Through three games of the 2026 regular season, veteran edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. has played a grand total of 39 defensive snaps for our Seahawks, which is barely 20 percent of the team’s overall defensive snap count. This is a head-scratcher, folks, especially after the team didn’t re-sign Boye Mafe in free agency, leaving us all to think Fowler would step right into a healthy workload.
Where’s the Beef, Fowler?
Seriously, what’s going on? We didn’t draft an edge rusher, nothing happened with the UDFA market, and no other pass rusher was signed or traded for all offseason. It felt like a done deal that Fowler, who is a fraction of the cost of Mafe’s $20 million/year contract, would be a major player in our rotation. Instead, he’s barely seen the field. For some perspective, DeMarcus Lawrence played 45 snaps in one game against the Commanders. Derick Hall had 35, and Uchenna Nwosu logged 36 in a single outing. Those guys *exceeded or closely matched* in one game what Fowler has played in three! We’ve healthy scratched Connor O’Toole repeatedly and Mike Morris has barely played either, making the fourth edge rusher on this team a very distant thought. When Fowler does get on the field, though, NextGenStats shows he has three pressures on 19 pass rush snaps for a respectable 15.8% pressure rate. Both of his quick pressures came against the Arizona Cardinals, but he hasn’t charted a pressure by winning on the outside.
The Rotation Shifts, The Workload Spikes
When Fowler isn’t out there, it means more grunt work for our main guys: Hall, Lawrence, and Nwosu. Last season, the pass rush rotation looked different. In 2025, when everyone was healthy and playing a normal snap count over a three-week sample (vs. Cardinals, at Rams, at Titans), Mafe still touched almost 40 percent of snaps (78 snaps, 38.4%) to ensure we had a healthy four-man rotation. Nwosu, even coming back from injury, still hit 59.1% (120 snaps), Hall was at 48.7% (99 snaps), and Lawrence led the way with 67% (136 snaps). But through Week 3 of this 2026 season, the snap percentages tell a new story. Derick Hall, who just got paid, is up to 56.8%. Lawrence is on pace for a higher snap share than last season, clocking in at 61.6%. Nwosu is at 48.9%, and then there’s Fowler at that meager 20.5%. The snaps Mafe used to get aren’t just vanishing; they’re being absorbed by our other key guys.
This early season trend tells us the coaching staff, led by Mike Macdonald, is leaning hard on a three-man rotation with Hall, Nwosu, and Lawrence. We gotta see if this continues, and what it means for our pass rush effectiveness as the season wears on, with our core guys carrying such a heavy load.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Field Gulls.
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