With Seahawks training camp kicking off next week, Seahawks.com is taking a look at 10 of the most intriguing storylines, position battles and players heading into the 2024 season. So far, we've taken a look at special teams, tight end, safety, running back, inside linebacker, receiver, quarterback ,cornerback and offensive line. Today, we wrap this series up with a look at a deep and versatile defensive line.

Key Defensive Line Additions: Johnathan Hankins (free agent), Byron Murphy II (draft).

Key Defensive Line Departures: Mario Edwards Jr. (signed with Texans).

There's no debating that the biggest news of the Seahawks' offseason was a coaching change that saw Mike Macdonald take over for Pete Carroll, but when it comes to Seattle's roster, a good argument can be made that the two biggest moves this offseason both had to do with the defensive line.

First, the Seahawks re-signed defensive end Leonard Williams, a former Pro-Bowler who was acquired in a midseason trade last year. As general manager and president of football operations John Schneider noted both before and after that deal was finalized, keeping Williams in Seattle was one of the team's biggest offseason priorities.

Then, six weeks after re-signing Williams, the Seahawks used their first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the 16^th overall selection, to select defensive tackle Byron Murphy II. Murphy was not only Seattle's top pick in the draft, he was also, in a draft that was historically offensive-heavy in the first round, just the second defensive player selected, giving the Seahawks great value in the middle of the first round. And as Schneider explained, "We had him graded as the best defensive player in the draft."

So with the Seahawks re-signing one of their top defensive linemen and using their top pick on another lineman, it hardly comes as a surprise that, heading into camp, the Seahawks see their defensive front as a potential strength of the team.

Williams will join returning veterans Dre'Mont Jones and Jarran Reed to help lead a group that includes not only Murphy, but also free-agent signing Johnathan Hankins, a veteran who should help bolster the run defense, 2023 draft picks Mike Morris and Cameron Young, and several others who will battle for roles in what should be a deep rotation as well as spots on the 53-man roster.

On the edge, the Seahawks are mostly unchanged at outside linebacker. Uchenna Nwosu, whose midseason injury was a big blow to the defense last year, is healthy and ready to lead that group along with the likes of Boye Mafe, who had a team-leading 9.0 sacks last year, Darrell Taylor, who is looking to rediscover the form that helped him record 9.5 sacks in 2022, and 2023 second-round pick Derick Hall.

And a big reason the Seahawks are excited about their defensive line and outside linebacker groups isn't just the talent, but also the versatility of those players. As Williams outlined during offseason workouts, he's learning basically every position along the defensive line, something Reed also talked about when assessing why he is excited about the line and the defense as a whole.

"They can use a lot of my talents a little bit more, move me around a little bit more," Reed said. "I think we've got multiple guys that can do that. Not just us being stationary, moving us around a little bit, creating some mismatches for everybody else along the line.

"I think that will benefit us a lot. Guys won't know where we're going to be at as much, so we can create some confusion along the offensive line. It shows everybody's versatility and that's the main thing. Zero, three to four to five, believe it or not it's all the same thing. A little different body types and speed, but we can work around that."

Williams, who throughout his career has played all over the line, agreed with Reed that the creativity of Macdonald's defense should help everyone succeed.

"I think it benefits us in creating matchups where you're putting the defensive player in the best position and then you're also confusing the offense," Williams said. "It makes it harder for the offense to study us knowing that they may see Dre'Mont (Jones) at a five technique on film, and then when we line up and play against them, he's probably going to be playing zero or three-technique. It is harder for an offense to scheme against one specific player because we move around so much. And then it's also giving us freedom as players to use our best skill sets in the best situations and the coaches are doing a good job of knowing that we're all different. Even though he might say get from point A to point B, he's going to tell me to get there differently, or he'll allow me to get there differently than the way J-Reed will get there. I think to me that takes a great coach to understand that we're different players and even though we can do the same job, we may do it differently."

Macdonald won't want to give too many specifics away about his defense prior to the regular season, so expect things to stay pretty vanilla in the preseason, but once the games begin for real in September, the Seahawks will try to throw a lot of different looks at opponents, much like Macdonald's Ravens defense did last year while leading the NFL in points allowed (16.5 per game), sacks (60) and takeaways (31).

"We have a lot of guys who can (play multiple spots), that's one of the reasons I'm so excited about it," Macdonald said after the Seahawks drafted Murphy. "You're not going to know where guys necessarily are going to be all the time. We'll have some really sweet ways to move guys around and have them in different spots based on the teams we're going to play. A lot of flexibility, pass-rush opportunities, matchup things we can manipulate, all that's on the table. It'll be fun to see how it shakes out."