Brock Huard’s first take on all 11 Seahawks draft picks
Apr 29, 2019, 1:15 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm
The Seahawks selected TCU DE L.J. Collier with the 29th overall pick Thursday. (Getty)
(Getty)
The Seahawks turned a league-fewest four picks into 11 new players from this year’s NFL Draft. On Monday morning, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard gave a quick summary of how each rookie can fit into Seattle’s system:
L.J. Collier, DE, TCU (Round 1, 29th overall)
“He’s just a heavy-handed thumper. And at 280-pounds, he provides some of the versatility you know this group loves out of their defensive line.” (You can listen to Huard’s full report on Collier here.)
Marquise Blair, S, Utah (Round 2, 47th overall)
“I jumped up off of my couch. Because like Tyler Lockett and Russell Wilson,Blair is just somebody that I was around over the college football season that’s just flat-out nasty. He is really a blend of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. He’s not a Kam-type that just sits down in the box the entire game. He played an awful lot of snaps as a center field single-high safety. And when he comes screaming out of it, oh my gosh, he wants to just seek and destroy. His 4.4 speed comes to life on the field. You’re going to see him this week at rookie minicamp. He is long and he is lean, but he’s going to have to clean up his hitting; there are too many swings and misses. But he wants to come in and hit home runs. That’s what this dude wants to do when he comes out of center field.”
D.K. Metcalf, WR, Ole Miss (Round 2, 64th overall)
“You’re going to come into this program, and this program more than any other loves a unique gift. And, man, do you ever have it with your size-speed quotient. But that won’t be good enough to make it in this league. You will wash out of this league if you think who you are now as a wide receiver is good enough. He’s got to change and grow his game. He would’ve been a third-round pick had the Seahawks not come up at the very end of the second round, because the league said you’re a freakshow physically, but you’ve got a lot of game to grow. So now it’s really incumbent upon D.K. to come in here and learn how to be a big-time wide receiver. ”
Cody Barton, LB, Utah (Round 3, 88th overall)
“He may have a voice like Andy Dalton, but he sure likes to hit a whole lot more than any quarterback I know. There are 518 qualifying linebackers in college football last year with the number of tackles to judge, and according to Pro Football Focus, he was the eighth-best tackler, with a tackling grade over 90. He’s a guy that can play Barkevious Mingo’s position and set an edge. How? Well, how about by be able to have his 30 reps of 225 pounds. He is smart, he’s instinctive… (and) if you want guys that can master the game of football, they have to have football I.Q. and instincts, and Cody Barton sure does. He’s going to get a chance to come in and play right away, pushing Barkevious for that strongside linebacker spot.”
Gary Jennings, WR, West Virginia (Round 4, 120th overall)
“Gary Jennings is 6-1, 214-pounds; Amara Darboh is 6-2, 214-pounds. Gary Jennings ran a 4.42 40-yard dash; Amara Darboh ran a 4.46. Gary Jennings jumped 37 inches; Amara Darboh jumped 36. As Pete and John will tell you, at the Senior Bowl, no one was faster than Gary Jennings. He was running 23 miles-per-hour in football pads on the field. But this is a guy that ran seam routes and option routes in an air raid system. So it’s difficult to gauge… much wiggle (does he) have, and do you understand route running? You’re going to get a chance to beat out Amara, you’re going to get a chance to beat out Jaron Brown, you’re going to get a chance to beat out David Moore. You’re going to have a wide open competition for all these dudes. The talent is there, but are the skills there? That will be the question to answer.”
Phil Haynes, OG, Wake Forest (Round 4, 124th overall)
“Wake Forest is bad up-front. I don’t even like watching their tape on their offensive line; they have been that horrendous through the years. Doing what they do, though, they have to play their style at Wake Forest to match up with Clemson and others. And Phil Haynes was the only bright spot on that Wake Forest O-line. He was the fourth-round guard and he’s here for two reasons: 33 reps at 225, and a vertical of 31 at 325 pounds. Those are building blocks for (offensive line coach) Mike Solari to work with.”
Ugochukwu Amadi, DB, Oregon (Round 4, 132nd overall)
“He is a small defensive back. He’ll not play on the outside, at 5-feet-9 and 190-pounds with 31 inch arms. You’re looking at a safety, and more importantly, you’re looking at a nickel. He’s going to come in right away and push at the nickel spot. He was drafted because, I think, you sat there in the fourth round and went, ‘Man, that dude’s got so much ball in his background, he’s a really scrappy, good, little athlete. He’s got good short-area quickness, and that’s a guy that knows too much football to be sitting there late in the fourth round. We’re going to bring him into our program and he’s going to push at the nickel spot right away.'”
Ben Burr-Kirven, LB, Washington (Round 5, 142nd overall)
“A tackling machine. Larry Izzo, the assistant special teams coach, is going to look at Burr-Kirven and say, ‘I cut out a decade in this league, you can cut out a decade in this league too if you become our special teams captain.’ He’s going to get a chance with his speed to be an instant depth guy.”
Travis Homer, RB, Miami (Round 5, 204th overall)
“I saw Travis every single year. He wasn’t necessarily the starter (at first), and then he got his chance, and unfortunately, Miami’s offense went in the tank this year with a bad offensive line. That guy runs hard. John Schneider and his staff want one thing out of a running back, and they’ve wanted it for ten years: the guy they draft, in their estimation, is the hardest-running running back every year. That is why Chris Carson is here. And (Homer) runs hard; you do not want to tackle him. And he loves contact. He will run down on kickoffs and he will knock your block off. He’ll come in here and push right away on special teams.”
Demarcus Christmas, DT, Florida State (Round 6, 209th overall)
“He played four years really at Florida State, and I saw him on my board every year and thought, ‘OK, when is this guy going to grow?’. He has a nice body at 6-feet-4, 320-pounds. But when’s he going to become a difference-maker? He never really did, and that is why ultimately he ended up in the sixth round and will really be pushing to make this roster.”
John Ursua, WR, Hawaii (Round 6, 236th overall)
“Ursua served a two year mission — he’s going to be 25 this fall — and tore an ACL, so he’s a bit banged up. But he had six different teams that wanted him as a priority free agent. He knows how to play in the slot. This was, I think, a Doug Baldwin insurance move more than anything else. Ursua has a nice, little body, he’s athletic, he’s strong, a fit dude with nice quickness, and a decent 40-time. He’s going to come in and play in that slot and take a lot of reps there, especially if Doug is unable to sustain his career.”
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