The Seahawks' Legion of Boom is finished, but their legacy will endure

They first stormed through the NFL six years ago, and no one had quite seen a defense like the Seattle Seahawks: free to run, free to hit and free to speak. They changed football on and off the field, bringing voice to a league of players who had been voiceless. And now that that Seattle’s defense is breaking apart, we should realize it is one of the most important groups of players in NFL history.

In a matter of hours on Wednesday the Seahawks effectively destroyed the defense that won one Super Bowl and nearly took another. The trade of defensive end Michael Bennett to Philadelphia and the reports that star cornerback Richard Sherman will soon be gone too signaled the official end of Seattle’s once-suffocating defense. But the moment had been coming for months. Great defenses don’t stay together long in the NFL, not in a league where the average career lasts barely more than three seasons. Players get hurt and a tight salary cap forces teams to make tough decisions.

Sherman tore his Achilles last season and Bennett was going to cost the team $6.6m against the cap next season. Safety Kam Chancellor, leader of the team’s secondary known as the Legion of Boom and defensive end Cliff Avril have career-threatening injuries. Safety Earl Thomas all but begged the Dallas Cowboys to come after him. After Seattle stumbled to a 9-7 record last year, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2011, the time to rebuild had come.

Source: theguardian