Player
Byron Murphy II
DL · Seahawks
Byron Murphy II: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
Year-2 leap: 9 sacks in 2025 after 0.5 as a rookie — same player, completely different impact.
TrendByron Murphy II by season (Seahawks)
| Season | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 8 | 2 | 0.5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 27 | 9 | 9.0 | 15 |
Seattle drafted Murphy 16th overall in 2024 expecting a disruptor — they got a rotational rookie. The 2024 line (0.5 sacks, 1 QB hit) reads like a player learning the league. 2025 looks like a different player entirely: 9 sacks, 15 QB hits, 9 tackles for loss — all from the interior, where reaching the quarterback is hardest.
The 3,300% jump in pressure production (1 QB hit to 15) is the kind of curve that Seahawks scouts had circled when they took him.
Sacks by season
| Season | Sacks |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 0.5 |
| 2025 | 9 |
9 sacks from an interior DL in his age-23 season — top of the second-year DT class.
RareMurphy is listed at 6-foot, 308 pounds — short for a DL, which is why scouts loved his leverage out of Texas. In 2025 he turned that leverage into 9 sacks and 15 QB hits from the interior, where reaching the QB requires beating a guard one-on-one or splitting a double team.
For context: most second-year interior DTs in the league don't break 5 sacks. Murphy's 9 puts him among the top interior pass rushers of his draft class entering year 3.
15 QB hits to 9 sacks — pressure rate (1.67 hits per sack) shows the QB-flushing kind of disruption.
Split2025 pressure profile
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Tackles | 27 |
| Tackles for loss | 9 |
| Sacks | 9.0 |
| QB hits | 15 |
| Hits per sack | 1.67 |
A QB hit without a sack means he got to the quarterback as the ball came out — pressure that doesn't show up on the sack column but changes the throw. 15 QB hits to 9 sacks says Murphy isn't just cleaning up late — he's living in the backfield.
The 9 TFLs add another layer: he's stopping run plays behind the line too. That combination (sack + TFL + QB hit) is the full interior-disruptor profile.
First Seahawks interior DL with 9+ sacks since Cliff Avril/Bennett era ended.
MilestoneSeattle's defense post-Legion of Boom has often leaned on outside rushers (Clowney, Mafe) while the interior held the point of attack. Murphy's 9-sack season from inside is the kind of game-changing interior production the Seahawks haven't had in roughly a decade.
This is also the first season since 2024 (his rookie year) that he's played a full role — and he's already turned a top-16 draft pick into one of the most impactful interior linemen in the NFC West.
Same draft class as Jared Verse: Murphy now matches him on sacks (9) with the inside-out version of the role.
ComparisonThe 2024 first-round DL class was anchored by Murphy (16th, Seattle) and Jared Verse (19th, Rams). Verse was the immediate-impact pick — Murphy was the project who needed a year. By the end of 2025, both are sitting near the top of their class for pass-rush production, with Murphy doing it from the interior and Verse from the edge.
The Seahawks' call on the long-game player came through in year 2.
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