RENTON – Julian Love wishes there was a different way to categorize this Seahawks teammate. Not as just a defensive back. Not as just a special teams guy. Not as another in the long line of stories about a guy who started on the practice squad only to grow into being a significant contributor.
“I’ve said from the jump that this guy’s a ballplayer,” Love said.
When shared that his teammate gave him that description, Ty Okada sheepishly smiled. Because that is what he’s tried to be ever since arriving with the Seahawks – the kind of player that finds a way to get on the field and contribute. Sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in bigger roles.
“That’s always amazing to hear something like that from a teammate, but coming from Julian, specifically, somebody who’s played such a pivotal role in my development as a player and as a person, it just means even that much more,” Okada said. “It means a lot to me that he would say something like that, because I just have so much respect for him.”
Okada is far from the first name that would come to mind when describing why the Seahawks have a defense that’s providing flashbacks of the one that dominated the NFL a little over a decade ago.
Entering Sunday’s game against Indianapolis with the chance to reach the 11-win mark for only the eighth time in franchise history, it’s the defensive front or the playmakers in the secondary that are first to pop up when describing a defense that’s second in the league in points allowed through 13 games.
But there’s a subset to the Seahawks’ defense that is unheralded. They weren’t high draft picks or big free agents. In fact, none of these four who have grown into significant roles at times over the past two seasons were even drafted out of college. All came into the league as undrafted free agents and yet have found their way into being contributors for the Seahawks.
“The first thing that comes to mind is you’ve got to give props to our personnel department. They do a great job,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “It feels like every person we bring into the building, especially in the last two years, you can see the potential. You’re really excited to work with these guys, and our coaches have done a phenomenal job of setting out the time to work with them.”
The trend started last season when an unknown named Josh Jobe arrived after being cut in Philadelphia and by the end of the season was entrenched as a starter at cornerback – a position he still holds.
This season, Okada and linebacker Drake Thomas have found their way into prominent roles as starters. Okada stepped in while Love was sidelined by a hamstring injury and the last couple of weeks has played through his own oblique injury. Thomas took over at linebacker next to Ernest Jones IV in Week 4 and hasn’t given up the spot.
Even Patrick O’Connell jumped in for a start at middle linebacker while Jones was dealing with a knee issue.
Finding impact players is still primarily going to come from spending significant dollars in free agency or using up draft capital. The defensive front for the Seahawks is a great example. But resource allocation – whether free agency dollars or draft capital – is limited and getting contributions from players that might have been overlooked by others can be what elevates a group into being elite.
“That group of guys that we came in with, I think we just have such a mutual respect for each other because of what it took to get to this point in our careers,” Okada said. “Day in and day out, we saw the way that we worked every single day. And so I think you just build this natural respect for one another based on a very similar background.”
Rarely do coaches or a personnel director realize immediately they have unearthed an overlooked gem who can be a real player for a team. It often builds over time and takes patience from the players and coaches.
For some, that’s a virtue in short supply. For Okada, it’s been at the core of his football journey.
“Anybody that knows my story, it’s probably not a surprise. I’ve been patient my whole career and I’ve always had that mentality of work while you wait,” Okada said. “A college coach of mine had always said that’s what it’s about, work while you wait, and you don’t get a better job by doing a poor job or being complacent at the job you currently have.”
Okada’s football journey has required a fair amount of patience. As a high schooler in Minnesota, his only offer was from a Division II school despite his belief that he could play at a higher level. So he walked on at Montana State because it was the school that provided him that chance.
He spent a long time in Bozeman, arriving as a walk-on freshman in 2017 and leaving as the team’s defensive MVP following his last season in 2022.
Then he was asked to be patient again. The numbers from his pro day gave the NFL notice, as he ran the 40-yard dash in the 4.4-second range and posted a nearly 41-inch vertical leap, but draft weekend came and went, and Okada had to wait a little longer.
Fortunately for Okada, the Seahawks called asking him to sign as an undrafted free agent. He’s never left. Okada appeared in five games in 2023 and four last season, but played a total of 33 defensive snaps combined over those two years, getting most of his snaps on special teams.
This season, he’s played 610 defensive snaps entering this week. He has 53 tackles and even 11/2 sacks.
“For me, the mentality was always, if the opportunity presents itself I know that I’m going to be as prepared as I can possibly be to take advantage of that opportunity,” Okada said. “And I think we just have such a selfless group of guys on defense where watching every single guy prepare the way that they do and the standard that we set on the defense, it just personally for me, I just felt like it’s my job to take care of my 1/11th out there. The opportunity presented itself and I wanted to make sure I was ready, because I didn’t want to let any of my teammates down.”
For Macdonald, the confidence to go with Okada when Love was injured stemmed from what he’d seen in practice during his two seasons now in charge.
“It’s not a secret. It’s how he handles his business every day. So as a coach, that is what you’re evaluating on a day-to-day basis, what are the inputs they’re putting into it, how do they execute,” Macdonald said. “I’m thinking of like last year’s OTAs red zone, just him being able to understand red-zone calls and be ahead of plays like he’s been doing this for an extended period of time, even though he’s kind of been in the shadows, so to speak. That’s really it.”
Love returned last week and ended up playing 20 snaps while Okada got 44. Part of that was how the game against the Falcons snowballed into a blowout in the second half. As the next few weeks progress, that split of snaps is likely to tilt back into Love’s favor.
But it comes with excitement about what Okada has done while he was out.
“I don’t think anybody’s more proud of the work he’s put in and will continue to put in. He’s proved the right to be on the field,” Love said. “It’s been years of (practice squad), fighting, working every day, and battling through stuff for him. To see him shine is pretty exciting. I can think back to early in my career when I just needed an opportunity to be able to see who I was. I think Ty has gotten a great opportunity to do that.”