Jordan Hill, the Seattle Seahawks’ part-time superstar

If you’ve been paying attention over the last few years, it’s apparent that the Seattle Seahawks like having designated roles for each of their defensive linemen. One of those roles is usually a backup defensive tackle that comes in as a rusher on passing downs.

That role was filled by defensive tackle Clinton McDonald during their Super Bowl winning season of 2013. He parlayed his 5.5 sack performance in 2013 into a pretty good contract in free agency with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last offseason. With his departure there was an opportunity for someone else to step up and take over that role. That’s exactly what Jordan Hill did at the end of 2014.

Hill matched McDonald’s sack output with 5.5 of his own last season. He also managed to intercept a pass just like McDonald did in 2013. Not too shabby for a backup defensive tackle, especially since Hill ended up missing three games during the regular season. Stats don’t come close to explaining Hill’s performance last season. He didn’t even start the season in McDonald’s role. That job went to former Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams, who signed with the Seahawks in the offseason last year. It made sense. Williams may be on the down side of his career, but he’s played three technique for a long time. He’s always been a good pass rusher inside.

Everything changed when starting nose tackle Brandon Mebane got hurt and was put on the injured reserve in Week 10. Williams moved into the starting defensive tackle role. That gave Hill a chance to show what he could do filling in as a spot duty pass rusher in Williams’ former role. That’s why those 5.5 sacks all came in the last six games of the season.

It’s evident on film that Hill was getting better week after week. It was hard not to notice. Even though he generally rushed between the center and one of the guards, which is the shittiest position to pass rush from, Hill was able to consistently push the pocket back into an opposing quarterback’s lap, whether he was double-teamed or not. When teams tried to just let a center or guard try to block Hill one-on-one, they ended up paying for it.

Hill is a big dude -- 6’1 and just over 300 pounds -- but he has a lot of wiggle to him and that put a lot of pressure on interior linemen who had to be wary of getting run over and getting run around.

Everything was looking up for Hill as the season came to a close and the playoffs beckoned. Then he got hurt in the last game of the regular season. That injury landed Hill on the IR and out of the playoffs. He had to watch from the sideline as his team went all the way down to the wire in the Super Bowl only to lose on that fateful interception at the goal line by not running the damn ball.

Kevin Williams has departed. That means Hill likely has first dibs to start off the season in that pass rushing role he handled so well at the end of last year. Now that the light has come on for him, I think the sky is the limit for that kid.

If he can stay healthy there is no reason to believe he won’t push for double digit sacks this season, especially with guys like Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Bruce Irvin humming from the outside. Hell, who knows, maybe he’ll even contend for a starting spot at some point this year. Even if he doesn’t, I expect Jordan Hill’s production to shoot way up.