The Seattle Seahawks haven’t spent a whole lot of early-round draft capital on inside defensive linemen over the previous couple of many years. They’ve not chosen a defensive sort out within the opening spherical since Marcus Tubbs in 2004 (!!), and their solely second-round DTs throughout that span are Jarran Reed and Malik McDowell.
After one other sub-standard efficiency by Seattle’s defensive position, it’s a risk that the Seahawks will break a long-standing development and make investments deep within the trenches within the first spherical of this 12 months’s NFL Draft.
Professional Soccer Focus has one thing that isn’t fairly a mock draft, however would possibly as effectively be. As an alternative, it’s the “best” participant for each staff primarily based on wants and accessible draft assets. For the Seahawks, the emphasis was on the inside of each side of the ball, however the “best” decide is on protection.
Aim: Add reinforcements inside
Perfect first decide: DT Byron Murphy II, Texas
The Seahawks at present aren’t bodily sufficient within the trenches to compete with the league’s premier contenders. Till they will constantly cross shield on offense and discover some semblance of success in run protection, they are going to be at a drawback.
Texas’ Byron Murphy II looks as if an ideal match for Seattle. He’s thought of one of the best all-around defensive sort out within the 2024 class, having led the nation in pass-rush grade in 2023. New head coach Mike Macdonald will purpose to deliver the identical bodily nature to his protection as he efficiently did in Baltimore.
Inside offensive line assist can also be desperately wanted for a staff that completed 2023 within the backside 5 in pass-blocking grade. The Seahawks ought to have their eyes on nearly any inside prospect between the second and fifth rounds to shore up their cross safety.
Murphy has met with the Seahawks already on the NFL Mix.
Right here’s a take a look at his Relative Athletic Rating for his place.
Not like T’Vondre Sweat, his former Longhorns teammate who weighs 366 lbs, Murphy is taken into account undersized at simply 6’0 1⁄2 and 297 kilos. That didn’t cease him from profitable Large XII Defensive Lineman of the Yr and first-team honors in his convention for the 2023 season.
Right here’s an summary of Murphy as a prospect in Running a blog the Boys’ Mike Poland’s scouting report:
There’s completely each likelihood that Byron Murphy goes off the board as the primary defensive linemen on this 12 months’s draft. He has the talents and flexibility to play wherever on the road from nostril sort out to five-technique and achieve success within the NFL. Based mostly on simply his explosiveness and power alone, he ought to get prompt leads to his rookie season.
However Murphy does want teaching in an effort to get an understanding that within the NFL his energy and acceleration will solely take him to date. He has a stable set of cross rush strikes and his swim transfer is by far his greatest instrument to win now. However he must be taught when to carry his floor and when to shoot the gaps. His largest subject shall be associated to scheme. As a consequence of his dimension and magnificence of play, Murphy must play on a fair entrance to supply him each likelihood of being hat-on-hat with an offensive lineman. He simply lacks the majority to play as defensive sort out on an odd entrance the place he would lose the elements of his sport that makes him particular and get slowed down by double-team blocks.
His capability to acknowledge the play, set up a plan and deconstruct the opposition together with his arms and explosiveness makes him an thrilling participant that each one defensive coordinators will need to unleash. Murphy is about to have a productive profession within the NFL and make a Professional Bowl early on.
COMPARISON:-
A shorter Larry Ogunjobi, Pittsburgh Steelers
GRADE:
Early second-round/late-first-round grade
My one pause right here is the road about Murphy needing to play in a fair entrance. I don’t know if he’ll be a schematic match below Mike Macdonald. Murphy would almost definitely should be a five-technique lined up in opposition to offensive tackles in a 3-4 alignment.
Try a few of his highlights under.
