NFL Draft expert Mike Mayock names potential options for the Seahawks secondary
Mar 22, 2016, 6:55 PM
Mike Mayock calls draft prospect Karl Joseph, a safety from West Virginia, a "poor man's Earl Thomas." (PA)
(PA)
Scouts go to great lengths to find NFL comparables for college prospects. NFL Network draft expert Mike Mayock told “Brock and Salk” Monday about some potential doppelgangers to two of Seattle’s All-Pros in the secondary.
Mayock said Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas was one of his favorite players he ever evaluated out of college, and he called West Virginia’s Karl Joseph “a poor man’s” version of Thomas.
“He’s a little bit undersized, but he’s a missile,” Mayock said. “He’s got great range, he’s a tough guy, the ball finds him, but he only played three games this year; he got hurt. I’ve got him as my top safety depending on how you look at (Florida State’s) Jalen Ramsey as a corner or a safety, but I think that kid – his style of play and his toughness and his ball skills remind me of Earl Thomas.”
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When it comes to the perimeter, Mayock noted that the Seahawks have made tall, lanky, Richard Sherman-esque corners en vogue.
“The entire league seems like that’s all they want, and at the combine this year we had more 6-foot corners than we’ve ever had,” he said.
At Seattle’s No. 26 pick in the first round, Mayock said there will be three or four “long corners” that could be of interest: Eli Apple from Ohio State, Miami’s Artie Burns and University of Houston’s William Jackson III, who has quietly been climbing up draft boards of late.
“All three of those guys are 6-foot plus, they all run sub-4.5, which make them faster than Richard Sherman,” Mayock said. “I’m not sure any of them has the ball skills of Richard Sherman, though.”
