Brandon Pili is coming back to the West Coast.

The NFL defensive tackle from Anchorage who played his senior season of high school football in Oregon and college ball at USC was picked up on waivers by the Seattle Seahawks on Monday, two days after getting released by Miami.

Pili appeared in 12 games for the Dolphins over the last two seasons after signing as an undrafted free agent out of college in 2023. He made a total of four tackles, two this year and two last year.

Pili, 25, will arrive in Seattle on Tuesday.

“I’ll get a physical and I fully expect to be at practice on Wednesday,” he said.

The 6-foot-3, 319-pound defensive lineman could have been retained by the Dolphins as a practice squad player had he cleared waivers, but the Seahawks scooped him up.

“It does feel good to get picked up this time around and not being on a practice squad, but I never had a doubt for a second in my abilities,” Pili said. “And, yeah, when you go somewhere new you always have to prove yourself and earn respect from the team, so I’m looking forward to being able to do that in Seattle.”

Pili is among 14 Alaskans to play in the NFL and one of six to record a tackle. He will be the second Alaskan to play for the Seahawks, joining Fairbanks defensive back Reggie Tongue, who played in Seattle from 2000 to 2003.

At USC, Pili made 74 tackles and recorded 4.5 sacks in 52 career games at USC – the third most appearances for an Alaskan at the NCAA Division I level.

After going undrafted, he was invited to training camp with the Dolphins and made the team. He appeared in four games during his rookie season before he was released in early November, cleared waivers and added to the practice squad.

The start of this year was encouraging for Pili after he logged a career-high 69 snaps in eight games or 14% of the team’s total defensive plays, a small but significant increase from the year before. He had settled in and thought he found a new home.

“It was tough being let go from Miami,” Pili said. “I felt like I had found a place I would spend my career at, but it didn’t work out, so obviously not happy about what happened, but I can’t change anything.”

The Dolphins got away with putting him on waivers last year, but their gamble didn’t work out this time and paid off for Pili.

“I’ve been through this before and so I knew what the process was and what it felt like,” he said. “I was just ready to move on to the next chapter in my career.”

Next stop, Seattle, which is only a 3-hour flight from Anchorage.

“Being closer to home is a huge bonus,” Pili said. “Obviously you know how tight my family and I are, so it does feel good to be going closer to home.”