Seahawks PFF grades: Ken Walker shines, Sam Darnold rebounds & Boye Mafe bombs

Thursday night's incredible comeback win for the Seattle Seahawks was a revealing one in a lot of ways. First of all, it proved that Seattle can beat the Los Angeles Rams - even with Matt Stafford in the lineup. Second, it showed Sam Darnold can win big games, even if things don't start out well.

The Seahawks also got some sensational performances from individuals like Ken Walker, Rashid Shaheed and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Let's see what we can learn from the team's Pro Football Focus grades for this week.

Ken Walker leads Seahawks offense

The best grade for Seattle this week went to running back Ken Walker, who kept the Seahawks alive early in the game with two monster plays as the defense was getting pummeled by the Rams. Walker's 55-yard touchdown and 46-yard screen play helped lift him to 164 total yards from scrimmage. For his efforts, Walker earned an 83.3 overall grade.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba takes second place

The next-highest grade on this side of the ball went to superstar wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who got thoroughly shut down in the first half by LA's defense. As he has several times this year, JSN came to life in the clutch and wound up finishing the game with a team-high eight cathes for 96 yards and a touchdown that set up the game-winning two-point conversion. PFF gave him a 78.4 overall.

JSN — Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in overtime at Lumen Field. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Interior offensive line still struggling

It was another rough outing for Seattle's interior offensive line, which contributed heavily to Sam Darnold taking four sacks and seven quarterback hits. Center Jalen Sundell (53.3 overall), left guard Grey Zabel (52.5 overall) and right guard Anthony Bradford (39.0 overall) all posted pass blocking grades of 51.4 or lower. Meanwhile, only Zabel posted a decent grade for run blocking (63.5).

Sam Darnold rebounds again

Seattle's quarterback looked to be on his way to another disastrous outing against the Rams. Sam Darnold did not respond well to all that interior pressure and wound up throwing two interceptions on post-snap mvovement from the Rams. However, Darnold bounced back in a big way in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a monster touchdown to AJ Barner that shook him out of his funk. Darnold could have finished near the bottom, but ended up with a decent 63.2 overall grade.

Three-headed monster tops defense

The Seahawks' defensive line was also having an awful game against the Rams until crunch-time. However, this unit was also able to bounce back when it mattered most - their late increase in pressure on Matt Stafford played a huge role in the comeback. In the end, DeMarcus Lawrence (82.7 overall), Byron Murphy II (82.5 overall) and Jarran Reed (82.1 overall) were clustered together at the top of Seattle's defensive grades.

DeMarcus Lawrence — Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive end Demarcus Lawrence (0) celebrates a sack against the Los Angeles Rams in the second half at Lumen Field. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Boye Mafe bottoms out

At the other end of the Seahawks' grades on defense, fourth-year outside linebacker Boye Mafe put in what might have been the worst game of his career. In addition to multiple penalties, Mafe was a major liability the couple times he dropped back into coverage and made little impact as a pass rusher. PFF gave him a team-worst 31.1 overall grade for his trouble.