BROCK AND SALK

Seahawks Draft Profiles: Standout Big Ten OL Jones and Tippmann

Apr 14, 2023, 3:58 PM | Updated: 4:05 pm

Skyler Bell of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrate a touchdown with Joe Tippmann and Graham Mertz on Oct. 8, 2022. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

(Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

BY BRANDON GUSTAFSON

Assistant Editor of SeattleSports.com

The Seattle Seahawks knocked their draft out of the park last year and are armed with four picks in the first two rounds this year.

Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider talks draft board, what’s left to do

Seattle did a great job on the offensive line last draft, selecting left tackle Charles Cross in the first round and right tackle Abraham Lucas in the third round. Could the Seahawks find another starter or two in this year’s draft?

In his two most recent draft profiles on Brock and Salk, former NFL quarterback and current FOX college football analyst Brock Huard dove into two standout Big Ten offensive linemen he’d love for the Seahawks to consider early in this year’s draft.

Ohio State OT Dawand Jones

“It’s the biggest prospect in humanity. It’s 6 foot 8, 375 (pounds) with an 87 7/8-inch wingspan and his hands are 11 5/8 inches … He is Dawand Jones,” Huard said on Wednesday.

Jones, a first-team All-American in 2022, was the Buckeyes’ right tackle the last two years and used his incredible size and length to silence opposing pass rushers.

Even though Jones was incredible in college, he’s been overshadowed by his teammate, Parris Johnson, a left tackle who almost certainly will be a first-round pick.

“He’s athletic and he moves and he’s a left tackle,” Huard said of Johnson. “Dawand Jones is truly a mountain of a man.”

“He’s not a mover with his feet. He’s a mover of earth. He’s an excavator,” Huard added of Jones. “And then all of a sudden that mountain that you dig out, that’s Dawand Jones.”

Right tackle isn’t a position of need by any means for the Seahawks after Lucas’ standout rookie campaign, but Huard thinks the Seahawks could move Lucas to guard and he’d still shine as Jones would then slide in at right tackle.

“And are you minimizing (Lucas’) great length? Yeah, you are to a degree. You are because he’s a bonafide, studly right tackle with long arms himself. But man, you just want to truly crush the edge of a defense? … That’s what this guy (Jones) does,” Huard said.

Jones has rare size and measurables, but Huard is worried there may be a medical issue as he hasn’t worked out much this offseason and ESPN’s Mel Kiper, who is connected to teams and scouts across the league, didn’t have Jones going in the first two rounds in his most recent mock draft.

But he’s still a mighty intriguing prospect for the Seahawks and the rest of the NFL.

“At that size, you just don’t see humans walking around that can play football at his level with those metrics,” Huard said.

Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann

While offensive tackle isn’t an area of need for the Seahawks, interior offensive line is.

That’s where Huard’s next player, Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann, comes in to play. He’s one of only three centers Huard thinks will be drafted in the first three rounds.

“I still think even with the addition of Evan Brown that you need to find a young guy that’s going to be the future at that position, or possibly even have the length and the strength to play guard,” Huard said of the Seahawks.

Luke Wypler from Ohio State reminds Huard a lot of former Seahawks center Joey Hunt in terms of lacking ideal NFL size and traits to be a starter at that position.

Minnesota center John Michael Schmitz is a popular name in draft circles, but Huard said he’s “not a tremendous athlete” and is older as he just turned 24. But, Huard said, Schmitz was All-Conference while Tippman, also a center in the Big Ten, was not.

“Obviously the center from Minnesota was productive, but he can’t run, he can’t jump, he’s not as dynamic athletically,” Huard said. “I’m not a fan of that. I want what Joe Tippmann has, which is incredible size.”

When the Seahawks drafted Cross and Lucas last year, they selected great athletes who also possess elite size and length. Huard thinks Tippmann fits that mold, but at an interior spot.

“I want athletes that happen to be huge framed to play offensive line. That’s what Joe Tippman is,” he said.

Tippman is 6-6, 315 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.94 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine. Huard called his measurables “almost prototypical tackle numbers.”

“But he’s got enough bend and enough athleticism to play center, and he played at a pretty good level there at Wisconsin. Not even a good level — he’s played at a great level,” he said.

Tippman, Huard said, is probably a second-round pick, and he thinks he could join the Seahawks and compete to start at either center or guard right away.