One of the biggest points of contention during and following the Seahawks’ 2019 season was the way Pete Carroll, Ken Norton Jr., and Seattle’s defense bucked convention.
In a league where 11 personnel is king on offense and thus, nickel has become the new base defense, the Seahawks lined up in the traditional base with three linebackers on 68.8 percent of defensive snaps. The league average, meanwhile, was 27.2 percent. Just a year prior, in Justin Coleman’s final season with the team, the nickelback played 67.8 percent of the defense’s snaps.
With Seattle’s attraction to base defense serving as a lightning rod for criticism in recent months, many have been concerned Carroll and the Seahawks will again stick to three linebacker packages moving forward.