Originally Published 23, February 2013 w/ Postscript 16, November 2025
Some of the best players in NFL history are those who had their careers cut short due to injury. Yet they had great seasons that had them on the path to Canton. Such was the case with former Seattle Seahawk Kenny Easley. At 6’3 and 205 lbs, he was tall, fast, had range and could hit.
He was the team’s first true superstar, one that teammates looked up to for big hits, big plays, and leadership. Until the Seahawks drafted RB Curt Warner to be his offensive equal on the other side of the ball, never had a team followed the lead of a safety before. At his peak he may have been the best safety in the last 25 years of pro football.
In 1981 Seattle drafted Easley in the first round out of UCLA. He was one of the new breed of safety coming into the NFL. Everyone points to the new breed of linebacker that hit at the same time, but along with Easley came the Dennis Smiths, the Joey Browners, and the Todd Bells who were taller and more physical than the prior generation of NFL safeties. The game was evolving after the 1978 rule changes favoring the passing game. Teams were going to more multiple receiver sets and safeties were being asked to do more. Especially in the hey-day of the AFC West.
Kenny Easley was a ball hawk and a big hitter. A rarity among safeties.
This was the time of “Air Coryell” with Dan Fouts, the defending NFL champion Raiders with they’re deep passing game, and the Denver Broncos would soon draft John Elway to add to the prowess throwing the football within the division. It was Easley that brought the team superior confidence with his strong hits and leadership that changed the culture of the organization. He started gaining notoriety when he picked off 4 passes and was named AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year. The following season saw him intercept 7 passes and 3 sacks as he made the Pro Bowl for the first time as well as making the All Pro team for the first of three times.
Before his arrival, the Seahawks hadn’t made the playoffs or even been competitive within the AFC West going back to their 1976 inception. Easley led Seattle to their first playoffs in his third year. Once there they topped rookie John Elway and the Broncos 31-7 at home in the wild card round. The following week Easley and the defense led the way in a 27-20 victory over rookie Dan Marino and the Dolphins in Miami. They fell to the eventual champion LA Raiders, whom they swept during the season, in the AFC Championship Game 31-14. Many experts believed Easley’s Seahawks were primed for a Super Bowl run with a healthy Curt Warner coming back.
Easley had his greatest season in 1984, picking off 10 passes returning those for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns on his way to NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors. Yet it was his thunderous hits and reckless play that set him apart. In most instances you have ball-hawks that are tacklers but not great hitters. Easley was both. Yet the 12-4 Seahawks lost the rematch to Miami in the AFC Divisional round 31-10, and wouldn’t get any closer for the rest of his career.
This video in microcosm showcases his great 1984 season.
As you look at the first 20 years of the Seattle Seahawks history (1976-1995) they didn’t make the NFL playoffs until Easley led them there in 1983. They were among the league’s elite for the next five years but couldn’t capitalize on the momentum of that first AFC Championship appearance. The Seahawks did make the playoffs in 1988, but would return to the playoffs only once in the next 18 years following his retirement.
Easley’s career was cut short due to kidney failure before the 1988 season. However he had left thunderous hits and many broken tackles and spirits along with 32 interceptions, returning 3 for scores.  He was a five time Pro Bowler and voted All Pro 3 times, yet is  he a Hall of Famer?? That’s a debate for another day and another article, for Kenny Easley was the prototype safety of the modern era. The skill-set and intensity that he brought to the secondary was equal to what Lawrence Taylor brought to the fore for outside linebackers.
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Epilogue – November 16, 2025: With Kenny’s passing yesterday we lost a true warrior who took years to get his due in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I wanted to write an article to advocate for him but time just didn’t permit. Thank God Ronnie Lott stepped up and advocated for the player he was compared to the most coming out of their 1981 NFL draft. However I wrote this article in 2013 as I was a huge fan and wanted something to showcase how great a player he was.
I was able to catch him in a game once in Ohio Stadium when his UCLA Bruins came in & faced the Ohio St Buckeyes while he was in college back in 1980. Was able to see Easley, Todd Bell, and Ray Ellis deliver big hits one glorious fall afternoon. I remember recalling the game with Easley’s late UCLA teammate Luis Sharpe who passed earlier this year. Undoubtedly Sharpe was there to greet him at the pearly gates. Ironically Ohio St hosted UCLA yesterday on the day he passed.
RIP Kenny Easley – Pro Football Hall of Famer. Thanks for the memories
New England Patriots Tony Collins (33) struggles for that extra yard despite the efforts of Seattle Seahawks Kenny Easley (45) and Keith Butler (53) during first quarter action at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., Sept. 21, 1986. (AP Photo/Mike Kullen)
Now all of us historians harken back to the great Steelers defense of the 1970’s and in particular focus on the ’74 draft where they selected 4 future Hall of Famers. Only Jack Lambert on the defense was drafted that year as FS Donnie Shell was an undrafted free agent. The Steel Curtain front four, Linebackers Ham and Russell had been assembled from 1963-74 when they broke through to win Super Bowl IX. Not one group that grew into menace from a single draft class.
Rod went to the Pro Bowl 4 times at his new position and was All Pro twice for the Baltimore Ravens & Oakland Raiders. He was one of the leaders on one of the 
Now you’re thinking “wait, this isn’t greatest ever talent”… well…. going into the 1992 season the Cowboys Achilles’ heel was their secondary. Their draft tells you that picking up SS Darren Woodson, CB Kevin Smith, and CB Clayton Holmes in the first few rounds. In 1991, Dallas had lost to 4 run and shoot teams including a 38-6 drubbing to Detroit in the divisional round of the playoffs. The biggest blowout loss of any NFC team in the 1990’s. They had some coverage issues but Everett solidified the secondary, put players in good spots and made several plays that defined the Super Bowl XXVII rout of my Buffalo Bills. He helped turn the secondary into a team strength.
Well… Nickerson became the centerpiece of Defensive Coordinator Floyd Peters’ 4-3 at Middle Linebacker and a terror was set loose. He became a sideline-to-sideline tracker and hit everything in sight. In ’93 he led the NFL in tackles with a leauge record 214 while making his 1st Pro Bowl and voted 1st team All Pro. It was only the 4th time a Tampa Bay defender was voted to the Pro Bowl in Hawai’i and the 2nd All Pro selection since the team’s inception in 1976.
The litigation and subsequent concussion settlement is why the NFL started to change the game. This was borne not in the name of player safety, but the decades long dodgeball they played to keep from paying former players and their families on disability claims. While its imperative the game be made safer, many fans believe the essence of the game is being lost. This game was predicated on toughness, endurance and physical play. Taking the unnecessary blows to the head out of the game needed to happen but the collisions.. the WOOO hits need to remain.
I enjoy quarterbacks being assaulted. Go hit the quarterback and strike fear in the offense you’re facing! Hit your opponent with all your might. This is what we were all taught and I’m not giving in to this softer way to look at the game. I love the hitting…the collisions.. Its late summer and its time for training camp and some hitting. The smell of grass and “nutcracker” or “Oklahoma drill” time.
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