Getty Seahawks OLB Boye Mafe
The NFL announced the 2024 Pro Bowl teams on Wednesday, Jan. 3, and three Seattle Seahawks made the team. Outside of linebacker Bobby Wagner, safety Julian Love, and rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon, eight players were named alternates on the NFC Pro Bowl team. Of those eight alternates, the biggest Seahawks Pro Bowl snub is outside linebacker Boye Mafe.
Quarterback Geno Smith, wide receiver DK Metcalf, running back Kenneth Walker III, special teamer Nick Bellore, linebacker Jordyn Brooks, punter Michael Dickson, and safety Quandre Diggs were the other Seahawks Pro Bowl alternates. And while they all had solid seasons, that is about where they should be. Because if you say someone is a “Pro Bowl snub,” you not only have to make their case but also call out who they should replace on the team.
With apologies to Smith, he’s not unseating Brock Purdy, Dak Prescott, or Matthew Stafford. And Jordyn Brooks is great, but should he take the place of Fred Warner or his teammate, Wagner? No. The same goes for Metcalf, Walker, Brooke, and Diggs. As for Bellore and Dickson, that’s a little harder for even hardcore fans to decipher, so we’ll just have to take the voters’ word for it.
All that said, there is a case for Mafe to be on the team.
The 2024 NFC Pro Bowl Team
The NFC Pro Bowl team outside linebackers are the Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons, Minnesota Vikings’ Danielle Hunter, and Philadelphia Eagles’ Hasson Reddick. Boye Mafe does not have an argument to be on the team over Parsons (the best OLB in the game right now) or Hunter (who had an NFC-leading 15.5 sacks this season). However, Reddick vs. Mafe is an argument.
Pro Bowl voting is not an exact science. More often than not, it is as much a PR contest, a team-based honor, or a straight counting-based situation. Reddick has 11.0 sacks to Boye Mafe’s 9.0, which is a big reason he made the team.
However, when you dig deeper into the stats, Mafe has a solid case.
Boye Mafe Should Be on the Team Over Hasson Reddick
Mafe has 49 tackles to Reddick’s 37, 6 passes defended to Reddick’s 1, and 1 forced fumble and 2 fumble recoveries to Reddick’s 0. The young Seattle defender also has a 78.5 pass rush grade, per PFF, while the Eagles LB grades out at 76.3 in that category.
Both players have 41 QB hurries and Mafe has 4 batted passes while Reddick has none. The Seahawks breakout star also has an 8.2 PRP to Reddick’s 7.8. While this isn’t a common stat, it is an interesting one where PFF uses “A formula that combines sacks, hits and hurries relative to how many times they rush the passer,” to come up with a comprehensive number of pass-rusher effectiveness.
Finally, Reddick put up his numbers as part of a defense with a ton of high-end talent on the defensive front. Josh Sweat, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and (seemingly) most of the 2022 and 2023 Georgia Bulldogs national championship defense helps the Eagles’ pass rusher get less attention than Mafe, who has some decent running mates in Jarran Reed, Darrell Taylor, Dre’Mont Jones, and Leonard Williams after the trade deadline, but that’s not on the same level as the Eagles.
In the end, Haason Reddick is a seven-year NFL veteran with four-straight double-digit-sack seasons, so he’s going to get the nod from voters over Boye Mafe every time. That doesn’t negate the fact, though, that on this season alone, the second-year Seahawk should have made the team.