Michael Dickson — yes, a punter — might be the best reason to watch the Seahawks in 2018

Michael Dickson isn’t a punter. Michael Dickson is an artist. Or, possibly, a wizard.

The rookie specialist hasn’t needed much time to leave his mark on the league. He’s only played in four preseason games and a single regular-season contest, but a quick YouTube search for “Michael Dickson” returns no fewer than seven highlight reels devoted to his budding NFL career.

As the film attests, Dickson is nearly incapable of anything other than a booming, angled kick that pins the opposing team near the sideline. With one quick, compact motion, the Australian sends returners backpedaling and then waiting patiently as Seattle’s gunners tear down the field. If they don’t catch the ball, Dickson’s curveball-like spin means his kick will find the turf and then shoot off at a sharp angle, pinning teams near their own end zone time after time.

It’s just a punt. But it’s awesome.

Dickson has a preternatural feel for his art, a special wrinkle in his brain he combines with the physical talent that can make a compact kicking motion like this travel 55 dang yards downfield:

Dickson isn’t a punter. He’s a weapon. He’s a head start for a defense that won’t have to worry about field position in 2018 and beyond.

The Seahawks rookie has been a shining star in the dim galaxy that Seattle’s current rebuild occupies. The club, staring down the pile of “past due” notices on the loans it took out to build the Legion of Boom, sighed and leaned in to its inevitable fate during the offseason. Stars like Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, and Michael Bennett all left, leaving behind a mismanaged and hollowed-out roster with few legitimate postseason hopes.

So getting a punter was important. And, for the cost of fifth- and seventh-round picks — the price the Seahawks paid to trade up and select him 149th overall — Seattle took one who could wind up being the best in the NFL.

Dickson isn’t just a strong leg who can flip the field with booming punts — he’s a strong leg who can flip the field with nigh-unreturnable punts.

Only three of his NFL kicks, preseason and regular, failed to make it outside the hashmarks. One of those was also his shortest open-field (i.e., not limited by the end zone) kick — and it still traveled 45 yards and hung in the air long enough to merit a fair catch. Through five total games, only one punt rolled its way into the end zone for a touchback.

Doing it in exhibition games is one thing, but last week, in the thin air of Denver’s Mile High Stadium, Dickson put on a show. He punted six times for 354 yards, averaging a booming 59 yards per kick and maxing out at 69. He pinned the Broncos inside their own 20 four times and inside their own 10 twice. With only nine total return yards from Adam Jones, the Seahawks netted an average of 57.5 yards every time they called on their rookie specialist.

Football Outsiders pegged that performance as worth nearly five points on the scoreboard.

Monday night’s showdown between Seattle and Chicago may pit two teams trending in different directions, but each is looking to rebound from a painful defeat. The Seahawks will have the opportunity to grind down a Bears offense that went silent in their Week 1 loss to a hobbled Aaron Rodgers by pinning them deep in their own territory after every aborted drive. Chicago will counter with Tarik Cohen — a waterbug-quick returner who did this to the Niners’ special teams unit last fall:

Cohen-Dickson is a great matchup, even if the rest of the game is ... underwhelming.

Sure, there are other reasons to watch this team. Pete Carroll just signed a linebacker who recently pleaded guilty to felony charges for insider trading. Former Navy Heisman Trophy candidate Keenan Reynolds just earned a call up to the main roster. The Hawks’ backup quarterback is Brett Hundley, so any meaningful injury to Russell Wilson means weeks and weeks of Hundley’s best efforts not to get his face smashed off behind Seattle’s “offensive line.”

But the guy you’re going to see the most of in 2018 is Dickson. Enjoy it — because there isn’t another punter in the league like him.