Seattle Seahawks: Ranking the top 5 players from 2018 regular season

4. Frank Clark and Jarran Reed

Okay, so this might be double dipping, but I’m going to bundle the team’s top two pass rushers anyways. These two anchored the defensive line for Seattle and bailed out the secondary more than once. Both of them also had breakout years, and boy did Seattle need them.

During the offseason, Seattle parted ways with Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, and Sheldon Richardson. Usually, a team that lost those kinds of players would need a few years to recover and retool. Not Seattle though. The Seahawks recorded more sacks in 2018 (43) than in 2017 (39) and 2016 (42). That’s not a coincidence. Clark recorded a personal best 14 sacks this season and Reed also set a personal best with 10.5 sacks.

Reed’s success was a little surprising. It was obvious he needed to step up this season, but he only had 1.5 sacks in each of his first two years in the NFL. I wasn’t sure 2018 would be any different, but Reed got going after a quiet first two weeks. He had three games with two sacks and also recorded 50 combined tackles.

Clark finished sixth in the NFL this season in sacks and recorded at least half a sack in 11 of the 16 games he started this year. In the last three seasons, Clark has 33 sacks. In his four-year career, he has 36 sacks. He’s turned into one of the league’s Pro Bowl caliber pass rushers and has taken Bennett’s old position as Seattle’s best sack artist. Clark will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. I suggest the Seahawks open up their checkbook and pay the man. He’s a crucial part of their future.