Love (1); 3. 20, Witherspoon (1); 4. 11, Jones; 5. 3, Reed

Defensive lineman Leonard Williams was the best player on the Seahawks in 2024. There was no single player who impacted games on a down-to-down basis than Williams, which is why he swept the DPOY and MVP awards. The latter award was a unanimous decision.

Seattle awarded Williams a three-year, $64.5 million contract in the offseason, and the move was criticized by pundits as an overpayment for a 10th-year veteran who hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2016. Williams played like he was trying to earn every dollar of that deal.

Williams finished with 64 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, three pass deflections and a 92-yard interception touchdown — the longest pick-six by a defensive lineman in NFL history. It was the first double-digit sack season by any Seahawks player since Frank Clark and Jarran Reed both achieved that feat in 2018.

Among interior defensive linemen, Williams finished tied for second in sacks and run stops (41) despite missing two games. He was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for the final month of the regular season but did not earn a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod.

“Being older, year 10, I’m thinking about legacy and what I’m leaving behind and things like that more often, and I feel like these big accolades like Pro Bowl and All-Pro and stuff like that play a big part in what type of legacy you are leaving behind,” Williams said before Seattle’s season finale. “I feel like I definitely deserved it this year. But I’m happy for the guys who made it. They equally deserved it. That’s why they’re in the Pro Bowl.”

Williams had four games this season with two or more sacks, including back-to-back performances in Seattle’s final two games of the season. He was a one-man wrecking crew at times and easily qualified for All-Pro consideration.

First-round defensive lineman Byron Murphy II had an underwhelming season in part because of Williams’ production. Murphy had fewer opportunities because he played a similar role on the Seahawks’ interior defensive line, and Williams was too dominant to pull off the field.

Cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love each also received first-place votes for DPOY.

Witherspoon didn’t have flashy numbers, but he was the engine that drove the defense. He had the most tackles (98) among cornerbacks and finished with six tackles for loss, one sack and nine pass deflections — emerging as Seattle’s lone Pro Bowler this season.

Love had possibly the best season of his six-year career, totaling 109 tackles, 12 pass deflections, three interceptions and two forced fumbles. It was the most consistent he’s been in coverage during his NFL tenure.

Still, Williams made the biggest impact overall and was clearly Seattle’s best player. Even if he wasn’t recognized leaguewide, he stood out on a team level.