The Seattle Seahawks defensive line might be one of the most intense in the National Football League this year. Unfortunately for the New Orleans Saints, they're set to travel west to Seattle to take on that very unit.
The Seahawks' defensive line has quietly been one of the best in the league so far in 2025, leading all other defensive lines in the NFL with a 49.4% pressure rate on Next Gen Stats. What makes it most impressive is Seattle doesn't blitz a lot. The Seahawks deploy a four-man rush on 83.1% of their pass rush snaps. This also means they get to play a lot of players in coverage, giving the down linemen a longer chance to get to quarterback.
Multiple players on that line (Boye Mafe, Derick Hall, Jarran Reed, Byron Murphy II, Demarcus Lawrence, and Leonard Williams) also rank among the best in the league in terms of pass and run rush win rankings on an individual level. When you have talent like that you can send just four and get home.
The Saints' offensive line won't be healthy heading into week three
Unfortunately for the New Orleans Saints, it sounds like they won't be heading to Seattle with their #1 offensive line. Two of them, Tailese Fuaga and Trevor Penning, popped up on the team's latest injury report.
Penning saw limited action in his first practice since before the season started. It's the first step into a positive direction that we've seen from the offensive lineman along his journey back to the starting lineup. Moore already made it clear Penning would immediately at step back into the starting lineup.
There's no true silver lining for Fuaga. It's merely a matter of whether or not he can get on the field. Fuaga was listed as DNP with a back injury, a week after spending the week prior managing a knee injury
Fuaga's back injury is a new one, but it's one that Kellen Moore says the team is just trying to get ahead of. "There's just some maintenance stuff for Tali as we go through this process," he said to the media earlier this week. "He's doing everything he can, just like last week."