Mike Macdonald says Jalen Sundell is most underrated Seahawks player
· Yahoo Sports
Who do you think Mike Macdonald’s pick for most underrated player on the Seattle Seahawks is? Hint: he’s not already a Pro Bowler.
If you guessed Jalen Sundell, you’re correct. In a short interview with NFL on ESPN released last week, Kevin Clark asked Macdonald who the most underrated player on his team was. Without hesitation, he chose Sundell. He gave this as an explanation:
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“He’s a great center. You need a great center to run our system. No one talks about it.”
With the 2026 Draft last week, this story slipped under the radar. Most would’ve expected Byron Murphy II to be the name, as Clark even asked about- but choosing Sundell conveys the perfect meaning of what “underrated” actually is.
Anyone who actually focuses on defensive line play will tell you Murphy’s one of the best in the league. He was the 16th overall pick in the draft two years ago, and thought around the league and fans to be a “steal” even at that spot. The NFL media valued him enough to give him 5 All-Pro votes last season. Even Seattle’s biggest rival, the Los Angeles Rams, infamously wanted to trade in front of the Seahawks to take him in the draft. The cat’s out of the bag now, and he’s well on his way to being properly rated. Last season would’ve been the time to say he wasn’t, which only was the case because he was a defensive tackle without gaudy sack totals.
Sundell is the stock that's yet to blow up but already has all the innate value to do so. He doesn’t even need to take a massive step forward. He’s flying under the radar in a way that already deserves more praise. He was the starting center for the Super Bowl Champions just one year after going undrafted out of North Dakota State. He plays one of the least flashy positions in football and maybe in all of sports. He does an essential job, where the best praise sometimes can be the fact that you rarely ever hear his name called.
Sundell might not have been the first-round pick Grey Zabel was, but he walked so Zabel could run to a historic rookie season for a guard. He may not have gone to an FBS blue-blood college like Murphy at Texas, but he broke out to become a top-tier NFL starter just as quickly. He might even be Seattle’s best center since Max Unger- but as Macdonald said, “no one talks about it.”
Here on Seahawks Wire, my first article about the Super Bowl was about why he anchored the gameplan to winning Seattle’s second Lombardi. He did, and he’ll continue to this upcoming season. But while he does, I challenge you:
Talk more about Jalen Sundell in your Seahawks circles.
I’ll continue to write his praises, as he’s one of the players I’m the most excited about this upcoming year, even on a stacked roster.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks' most underrated player: C Jalen Sundell -Mike Macdonald