Seahawks 90-Man Rundown: AJ Finley Looking to Stick in Crowded, Versatile Safety Group
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Previously starring at Ole Miss in the SEC, AJ Finley joined the Seattle Seahawks midway through the 2024 season as safety and special teams depth. Credit: AJ Finley/Instagram [/caption]
With their offseason program all wrapped up, the Seattle Seahawks will open training camp at the VMAC on July 23, meaning the start of the upcoming season will be here before fans have a chance to blink.
In preparation for year number two under coach Mike Macdonald, I’ll be detailing every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, dishing out fun facts, exploring best and worst case scenarios, and predicting what to expect from each player entering the 2025 campaign.
A mid-season addition who helped bolster Seattle’s special teams last fall, can AJ Finley stay on the right side of the roster bubble with an influx of talent added to an already excellent safety group?
AJ Finley
Height/Weight: 6-0, 188 pounds
2024 Stats: 11 tackles
Starring at running back and safety at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, Finley chose to continue his football career at Ole Miss over Tennessee, Iowa, Purdue, and several other Power 4 programs. He saw significant action in his first season on campus as a reserve safety and special teams contributor in 2019 before jumping into the starting lineup as a sophomore, finishing fourth on the team with 62 tackles. He followed up by leading the Rebels with three interceptions in 2021 and again eclipsed 70 tackles with a pair of picks as a senior, wrapping up his career with an invite to the East West Shrine Bowl.
Coming off a productive college career in Oxford, Finley didn’t hear his name called in the 2023 NFL Draft, eventually signing with the Chargers as a free agent. He made the 53-man roster for Los Angeles coming out of camp, dressing for a total of 12 games with three tackles as a core special teams player. He once again made the team in 2024 as a reserve safety, appearing in 10 games for the Chargers and recording 10 tackles before being waived and being claimed by the Seahawks. Suiting up for four games in Seattle, he tallied a single tackle on kick coverage and since he was on the active roster at the end of the year, he remained under contract heading into the 2025 season.
Fun Fact: Though he played in only 14 games with two teams, Finley’s six special teams tackles tied for the fourth most on Seattle’s roster, according to Pro Football Focus.
Best Case Scenario: While chances to play on defense are few and far between at arguably the most talented position group on the roster, Finley performs well with limited snaps in the preseason on that side of the football and continues to excel as a special teams ace, beating out Jerrick Reed II and Ty Okada for a fifth safety spot.
Worst Case Scenario: Unable to stand out in a highly-competitive battle for one of the final roster spots, Finley falls behind Reed and Okada while veteran addition D’Anthony Bell and rookie Nick Emmanwori make the most of their opportunities in nickel and dime sets, leading to the third-year defender being waived at the end of camp and re-signed to the practice squad.
What to Expect in 2025: Like most former undrafted signees, while he has seen a handful of defensive snaps, Finley has been able to cut his teeth in the NFL as a quality special teams player, playing over 425 snaps in that phase of the game in his first two seasons. More than half of those snaps have come on kick and punt coverage, which remains his best pathway to sticking around on Seattle’s roster as currently constructed, especially if he can emerge as a viable gunner on the punt team. The competition will be fierce for those roles, but his prior experience and tendency to fly around the field like a heat-seeking missle should serve him well come training camp and the preseason in that regard.
But for Finley to have a real shot at hanging around on the 53-man roster, his performance on the defensive side of the football will have to be stellar in August, particularly with Reed now being more than a year removed from an ACL injury, Okada having nearly the same amount of regular season experience on defense, and Bell coming over in free agency viewed as a capable box safety as well as a talented special teamer in his own right. Those four players will be vying for two, maybe three spots at most on the 53, and simply being a standout special teams player may not be enough on its own in such a deep positional group. Proving himself once again playing both safety spots in Macdonald’s defense will be imperative to his chances.
