Tyrel Dodson talks about taking after Seahawks legend Bobby Wagner

Mike Macdonald has a big pair of Monarchs to fill as he enters his first season after having replaced Pete Carroll as Seahawks head coach. Macdonald's challenge is to get a defense that has underperformed for several years back to a respectable level while keeping in place the good things that Carroll left behind, including a winning and fun team culture.

As far as the actual roster goes, the one player who has the most-difficult standard to live up to is Tyrel Dodson, who's taking over at middle linebacker in place of franchise legend Bobby Wagner . Now playing for Dan Quinn and the Commanders, Wagner left behind a rather sizable hole in the middle of Seattle's defense - the same as the previous offseason when he signed with the Rams. It didn't go so well for the Seahawks defense without him in 2022, and how well Dodson performs will largely decide whether or not that happens again.

At least Dodson has chosen a good role model. For his part, Dodson says he grew up watching Wagner and actually messaged him when he was playing in high school to say how much he loved his game.

Dodson did post the highest Pro Football Focus grade at his position last year with the Bills, albeit on a relatively short snap count.

While he will be playing Wagner's former position we don't yet know if he will also inherit the green dot playcalling duties. That was one role that he did not perform during his time in Buffalo. It may go to Seattle's other new off-ball linebacker Jerome Baker, who's taken over Jordyn Brooks' former spot on the weak side.

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