JAKE AND STACY

Heaps: Seahawks must address trenches in NFL Draft to ‘be a bully’

Apr 27, 2022, 1:42 PM

Mariners...

Elijah Mitchell of the San Francisco 49ers runs against the Seahawks. (Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

(Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

As the Seahawks enter the 2022 NFL Draft, there’s a simple answer for a need they absolutely must address, according to former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps.

Draft Primer: Everything you need to know about Seahawks, top prospects

“Address the trenches – offensive line, defensive line,” Heaps said during Tuesday’s Jake and Stacy on Seattle Sports 710 AM. “Get it done. Address the trenches.”

In 2021, the Seahawks’ offense had the fifth-highest pressure rate in the NFL, per Pro Football Reference. Defensively, Seattle was good against the run but struggled to generate pressure, finishing 24th in the league in sacks as a result.

Heaps thinks the Seahawks need to target the trenches in the draft in order to match the identity they want to play with.

“You want to be a bully? You want to go into every single game and you want to be the aggressor and be physically more dominant than your opponent? Then you have to be strong in the trenches on your offensive and defensive lines,” Heaps said.

Heaps said that could come on offense by drafting a top-line left tackle, or it could come with a “cornerstone center” that he thinks Seattle could take either late in the first round or early in the second.

Tyler Linderbaum out of Iowa and Cameron Jurgens out of Nebraska – those two guys at center, I think that they are like (Eagles center) Jason Kelce reincarnated. I think that they are fantastic players and if the Seahawks have the ability to select (them), I would love nothing more than to have one of those two guys to bolster their offensive line,” Heaps said.

What about on the other side of the ball?

“Does it come in the form of … Jordan Davis, the monster behemoth defensive tackle out of Georgia? I don’t think that they go down that route. I’d honestly be very surprised if they did,” Heaps said. “I believe that they’re going to be more after pass rushers, whether that’s at the edge position or whether that’s with a three-technique defensive tackle like a Devonte Wyatt out of Georgia, someone who can penetrate, (or) Perrion Winfrey out of Oklahoma, someone who can penetrate and be disruptive. They need pass rush in the worst way.”

Added Heaps: “If you want to be the aggressor and be a physical team that every single time they step on the field, the opponent knows that they’ve got to buckle their chinstrap extra tight because they’re in for a 60-minute fight, then you’ve got to address the trenches. And I’m hopeful that that’s what they do.”

Listen to the second hour of Tuesday’s Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.

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Heaps: Seahawks must address trenches in NFL Draft to ‘be a bully’