Benson Mayowa Hitting Stride at Perfect Time for Seahawks

After a slow start that was further hindered by a high ankle sprain, buoyed by the arrival of Carlos Dunlap, Mayowa has come alive rushing off the edge in Seattle's past six games, giving the team multiple pass rushing threats heading into postseason play.

As coaches and players descended upon the VMAC for the start of training camp in early August, the biggest question looming for the Seahawks revolved around their decision making process addressing their pass rushing woes during the offseason.

Along with conducting a five-month dance off with Jadeveon Clowney that ultimately culminated with the former No. 1 pick signing with Tennessee, Seattle avoided signing any top-tier rushers in free agency, instead choosing to bring back Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa on one-year contracts. The team also traded up in the second round of April's draft to select twitchy edge rusher Darrell Taylor.

Fast forwarding to mid-October, the choices made by general manager John Schneider and the front office looked to have backfired. While Clowney's struggles and injuries made the decision not to re-sign him look wise, Irvin had gone down with a torn ACL in Week 2, Taylor remained on the Non-Football Injury list recovering from offseason leg surgery, and Mayowa had just 2.0 sacks and four quarterback hits in six games.

Through seven games, the Seahawks had just 12.0 sacks as a team, which ranked 22nd in the league. Coming off a loss to the Cardinals in which the team produced zero quarterback hits on Kyler Murray, Schneider promptly struck a deal to acquire Carlos Dunlap from the Bengals for a seventh-round pick and backup center B.J. Finney.

Since finalizing that deal, the Seahawks pass rush has arguably been the NFL's best over the past two months. While Dunlap himself produced 5.0 sacks and 13 quarterback hits, as coach Pete Carroll remarked after Sunday's 26-23 win over the 49ers, his mere presence "enhanced the whole group" production-wise.

"We've gone three sacks, three sacks, three sacks, what it seems like the last month or something like that. That's real consistency and I think since the seventh game, we've been the highest sack team in the NFL and you can see it. We've got four-man rush. It's exciting to see it continue to show up in the games. I do think it all fits together and Carlos [Dunlap] is a force on the other side. He's right in the mug of the right hand of quarterbacks they can feel it."

As Carroll speculated, Seattle indeed produced more sacks (34.0) than any team in the NFL during its final nine games. No other team finished within five sacks during that span either, further illustrating how dominant the pass rush has been with the team finishing 6-1 down the stretch.

While players such as Jarran Reed, Poona Ford, and rookie Alton Robinson have all seen upticks in production since the Dunlap trade, there may not be a player who has benefited more from his arrival than Mayowa, who has rebounded from a sluggish start to emerge as the speedy edge rushing threat the Seahawks believed he would be when they signed him in March.

After suffering a high ankle sprain during the Week 7 defeat in Arizona, Mayowa sat out each of the next three games. When he returned for the rematch against the Cardinals four weeks later, he wasn't quite 100 percent and only played 18 defensive snaps while registering no statistics.

But starting in a Week 12 road win over Philadelphia, the 28-year old Mayowa finally started to find his groove. He produced his first sack in nearly two months, getting to Carson Wentz for one of Seattle's six sacks as a team in the 23-17 victory. The next week, he found his way to Giants quarterback Colt McCoy for another sack and followed up with two quarterback hits and three pressures against the Jets.

Over the past two weeks, Mayowa has been on his A-game, generating nine combined pressures, four quarterback hits, a pair of tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks in victories over the Rams and 49ers. With the Seahawks nursing a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, he did his best Cliff Avril impersonation, chopping down on quarterback C.J. Beathard's arm to force a fumble on a strip sack and teammate Rasheem Green recovered. Moments later, Alex Collins plunged into the end zone to seal the win.

"Wish we just would have had him all year. He missed some time with us," Carroll said. "He's a really savvy football player. He has good stuff, good moves and things and you just need to give him his turns. He's just been a real good, positive addition and we've been really lucky to have him."

Since Week 15, per Pro Football Focus, Mayowa has the sixth-best overall grade (88.1) for edge rushers in the NFL. During that span, he's tied for sixth in total quarterback pressures. Among those ahead of him? Perennial All-Pro Cameron Jordan as well as emerging star Romeo Okwara and rookie sensation Chase Young.

Set to face the Rams for a third time in the Wild Card round on Saturday, Seattle will be counting on Mayowa to replicate a stellar performance from Week 16 against its division rival. Though he didn't sack Jared Goff in the game, he generated two quarterback hits and six pressures, with one of them forcing the quarterback to step into Reed's waiting arms for a crucial sack.

As has been the case for the past couple of months, if Mayowa and his pass rushing counterparts can pin their ears back and consistently harass Goff or backup John Wolford to coax whoever starts into a turnover or two, the Seahawks should like their chances of advancing to the Divisional Round for the second straight season.