There was an interesting trade in the NFL on Tuesday. The Baltimore Ravens surprisingly traded EDGE Odafe Oweh to the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for safety Alohi Gilman. The two teams also swapped late-round picks. The Seattle Seahawks should have strongly considered trying to acquire Oweh from the Ravens in a similar deal.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was Oweh’s defensive coordinator for two seasons (2022-23) in Baltimore. That was Oweh’s sophomore and third campaigns. The former Penn State standout developed nicely under Macdonald, recording eight sacks. He had a career-best season the following year.
The Seahawks have struggled to rush the passer consistently this season. In Sunday’s hard-fought defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, opposing quarterback Baker Mayfield completed a 57-yard pass to Emeka Egbuka on 3rd-and-13 partially because he had so much time in the pocket. Macdonald noted that on Tuesday.
Mayfield consistently had clean pockets. The Seahawks recorded just one quarterback hit on his 38 dropbacks, per Michael-Shawn Dugar. It’s worth noting the Buccaneers were without several starting offensive linemen due to injury.
The agreement between the Ravens and Chargers was completed by Jim and John Harbaugh. It’s possible the Seahawks had no shot whatsoever at acquiring Oweh. Macdonald’s history with the player indicates they should have tried to divert Oweh from Los Angeles.
