Why top pick Murphy was the talk of Seahawks rookie minicamp

May 6, 2024, 10:31 AM | Updated: May 7, 2024, 11:22 am

Byron Murphy II of the Seattle Seahawks at rookie minicamp on May 3. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

This weekend for the Seattle Seahawks was notable, as their rookie minicamp on Friday and Saturday allowed the first glimpse for media members at not just the newest members of the team but also how first-year head coach Mike Macdonald will run things.

Rookie Camp Notes: Seahawks’ sixth-rounder ‘proud’ of taking less-traveled road

What was the talk of camp? It would make sense for it to be Macdonald and his coaching staff. Or perhaps a surprising name from the later rounds of the previous week’s NFL Draft, or even an undrafted free agent.

Just kidding. It was who you’d think.

“Yeah, that would have been Byron Murphy, and that’s kind of usually how it happens in football,” said Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard on Monday when asked what the talk of camp was. “The first-round pick… a lot of attention goes there.”

Huard said that several NFL insiders who were at the minicamp, including Mike Sando of The Athletic and Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson of ESPN, highlighted Seattle’s new defensive tackle and the No. 16 overall pick of the 2024 draft for an easily explained reason.

“You can talk about this guy’s physique, you can talk about his power,” said Huard, a former NFL quarterback and current analyst on FOX football broadcasts. “… Honest to God, Byron Murphy’s legs are redwoods. They’re tree trunks. They are massive, and because of it, the power he gains from the ground is just different and unique. I think that’s certainly the talk of camp is how powerful (Murphy looks).”

Big man Murph pic.twitter.com/sGDe4FZkXW

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) May 3, 2024

Mind you, that’s with things far from being full intensity on the practice field for the Texas product.

“Could you see it full-display? No. Mike Macdonald talked about it – you know, the pace, the intensity, it’s going to be more when the pads come on,” Huard said.

This was just one of the three football questions Huard answered during Blue 88, a daily segment that airs at 7:45 live during each edition of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Find podcasts of every Brock and Salk show at this link, and hear Monday’s segment in the player near the top of this post.