Huard: What recent signing may signal for Seahawks in the draft
Mar 22, 2024, 12:51 PM | Updated: 12:54 pm
Johnathan Hankins of the Dallas Cowboys makes a tackle on Nov. 5, 2023. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
(Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks added two more veteran defenders on Tuesday, agreeing to one-year deals with safety K’Von Wallace and defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins.
Seattle Seahawks Offseason Tracker: Free agency and more
These moves come as the initial “wave” of free agency has started to slow down, and with just over one month remaining before the 2024 NFL Draft begins.
“(Are these moves) helping us figure out what the heck they’re going to do in the draft?” Mike Salk asked his co-host Brock Huard during Wednesday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.
Replied Huard, “Yeah, I think a little bit, Salk.”
That’s especially true with the addition of Hankins, Huard said.
Defensive tackle was seen as an area of need for the Seahawks this offseason as they had a bottom-three run defense each of the last two years. At 320 pounds, Hankins is a big run-stuffing defender for new head coach Mike Macdonald’s defense.
“I was just looking at some of the draft previews just in totality of the group and you know what this year’s interior defensive line has? A bunch of really athletic like 290-pounders,” Huard said. ” … Kid out of Michigan, Kris Jenkins Jr., he’s just an unbelievable guy and is made of everything you want, but he’s a smaller frame (for a defensive tackle) at about 290 (pounds). The kid out of Illinois (Johnny Newton) is the same way. The guy out of Florida State (Braden Fiske) is the same way. You know what ‘Hank’ is? Hank’s a big ole man, like 330 pounds (big). Do you know what Macdonald had at Michigan? You know what he had at Baltimore? Space eaters, big 330 (pound guys).”
Huard thinks that kind of size is key for Macdonald moving forward, and that it’s not something that’s in high supply when it comes to this year’s draft class.
“You know what you don’t find in this draft other than Maason Smith out of LSU and certainly T’Vondre Sweat out of Texas? You don’t find a lot of that bulk,” Huard said. “So again, I think it leads to them making this decision in free agency, a one-year deal here, let’s fill this gap because we’re not going to find a lot of those body types in this upcoming draft.”
Listen to the full second hour of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player near the top of this story.
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