A day after NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero broke the news of the Seattle Seahawks agreeing on a contract with free agent edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr., Pelissero had a pretty positive view on the move for the Hawks.
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A big reason for that is how the deal with Fowler compares to the player he’s replacing in Seattle’s pass rush rotation, Boye Mafe, who signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in March. Fowler’s deal is reportedly worth up to $5 million for one season.
“It’s a logical fit at, let’s point this out, a fraction of the price if they’d brought back Boye Mafe,” Pelissero said Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “Mafe is younger, obviously, but has not had the sack production. I mean, you can make an argument that it’s almost an upgrade. It’s certainly an upgrade in terms of the value.”
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The 27-year-old Mafe has 20 career sacks, but just two came last season. Fowler is 31, but he had one more sack in 2025 than Mafe and is just a season removed from 10.5 sacks with the Washington Commanders. The Florida product has plenty of experience having been in the league over a decade, and still has many of the traits that made him the No. 3 overall NFL Draft pick in 2015 out of Florida.
“He’s still got traits, he’s still got pass rush ability, he had double-digit sacks in 2024 in Washington. These guys are going to know how to use him,” Pelissero said.
The draft effect
The Seahawks had a number of needs going into the draft last month, but the one they didn’t address with any of their eight picks was edge rusher.
Fowler, who visited the Seahawks ahead of the draft, may have had something to do with that.
“If you were talking about the needs for the Seahawks going into that draft, certainly you’d have running back on there, corner, safety, edge and offensive lineman,” Pelissero said. “Edge is really the one that wasn’t addressed, but they didn’t have to reach on it because they were confident that if they didn’t draft one, they’d be able to get something done with Dante.”
It couldn’t have hurt the Seahawks’ confidence that they could sign Fowler knowing his background with defensive coordinator Aden Durde, who coached Fowler when he was Atlanta Falcons outside linebackers coach in 2020 and Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach in 2022 and 2023.
“Well, he’s got a close relationship with Aden Durde from their days in Dallas. That was a big piece of it,” Pelissero said. “He obviously visited (the Seahawks) a couple of weeks ago, and I’d give credit to A.D. as well as (vice president of football administration) Joey Laine and those guys for having a plan in place.”
Catch Brock and Salk from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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