The Seattle Seahawks didn’t need Chazz Surratt to reinvent himself this summer.
He did that years ago.
What Seattle needed was a unswerving linebacker and special teams piece behind its starters.
Surratt, once a quarterback at North Carolina, spent August making a convincing case that he could give the defending champions value in multiple areas.
After Surratt survived Seattle’s cut to 53 players, Pro Football Focus named him the Seahawks’ highest-graded player of the entire preseason.
He finished with an 85.4 overall mark, giving the former third-round pick a piece of validation heading into his second year in Seattle.
Surratt Turns Preseason Opportunity Into Roster Security
PFF’s evaluation came with a 45-snap minimum, and Surratt cleared it comfortably.
He played 75 defensive snaps across Seattle’s first two preseason games, recording four stops, two forced fumbles and no missed tackles.
PFF cautioned that preseason grades come with limitations, including the level of competition and relatively small samples.
Even with that context, Surratt’s production stood out on a roster that had competition throughout the back half of the depth chart.
Seattle ultimately kept five inside linebackers on its initial 53-man roster. The team’s official roster breakdown identified Surratt as a player expected to contribute heavily on special teams while providing depth on defense.
Seattle re-signed Surratt in March after he appeared in 11 games during the 2025 regular season. He played 60% of the Seahawks’ special teams snaps and registered 11 special teams tackles, second most on the team, before an ankle injury sent him to injured reserve.
Surratt returned late in Seattle’s Super Bowl run, although he was inactive for the championship game. His latest preseason suggests there may still be room for his defensive workload to grow after he played only seven defensive snaps for Seattle last regular season.
He has handled a larger role before, as Surratt started five games for the New York Jets in 2024, the most defensive action of his NFL career.
Surratt’s QB-to-LB Gamble Continues Paying Off
Surratt’s way to Seattle makes his roster staying power even more uncommon.
He arrived at North Carolina as a quarterback and made seven starts at the position over his first two playing seasons. After a wrist injury ended his 2018 campaign, Surratt began considering a move to defense with his NFL future in mind.
The switch became official in 2019.
Instead of moving to safety, Surratt settled at linebacker and immediately became one of the Tar Heels’ most productive defenders.
He led North Carolina with 115 tackles that season while adding 15 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, earning first-team All-ACC honors and finishing as the runner-up for ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
That rapid transformation helped turn Surratt from a college quarterback searching for a new calling into the No. 78 overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings.
His professional existence has been less straightforward. Minnesota released him after one season, and Surratt spent the next three years with the Jets before brief stops with the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle in 2025.
A year later, his August work convinced the Seahawks to keep him through their latest roster reduction.
Seahawks’ Ex-QB Turned LB Earns Team-Best Grade After Making 53-Man Roster