Boye Mafe may be ‘most improved guy’ in training camp for Seahawks

RENTON, Wash. – The hopes for the 2023 Seahawks to improve on their 2022 season rest not only on getting significant contribution from their 10-man draft class from this spring but also on seeing improvement from their nine-man draft class of the previous year.

And specifically, players such as 2022 second-round pick Boye Mafe, the 40th overall selection out of Minnesota.

Mafe had a more-than-respectable rookie season with 38 tackles and 3.5 sacks while playing in all 17 games with three starts.

But the Seahawks and Mafe have higher hopes for Year 2.

According to coach Pete Carroll, they’ve seen flashes in training camp that Mafe is ready to deliver.

“It’s like night and day,’’ Carroll said recently of Mafe’s play this year compared with last season.

“Mafe probably appears to be like the most improved guy from last year,” Carroll said last week. “It’s really early, but he’s shown so many bright moments out here (against the) run and pass.”

Carroll, to be sure, is ultra-optimistic.

But Mafe gave some evidence to back up Carroll’s claim Thursday when he started at outside linebacker in place of the injured Darrell Taylor and made three tackles early on, two on running plays for either no gain or of one yard, earning the best run-defense grade on the team from Pro Football Focus.

That’s especially important as the Seahawks try to fix what may have been their most vexing issue a year ago, a run defense that allowed 4.9 yards per carry. That was a stark comedown from the year before, when they ranked second in the NFL, allowing just 3.8.

Obviously, performance in exhibition games shouldn’t be overstated, with few teams playing starters much, if at all.

But Carroll liked that the Vikings averaged just 3.2 yards per carry – and just 3.18 in the first half, when each team had at least a few more potential contributors seeing action.

“Scheme worked well,’’ Carroll said. “We liked the way we played. The choices we settled in on for the way we basically played, the calls worked out really well. The guys were confident in them. As we played more, we got better. They brought the scheme to life a little bit. It was a good night for us on defense, a really good night, except for the start where we couldn’t tackle anybody. It was terrible right up to that. ‘’

Mafe played 23 snaps overall and 12 against the run, also recording a quarterback hit along with three tackles.

“Yes, it’s definitely different,’’ he said Sunday of how his game this year compared with last season. “Especially coming in as a rookie last year, a lot of things are a little bit different for me. I was trying to learn a lot while playing. I was trying to figure it out on the fly, but now that I had the time during the offseason going to watch film and understanding where I messed up last year and what things to look for and how to narrow the game down for myself.

” … It’s definitely understanding situations and knowing what formations to look for, and what keys to look for. It’s a lot of different things in the game of football that you can key in on or that you can watch for. I definitely noticed that now I can see a lot more than I used to.’’