Seahawks draft pass-rushing DE L.J. Collier from TCU at No. 29 overall

The Seattle Seahawks’ pass rush vaulted to the top of their needs after Tuesday’s trade of star defensive end Frank Clark to the Kansas City Chiefs, and they wasted no time rebuilding at that position when the NFL Draft started Thursday.

OK, they wasted a little bit of time.

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The Seahawks picked TCU’s L.J. Collier with the 29th overall selection, waiting until late in their allotted time to make the selection. That was presumably because Seahawks general manager John Schneider was still working out a deal with the New York Giants, who took the No. 30 pick off Seattle’s hands in what was actually the second trade back in the first round by Seattle (full story on that here).

No matter how long it took, the Seahawks got their guy in Collier, a 6-foot-2, 283-pound defensive end. Collier was a bit of a late bloomer with the Horned Frogs, not finding his way into a starting role until his senior season in 2018. He shined when given the opportunity, however, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors with six sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss, 42 total tackles and five QB hits.

Full prospect profile on L.J. Collier

Here’s what 710 ESPN Seattle’s college football insider Brock Huard has to say about Collier:

LJ Collier file for Hawks fans:
-Pro Style system at TCU for DE’s demands technique, accountability & understanding leverage
-Strong, Country Strong w/25 reps of 225. It shows at point of attack
-4.91 forty is good, not great as is 30” vert.
-Hawks went power over twitch/speed

— Brock Huard (@BrockESPN) April 26, 2019

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