The Seahawks first made a name for themselves in the 1980s, in no small part, thanks to a standout secondary full of ball hawks and big personalities. That same formula helped the Seahawks win their first Super Bowl as the Legion of Boom anchored one of the best defenses in NFL history.
So it comes as no surprise that those 1980s and 2010s secondaries are well represented in the Seahawks Top 50 Players, making up six of the nine defensive backs selected. In all, five safeties and four cornerbacks were selected: cornerback Dave Brown, safety Kam Chancellor, safety Kenny Easley, safety John Harris, safety Eugene Robinson, cornerback Richard Sherman, safety Earl Thomas III, cornerback Marcus Trufant and cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
Easley, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as fellow Ring of Honor member Brown, led, along with Harris, a dominant group in the 80s that, among other accomplishments, helped the Seahawks force 63 turnovers, a franchise record that is also the most by an NFL team since the NFL-AFL merger.
Two decades later, Sherman, Chancellor and Thomas formed the nucleus of the Legion of Boom secondary—a nickname that would later be adopted by the entire defense—a unit that helped the Seahawks build the NFL's best defense in the 2010s. From 2012-2015, the Seahawks led the league in scoring defense for four consecutive seasons, the only team in the Super Bowl era to pull off that feat, and in 2013, the Seahawks led the league in total defense, scoring defense, passing defense and takeaways in a season that culminated in a 43-8 Super Bowl XLVIII victory in which Seattle held the highest scoring offense of all time to a single score after the game was already out of hand.
Rounding out the group of defensive backs are Marcus Trufant, a Tacoma native who helped take the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl; Robinson, a two-time Pro Bowler in his 11 years in Seattle whose 984 tackles rank second in history behind only Bobby Wagner; and Witherspoon, a current standout who is one of only five players in franchise history to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons.
The nine defensive backs are among the top 50 players in franchise history, a group selected in honor of the Seahawks' upcoming 50th season. The Top 50 Players were voted on by fans, media members and internal stakeholders. The voting process took place toward the end of the 2024 season, with more than 160 players eligible based on the following criteria:
Started at least 45 games
Voted to an AP All-Pro or NFL Pro Bowl team roster
Won Seahawks Man of the Year or the Steve Largent Award
Currently leads a career major statistical category, such as most receiving yards in a career
Part of an iconic moment in Seahawks history
For more information on the nine defensive backs selected to the Seahawks Top 50 Players, see the link below to their full bios: