The Seattle Seahawks have landed well within the top 10 of Touchdown Wire’s latest NFL preseason power rankings at No 8, which are based on Football Outsiders’ DVOA projections for the 2020 season.

DVOA stands for “Defense-adjusted Value over Average” and compares every play over the NFL season to a league-average baseline, based on the situation.

“The Seahawks don’t do things like other teams do,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar starts. “In an era when nickel and dime defenses are the new normal, Seattle played base defense on 69% of its snaps in 2019 — more than 30% higher than the Cardinals, who ranked second. Seattle also has a top-three quarterback in Russell Wilson who, for whatever reason, the Seahawks’ coaching staff prefers to treat at times like a mid-level stater from a game-management perspective. Still, Seattle was far better in base defense than it was with five defensive backs, and when Wilson was allowed to be Wilson, the Seahawks still managed an 11-5 record.”

“FO isn’t convinced that the defensive improvement that needs to happen in 2020 will happen, though it’s important to note that their projections of 5.3% in overall DVOA, a ranking of 25th in defensive DVOA and 8.5 Average Wins happened before the Jamal Adams trade,” Farrar notes. “If Seattle is able to replicate the Legion of Boom with Adams, Quandre Diggs, Quinton Dunbar, and Shaquill Griffin, everything might be alright. Now, about that pass rush… and Let Russ Cook, for goshsakes.”