2025 Seahawks Most Valuable Player Rankings: #12

In something of a pivotal season for the former top ten draft pick, Charles Cross delivered and was a crucial part of a super bowl run.

Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Charles Cross (67) against the New England Patriots. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be listing out my rankings for most valuable Seattle Seahawk player for the 2025 season, starting at #12 and counting down to #1.

Seattle Seahawks tackle Charles Cross (67) against the Arizona Cardinals. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Playing For A New Contract

The Seattle Seahawks did something interesting in the offseason leading up to the 2025 season. Despite the option being available to them, they chose not to extend the contract of starting left tackle Charles Cross, despite him having completed his third season in 2024. The team did exercise his fifth-year option, but went no further.

Typically, good players at premium positions get extended off their rookie deal after their third seasons, and Cross was a good player at a premium position. He had missed three starts in his career to that point, been showing growth from above-average to good, and his age made it likely a jump to great was imminent.

But the Seahawks wanted to see some signs of that jump before they paid for it. Extending Cross was likely going to run somewhere around $25 million a year, and Cross had just come off a year where he allowed 47 pressures, sixth most of any tackle in football. Even if Ryan Grubb was the likely culprit, the team needed confirmation.

Seattle Seahawks tackle Charles Cross (67) against the Arizona Cardinals. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Earning That New Contract

Cross delivered, for the most part. In the interest of balance, I would acknowledge that he’s not an elite left tackle at this point. He’s not on the level of Tristan Wirfs or Jordan Mailata. But the Seahawks got what they needed, in that after three seasons of allowing at least six sacks, he allowed only two, and his total pressures allowed crashed all the way to 24.

It was a big step in the right direction for Cross, even taking into account that the Seahawks had far fewer pass attempts in 2025 and that Cross missed the last three games of the regular season to an injury. Ultimately, Seattle quarterbacks were sacked all of 33 times across 20 total games, and Cross’s play was a significant part of that.

He also remains capable as a run blocker, even if he’ll never be dominant in that category. He turned in three very strong performances in the postseason, grading at 84.7 for those three games, up from 73.2 in the regular season. It’s not a coincidence that Seattle saw it fit to punch in the contract extension shortly before the postseason began.

Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Charles Cross (67) against the Arizona Cardinals. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Bottom Line

Charles Cross provided a high level of player at one of the most important positions in football, finally fully justifying his #9 overall draft slotting in 2022. Outside of the influence of coaching and playcalling, Cross is perhaps the player second most responsible for the incredibly low number of sacks Sam Darnold ate during the season (second to Darnold himself).

He probably would have been a spot or two higher if he had played the final three games of the regular season, but he was there for us when the games mattered most in the postseason. Even if you want to argue he’s not an elite left tackle, the value and power of that position is such that he still ranks as one of the most valuable Seahawks for 2025.

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