The Seattle Seahawks are just days away from Week 1 of the 2025 regular season, but training camp and the preseason were mostly successful. Throw out the meaningless preseason Week 3 when the Green Bay Packers played their starters and Seattle didn't, and things were golden.
But general manager John Schneider also appears to have found several hidden gems this past offseason. Of Seattle's 53-man roster, 11 will be rookies. Three of those players will be undrafted free agents. Seattle has not been afraid of using UDFAs in the last decade, and this season will be no different.
One of the UDFAs has elite athleticism and good size for an edge rusher. Connor O'Toole is 6'3" and 250 pounds, and when he began college, he was a wide receiver. He ran track in high school. He has all the physical skills to be [extremely disruptive in the NFL](https://12thmanrising.com/unexpected-seattle-seahawks-shocked-everyone-training-camp).
Connor O'Toole could be the next UDFA superstar for the Seattle Seahawks
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Still, that might not happen yet. He is still learning his position, and, no offense to Utah, but had O'Toole played in the SEC or Big 10, he might be slightly further along. His level of competition in college was solid, but not great.
In other words, he will have to go from B-level talent at Utah to A-level talent immediately as a pro. Ahead of Week 1, he is doing better than many expected, though he might be a healthy scratch in some games to start the season. But most likely, Connor O'Toole is going to have an impact at some point this season.
In the preseason, he was a star. He led the Seattle Seahawks in quarterback pressures (9) and sacks (2). He also was in on six tackles and didn't whiff on any. That last part might be as important as the QB pressures.
Head coach Mike Macdonald has to believe that when he puts a player on the field, even though that player might be capable of crazy athletic plays, the fundamentals will be sound, too. Though O'Toole is just three years into playing edge rusher, he appears to be learning quickly to do the small things.
Seattle has a good edge rusher group above Connor O'Toole, but potentially an easily injured one. Boye Mafe and Derick Hall have mostly stayed healthy, but Uchena Nwosu [has missed more games](https://12thmanrising.com/seattle-seahawks-controversial-choice-keeping-player-backfire) than he has played the last couple of seasons. 33-year-old DeMarcus Lawrence missed 13 games in 2024.
O'Toole might be forced onto the field sooner rather than later. This might not be a bad thing for the Seahawks. The edge rusher could be the latest diamond in a decade-plus run of great UDFAs in Seattle.