Coming off a promising 2012 season that ended in a heartbreaking playoff loss in Atlanta, the Seahawks knew they had a team capable of contending for a title in 2013. They also knew they still had room to improve, however, and when then Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was asked about his team’s needs following the season, he quickly pointed to the pass rush. Yes, Chris Clemons was coming off a third straight double-digit sack season, but he also suffered a torn ACL in the playoffs, and beyond Clemons and Bruce Irvin, the Seahawks didn’t have a lot of proven edge-rush depth.

So in March of 2013, the Seahawks made a couple of significant moves in free agency, signing Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett on consecutive days, additions that would help an already great defense grow into an all-time great unit.  

In his first season with the Seahawks, Avril contributed 8.0 sacks and a team-leading six forced fumbles as part of a Seahawks defense that led the NFL in points allowed, takeaways, yards allowed and passing yards allowed. In the playoffs, he added another 1.5 sacks and five quarterback hits, with one of those hits coming on Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII, leading to a wobbly throw that was intercepted by Malcolm Smith and returned 69 yards for a touchdown in a 43-8 Seahawks victory. For Avril, that Super Bowl title came only five seasons after he experienced an 0-16 as a rookie with the Detroit Lions.  

Avril continued to be a key part of the Seahawks defense over the next four seasons, finishing his five-year run in Seattle with 34.5 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and 88 quarterback hits, and he earned Pro-Bowl honors in 2016 when he had 11.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. Avril’s career was unfortunately cut short, however, only four games into the 2017 season when he suffered a fluke neck injury, catching his chin on the foot of Colts quarterback Jocoby Brissett on a diving tackle attempt.  

"Cliff was a fantastic player for us," then Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after Avril had to retire due to his injury. "We were very fortunate to get him back when we did years ago. And because of where he had been and what he had been through, he came in with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, and did nothing but great stuff. He has been a great leader and a bit of a statesman for us. He always says the right thing and stands for the right stuff and he has been a really high-character guy who you can just always count on. He has been a great competitor in the program. I love him, and we'd like to keep him connected with our club as long as we can, because he's just exactly what you'd hope to represent you. He has had a great career with us, we couldn't have done it without him."

In addition to his significant on-field production, Avril also made his presence felt in the community through his Cliff Avril Family Foundation, which raises money and awareness to fight Type 2 diabetes in youth and encourage healthy living throughout nutrition and exercise. In addition to that work in the Seattle area and his hometown of Jacksonville, Avril also made a difference in his parents’ home country of Haiti, spending time in multiple offseasons to help build a school in LaChanm, a rural area in Haiti’s Central Plateau region.    

Avril, the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2016, has maintained deep ties to the area since retiring, and in 2022, he, Bennett and Doug Baldwin founded Champions of Change, an organization “shepherding awareness and support for organizations that serve our communities by sustaining pathways for families to have stable, healthy and loving homes.”