The titanic move that the Los Angeles Rams made on Monday to acquire Myles Garrett is one that will be talked about for days and weeks heading into the 2026 season this Fall. It is a move that seismic in the NFL, and if they are now able to coax 35 year old Aaron Donald out of retirement for a chance to earn another ring, anything short of a Super Bowl victory this year will be seen as an epic failure for their organization. It is very literally Lombardi Trophy or bust for them now.

The Seahawks, on the other hand, as I suspected in the piece I wrote yesterday, are focused on taking care of their own. Yesterday, in a retaliatory move against the Rams acquiring Garrett The Great, they came to terms with youthful edge rusher Derick Hall on a very affordable 3 year $42 million contract with $21 million guaranteed. This move will be a snort little paragraph in any Monday Morning Quarterback style NFL reporting in the wake of all the bigger NFL news in this cycle, but from a Super Bowl Champ Seattle perspective, this was pretty big news.

The Seahawks managed to extend one of their bright young players on an astonishingly team friendly deal. On a national level, this news will have “meh” vibes attached to it, but from a Seahawks perspective (the only perspective that matters), this move is big.

They are keeping a talented young pass rusher, who during the course of Super Bowl LX, one could have easily argue his case for Super Bowl MVP with the way he was wrecking New England’s offensive line and effecting Drake Maye in the pocket, on a very team friendly contract. This is absolutely going to help them get other deals done around the corner for other key players they will look to keep around. In short, Derick Hall, who is a more complete player than Boye Mafe, will be making $6 million less per season for the next several years than him.

Frankly, it is quite astonishing that Hall would have agreed to this contract right now. It clearly shows that he just wanted to remain a Seattle Seahawk, and he had probably told his agent to just get this deal done as opposed to what Coby Bryant did last Summer when Seattle was trying to work out an extension for him. There are not many young players in this day and age of big free agent NFL dollars who are willing to do this.

Hall is a young player on this roster who I have been circling this offseason as a player to watch this Fall who is most likely to take a big step forward. Mike Macdonald had favored him over Mafe in the rotation of edge rushers, and without the presence of Mafe in the rotation, it just feels like things were aligned for him to have more opportunities to go after quarterbacks on what I was anticipating would be his contract year.

Now that he is secured through 2029, I think he can just settle into being a true Mike Macdonald style edge player, and young leader. A guy who will step onto the field determined to set strong edges against the run, and look to earn the right to rush on third and longs. This is the type of player that Macdonald prefers at the position.

Hall will likely never be in the class of edge defenders that Bosa, Garrett, Maxx Crosby, TJ Watt are, but I think his reasonable ceiling is DeMarcus Lawrence, who Seattle brought in last year to help them win a ring. In fact, I would estimate that Hall is the heir apparent to D Law once he decides to hang them up, and that is pretty damn good. Seattle has somehow managed to keep him around on a heck of a deal, and it cannot be underestimated how good that news is behind the scenes.

What I would expect around the corner is that they reach a deal with Devon Witherspoon during training camp this August that will make him a very wealthy young cornerback, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they reach some small extension with Big Cat Williams to keep the talented defensive tackle around for a couple more years, if he wants to keep going after it. These feel like two very obvious moves to perhaps happen next.

While the division rival Rams are dead set on taking massive swings from outside adding to their roster that narrowly lost out on a chance for the Super Bowl last season, the Seahawks will look at keeping their core players together, as much as possible. It is a less exciting philosophy than the “fuck them picks” mentality that the Rams are expressing again, but it is a philosophy that has a lot of merit.

The Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks remain one of the youngest rostered teams in the league. Many of the core players that helped them along last year haven’t touched their peaks as players yet. While I would not argue against a splash move for a Maxx Crosby, or whomever, I think earmarking core young players and committing to them might be the better overall play for this particular team that has drafted exceptionally well in recent years.

As a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, I really liked seeing the news come out yesterday that they reached this sort of deal with Hall. If the national takeaway is “meh” with it, I do not care. I know what kind of potential Seattle has with Hall, and I think his best games are ahead of him, and Seattle has kept him for a steal of a deal. This should be commended.

Go Hawks.