The Seattle Seahawks’ defense carried championship expectations into training camp.
A new position ranking supplied another reminder of why.
Pro Football Focus placed Leonard Williams at No. 5 and Byron Murphy II at No. 13 among the NFL’s top 32 interior defenders entering the 2026 season.
Seattle was the only team with two players inside the top 13, giving the defending champions another national endorsement for the center of their defensive front.
The rankings paired a veteran who has delivered at a high level for more than a decade with a former first-round pick coming off his breakout season.
Williams and Murphy each finished with seven sacks in 2025, tying for the team lead as Seattle went 14-3 and won Super Bowl LX.
Their to the list were different. The result leaves head coach Mike Macdonald with one of the league’s strongest interior combinations as the Seahawks prepare for another run.
Williams Is a Model of High-End Consistency
GettySANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 03: Leonard Williams #99 of the Seattle Seahawks reacts following a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on January 03, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers 13-3. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
PFF’s case for Williams began with a remarkable floor.
The outlet noted that he has completed 11 NFL seasons without posting an overall grade below 70.0.
Williams also recorded at least 50 pressures and 30 defensive stops in each of the past three seasons. He played 948 defensive snaps across the regular season and playoffs in 2025, the most among interior defensive linemen.
That workload matters for a player who turned 32 in June.
Williams has remained durable while handling a key role in Macdonald’s defense, and his production has held up despite the attention he receives from opposing protection schemes.
Williams finished the 2025 regular season with 62 tackles and seven sacks.
Those numbers followed an 11-sack season in 2024, when he also produced a career-high 16 tackles for loss and earned Pro Bowl recognition.
His sack total declined last season, but PFF’s pressure and snap numbers showed how consistently he affected plays.
Williams still stayed on the field, defending the run and creating disruption from multiple alignments.
The No. 5 placement left only four interior defenders ahead of him and put the 12th-year veteran firmly among the NFL’s elite entering another title defense.
Murphy II Turns Breakout Into Top-15 Status
GettySANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 08: Byron Murphy II #91 of the Seattle Seahawks recovers a fumble against the New England Patriots during the third quarter of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium on February 08, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Murphy II earned his ranking through a sharp rise during his second NFL season.
PFF wrote that his pass-rush grade climbed from 64.5 as a rookie to 77.3 in 2025. He generated 62 pressures on 569 pass-rushing snaps, production that pushed him ahead of several established veterans on the list.
The Seahawks’ 2024 first-round pick also set career highs with 62 tackles, seven sacks, seven tackles for loss and 13 quarterback hits.
He saved one of his biggest performances for the final game, recording two sacks and recovering a fumble in Seattle’s 29-13 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots.
PFF identified run defense as the next step for Murphy and wrote that improvement in that area could push him into the top 10 by the end of the season.
Murphy’s growth also eases some of the burden on Williams. Offenses can’t devote their entire protection plan to the veteran when another interior defender can collapse the pocket.
Seattle allowed an NFL-low 17.2 points per game last season. The Williams-Murphy pairing was a major part of that success and remains intact for 2026.
One ranking won’t determine whether the Seahawks repeat.
But the needed pieces of their defense sit firmly in place, with an clear-cut star and an ascending one lined up next to each other.
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