Kenny Easley Dies at 66, Pro Football Hall of Famer Played 7 Seasons with Seahawks

Hall of Fame defensive back Kenny Easley died Friday night at the age of 66.

"Kenny always gave his all and held the game and his life at the highest standard," his wife, Gail, told the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Easley spent his entire seven-year NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks. He was a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro.

"Kenny Easley would have been a dominant safety in any era," Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said. "When he was enshrined in 2017, he took his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and embraced his football immortality. Kenny possessed excellent ball skills, but make no mistake: His biggest strengths were his fearlessness and intensity. If you had the ball as an opposing offensive player, he was going to hit you hard — and you were going to feel it for a while."

Easley's best year came in 1984, when he led the league with 10 interceptions and took two back for touchdowns. That earned him Defensive Player of the Year, and he's still one of only two Seahawks players to receive the award. Cortez Kennedy claimed it in 1992.

A season before that, Easley played a key role in Seattle reaching its first-ever conference championship game in 1983.

The NFL didn't start tracking individual tackles until 1994, long after Easley retired. The fact he earned the nickname of "The Enforcer" says all you need to know about what kind of presence he had in the secondary.

David Whitford once wrote in a Sport magazine article (via the Hall of Fame) that "no opponent wants any part of [Easley]" and that Seahawks teammates and coaches deemed him "the most intense practice player on the team."

The Hall of Fame enshrined Easley in 2017 and the Seahawks retired his No. 45 jersey.