After 10 weeks in the NICU, the defensive tackle’s tiny baby girl is home with new Mom and Dad for the first time.
Byron Murphy feels disrespected.
He didn’t make the Pro Bowl, despite having one of the best seasons by an interior defensive lineman in the league this year.
But...whatever.
Murphy just received a far greater gift for these holidays.
The Seahawks’ defensive tackle and his fiancee Maya welcomed their newborn girl home for the first time, just in time for Christmas.
“She came home Friday!” Murphy said. He smile lit up his corner of the Seahawks’ locker room on Christmas Eve, before Seattle (12-3) practiced four days prior to playing at Carolina (8-7).
Their first child, little Danee’ Azaria Murphy, was born in early October — at 2 pounds, 5 ounces. Their tiny girl spent 10 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.
A NICU is the most intense place imaginable for any parent, particularly a first-time father at 23 years old. Every day for 2 1/2 months, Danee’s mom and dad commuted to the hospital to see her. Their baby lived her first weeks and months inside an isolette, a special, enclosed bassinet with regulated light, temperature and noise. Danee’ was hooked up to machines that constantly beeped. Alarms alerted the round-the-clock nurses and doctors to any changes to the baby’s breathing, body temperature or functioning.
When Murphy wasn’t at Seahawks headquarters for meetings and practices, when he wasn’t sacking quarterbacks and helping lead his team to its first playoff berth in three seasons, he was at the NICU with his baby girl.
The highlights of his week went beyond his breakout second NFL season and his Seahawks winning 12 of their first 15 games.
They were the sessions of “kangaroo care” he had with his baby girl in the NICU, the moments of skin-to-skins holding by the parent of their child in limiting times outside the isolette.
Now, he can do that anytime he’s home. No more isolette. No more machines.
She’s home. “She’s six pounds now!” the 6-foot, 306-pound Murphy said before practice Wednesday.
It’s better than his seven sacks that co-lead the Seahawks with Pro Bowl selection Leonard Williams. It’s better than Murphy having the third-most sacks of any NFL interior defensive lineman. Better than beating double-team run blocks and stuffing ball carriers. “It’s awesome,” he said of his girl being home. “It’s a blessing.”
Pro Bowl snub
The Seahawks had six players selected to the Pro Bowl for this season. That tied Denver, San Francisco and Baltimore for the most in the league.
Seattle’s Pro Bowl selections the NFL announced Tuesday: quarterback Sam Darnold, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Williams, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence (listed and voted on as an outside linebacker), cornerback Devon Witherspoon plus kick and punt returner Rashid Shaheed. Seattle’s four Pro Bowl alternates are safety Coby Bryant, linebacker Ernest Jones, fullback Robbie Ouzts and special-teams standout Brady Russell.
Murphy was the leader in votes in fan balloting among all NFL defensive tackles for the Pro Bowl. But fan voting is only one-third of the balloting to select the all-stars. The other thirds are coaches’ voting and players’ voting.
Seattle’s Williams, listed as a tackle who often plays end, Dallas’ Quinnen Williams and Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter were the NFC’s three defensive tackles who made the Pro Bowl over Murphy.
Carter and Murphy get compared a lot around the league. Carter was the ninth pick in the 2023 draft by the Eagles. Murphy was the 16th pick in the ‘24 draft by the Seahawks, out of Texas.
This year, Murphy has had a better, more impacting season than Carter by most measurables. Murphy has 20 pressures on quarterbacks to Carter’s 16, per profootballreference.com. Carter has only two sacks in 10 games, to Murphy’s seven playing all 15 games. Carter returned to Eagles practice this week after missing three games injured. Murphy has nine hurries on QBs, to Carter’s five. Murphy has 59 tackles to Carter’s 32. Murphy has seven tackles for losses, to Carter’s four.
Yet Carter made his third Pro Bowl in three seasons. Murphy is still seeking his first Pro Bowl at the end of his second year.
“Man...I was kinda hurt by it, a little bit,” Murphy said of the snub. “I feel more disrespected, in a way.
“You know, I’ve just been putting in so much work in my game and to my craft and everything, I just feel like I’ve been having a great season on the field. Just feel like I’ve been dominating everything. I feel like I’ve been doing what it takes to make it to the Pro Bowl.
“But it is what it is,” Murphy said.
“At the end of the day, I can only control what I can control. And...the team and everything, it’s bigger than the Pro Bowl. I’ll all about winning.
“I’m trying to help my team win and get to the bigger goal. That’s all that matters.”
Asked if he felt there is a reputation bias for Carter, the higher draft choice with a year longer in the league who made the Pro Bowl his first two seasons and won a Super Bowl with Philadelphia last season, Murphy shrugged.
“Probably so. I’m not sure,” he said. “I don’t control the voting, so it’s got nothing to do with me.” Coach Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks will take the Murphy they’ve been getting all season, with or without Pro Bowl recognition for it.
Macdonald said while he was pleased with those selections, he thought Murphy, kicker Jason Myers and middle linebacker Ernest Jones should also be Pro Bowlers for their seasons.
Murphy had a career-high two sacks and a whopping seven pressures of Trevor Lawrence Oct. 12 in Seattle’s win at Jacksonville, days after his daughter was born.
When the Seahawks escaped past the Indianapolis Colts 18-16 on Dec. 14, Murphy starred. He blew up the Colts’ double-team blocks. He made tackles from behind and ran down plays with hustle.
Macdonald said Murphy was “absolutely dominant” in that game.
“Probably singlehandedly won us a football game on defense,” the head coach said. “He absolutely played lights-out.”
Byron Murphy continues to dominate this year — brilliant in Week 15 against a very good Colts OL. pic.twitter.com/WedSwMF4GA
— William Herman (@_williamherman) December 17, 2025
Macdonald went into this season with a goal of playing Murphy more than the 49% of defensive snaps he got as a rookie last season. Now the coach and defensive guru can’t afford to take Murphy off the field. He played a career-high 71 snaps in Seattle’s rally past the Los Angeles Rams in overtime last week. He’s playing 70% of snaps this season. As Murphy says, he’s all about winning — when he’s not about finally getting to be a Dad at home, that is.
He and his Seahawks clinching a playoff berth last week with their wild rally past the Rams at Lumen Field also means more to him than not making the Pro Bowl.
“It means a lot, you know?” Murphy said. “This is my first time doing this. But being in this position in my career and this early, it’s a blessing, for sure, too.”
Category: General Sports
