Just like during his days as a Washington Husky, wherever chaos is on the field, former Washington Husky linebacker Travis Feeney is likely there.  This past season in the XFL with the St. Louis Battlehawks was up to his old ball-hawking ways finishing second in the league in forced fumbles and fumble recoveries and 23rd in the league in solo tackles–in 9 games.

Now listed at 6-4, 255, this past season he recorded 32 tackles (8th among linebackers), 5 sacks including 3 strip-sacks, 9 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries.

His constant pressure on quarterbacks helped the Battlehawks finish third in the league with 11 interceptions.

With the Seahawks’ defensive woes last season, could a solution be a very familiar face in these parts?

Husky fans know the All-Conference linebacker’s full-bodied yell after a big stop, but a play that’s just a part of Oregon State had the ball on their own 16-yard line, and Washington let Beavers’ running back break free and have a clear run at the end zone–except the man they call “The Freak” wasn’t having any of it.

“I went under the block, thinking I could make the play in the backfield,” he recalled.

If he had he’d have stopped the ball carrier at about the Husky 11-yard line.

“Then I saw a couple of teammates missed tackles and I said to myself, ‘I got to run him down before OSU thinks they got all this energy’.”

To do so, he had to loop around the pile of bodies in the middle of the field, avoid blockers and just general traffic, and chase down the ball carrier.

He did get the ball carrier at the 11-yard line–the Oregon State eleven.

The stop saved a touchdown as the Beavers were forced to kick a field goal.  With that sort of effort on every play, it’s easy to see why he was voted a team captain his senior year, and why he remains a Husky fan favorite.

Taken in the 6th round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2016 NFL Draft, Washington’s 2015 defensive MVP injuries slowed his NFL career but now he’s looking to get back into the league.

Since then he’s spent time in the NFL with the Steelers and the Saints, the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts, and the USFL with the Tampa Bay Bandits.

This past season, the Bay Area native helped lead the St. Louis Battlehawks to a 7-3 season.

Here are some of Feeney’s biggest plays last season.

While the Seattle Seahawks still need a true run-stuffing nose guard in their 3-4 defense, they also need an experienced, sure-handed tackler, and an emotional leader–that just happens to be his calling card.

Pro Football Network had this to say about the Seahawks’ defense heading into the 2023 season:

“The Seahawks ranked 26th in the NFL defensively last year and don’t project to change all that much despite a fifth-overall investment at cornerback. While that should improve the quality of play there, it’s not as if cornerback was the issue for Seattle last year. The model might undercount Jamal Adams’ return to play, but it knows that there isn’t much in the way of pass rush or interior talent.”

Seahawks Wire added:

The Seahawks have to hope he’s wrong. On paper Uchenna Nwosu is the only sure thing for the edge rush rotation, but if two or three other outside linebackers can contribute meaningfully this defense will likely outrank this projection.