Seahawks Draft Profile: Kansas State pass rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah

The Seattle Seahawks will almost certainly be looking for pass rush help early in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Kansas State has one of the best in this year’s class in Felix Anudike-Uzomah, the 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the conference’s Defensive Lineman of the Year the last two seasons.

Anudike-Uzomah was the focus of Brock Huard’s Seahawks Draft profile during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Thursday.

“This is once again a position of need. This is a front-seven guy that’s got some versatility,” Huard said.

Huard is a college football analyst for FOX Sports, and he’s called multiple Kansas State games over the last few years. During that time, Huard saw Anudike-Uzomah “grow his game” in a major way.

“He grew physically. He was a 210-pound kid that came to camp there at Kansas State out of Kansas City that many people did not recruit highly because of that size, and he’s grown into a 255-pound edge difference-maker,” Huard said. “He (measured in at) 6 foot 3, 255 at the combine (with) 33.5-inch arms, long arms, heavy hands, and he knows how to use them. He played a little bit as a freshman and then the last two years was a dominant player in the Big 12.”

In 2021, Anudike-Uzomah led the nation with six forced fumbles while picking up 11 sacks. And in 2022 with “really no other pass rushers around him,” Anudike-Uzomah still tallied nine sacks.

“In two years, you’re talking production. In two years, you’re talking growing the game. Sitting down with him personally, the guy loves ball,” Huard said, later adding, “What this kid did from Year 2 to Year 3 even though the numbers were better Year 2 was in Year 3, he refined his game. He learned how to set up moves.”

Kansas State won the Big 12 last year and Anudike-Uzomah was “a key cog” in that happening, Huard said.

Where could Seattle Seahawks draft Felix Anudike-Uzomah?

The Seahawks have some of the best capital in this year’s draft as they’re armed with two picks in each of the first two rounds. So where could they realistically get Anudike-Uzomah? Huard says he’s likely going in the late-first round or in the second round.

“He’s a 3-4 (defensive) end. He could slide in, but at 255, he’s a little bit of a tweener. That makes me a little nervous. I’d like him a little bit bigger, which is why you’re going to see in my top 10 names that are bigger, stronger and even a little faster than Felix,” he said. “But if they take Felix if he falls to the second round and he’s sitting there at the end of the second round, you’re gonna get a guy that knows the game, you’re gonna get a guy that can make a move and make a counter move, you’re gonna get a guy with long arms that can hold the point and you’re gonna get a guy that loves to play the game of football.”

Listen to the full draft profile at this link or in the player below.

More Seahawks draft profiles from Brock Huard

• ‘Explosive’ Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith
• TCU’s Dee Winters is a ‘run-and-hit missile’ linebacker
• K-State CB Julius Brents could be Sherman-esque steal
• Standout USC DL Tuli Tuipulotu fits Seahawks’ scheme
• The late-round ‘monster’ Wisconsin LB that Seattle should draft
• The massive ‘man eater’ Baylor nose tackle Siaki Ika
• Brock’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: Kansas State RB Deuce Vaughn

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