RENTON, Wash. -- What is it about Derick Hall's game that positioned the fourth-year outside linebacker for the three-year, $42 million contract extension he got earlier this month from the Seattle Seahawks?
"Let me think of a play," safety Julian Love said, looking towards the ceiling as he recalled the particulars. "Tennessee, preseason, 2024."
Before Hall emerged as a key member of the Seahawks' top-ranked scoring defense and one of the heroes of their Super Bowl LX win over the New England Patriots, he was trying to break out in Year 2 after a nondescript rookie season. The play in question -- which still resonates inside the Virginia Mason Athletic Center -- was a sign that he was about to do so.
On a second-down run, Hall didn't set the edge so much as he obliterated it.
The Titans sent a tight end in motion across the formation, giving him a running start on his kick-out block. But Hall lowered his shoulder and put him on his back, then ran through a pulling guard before stopping the ball carrier for no gain.
A disruptor, @derick_hall9. 💥 pic.twitter.com/AIjUfNKcnY
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 20, 2024
The Seahawks still show the clip in team meetings.
"We talk about the style of how we want to play, that's it right there," coach Mike Macdonald said in 2024. "... Just an all-time great play from him."
If you're wondering why the Seahawks gave Hall an extension and chose to pay him over Boye Mafe, his rugged style of play is a good place to start.
Seattle didn't think twice about letting Mafe leave in free agency for a three-year, $60 million deal from the Cincinnati Bengals. His ability to generate quick pass rush wins is a needed skill set -- Seattle replaced it by signing veteran Dante Fowler Jr. to a one-year, $2.5 million deal -- but it's not one that epitomizes what Macdonald wants his defense to be about.
When the defensive-minded coach talks about playing a brand of football that no one wants to face, Hall's physicality is a good example.
"He is just a violent player," Love said. "He is strong as hell and he has a motor that's high. When you have those two things, where somebody is willing to rush the passer but also stop the run, that's how we're built. We don't do that kind of chasing sacks type of stuff and he doesn't do that. He's a complete D-end for us, and he's just violent. He's probably the most violent person on our defense."
Which is saying something considering that's long been DeMarcus Lawrence's calling card. When the Seahawks signed the former Dallas Cowboys defensive end last offseason, he instantly became a mentor to Hall, the veteran and the youngster bonding over a shared football mentality.
"They're crazy as hell," defensive tackle Jarran Reed said last summer. "They play one way, and that's balls to the wall."
A second-round pick in 2023, Hall went from zero sacks as a rookie to eight in 2024. As part of a four-man rotation last season along with Lawrence, Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu, Hall's 10.3% pressure rate ranked 32nd among all defenders, according to ESPN Research. But he only had two sacks in the regular season to show for it.
It didn't help that Hall missed two games with an oblique strain and was suspended for another after the NFL deemed that he unnecessarily stepped on the leg of Los Angeles Rams guard Kevin Dotson during Seattle's Week 16 overtime victory. As Hall watched the Seahawks beat the Carolina Panthers from home the following week, general manager John Schneider showed his support by wearing Hall's No. 58 jersey under a sport coat.
It wasn't until the Super Bowl that Hall's pressure finally translated into sacks. He had two of them against New England, including one that forced a fumble that Seattle recovered.
"Last year was pretty tough for me," Hall said. "The pass rush rate was high, the pressure rate was high, but it was hard for me to get home. I was always like, 'I'm there, I'm there, I'm there.' I was letting it worry me so much that one night I just prayed like 'Lord, whenever the time comes, I will be here, I'll be prepared, I am just going to continue to do the work, continue to go out there every day and put my best foot forward.' What better time for it to show itself than on the worldwide stage in the Super Bowl? I was just overjoyed."
Hall's profile is similar enough to that of Mafe -- a fellow second-round pick who's also coming off a two-sack regular season -- for some observers to think he would seek the same kind of money on his next deal. Hall's extension includes $21 million in guarantees, which is $2 million more than Mafe's, and it has a max value of $46.5 million. But Mafe's deal has the much higher base average at $20 million compared to $14 million.
Hall was asked about signing an extension now as opposed to waiting for a potentially bigger payday as a free agent next year.
"This place is really special to me," he said. "I really love the game of football. Obviously, the money enhances our job and what we do, but it's really about the love of the game and knowing what I'm getting myself into when I come to work every day. This is a pristine organization. John, Mike and all of those guys do a great job of letting us be ourselves and truly come out to compete, and I know we are going to win a lot of games and a lot of championships here, so I'm willing to sacrifice whatever everybody else thought I would be [able] to make to be able to be here and be with this team."
Hall's mother and sister flew to Seattle from Gulfport, Mississippi, to be with him as he signed his extension last Wednesday. Twenty-five years ago, Stacy Gooden-Crandle chose not to take her son off life support after doctors told her he had a 1% chance to live when he arrived four months premature. Hall, weighing only two pounds, was born without a heartbeat and had to be resuscitated. He spent the first four months of his life at the hospital then continued to deal with health challenges in his youth.
Hall believes it all shaped his playing style.
"I think that's just who I am at my core," he said. "... My goal is to displace you and get to the ball. That's what we eat, think, and breathe on the defensive side of the ball. There is no man between you and the ball at all times, whether that be run or pass. I'm working different things in my pass rush this offseason to really enhance my game, but you can know power is coming and you can't stop it.
"I think that's just the mentality that I have. I think it really stems from growing up and everything that I went through. I hit stuff head-on. I go straight through the process and there's nothing that's going to stop me."
