Daniel Jeremiah: How Seahawks could stack talent at 1 particular spot

Defensive tackle certainly isn’t high on the list of pressing needs for the Seattle Seahawks.

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They already have a star in Leonard Williams, who is coming off a monster 11-sack season. They have a promising young talent in 2024 first-round pick Byron Murphy II. And if they re-sign veteran Jarran Reed, they’ll return another highly productive piece to their interior defensive front.

But according to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, there’s a golden opportunity in April’s NFL Draft for the Seahawks to continue stacking manpower in the trenches of Mike Macdonald’s defense.

Jeremiah said he currently has potential starter grades on 24 defensive tackles in this year’s draft class – double the number he had at this time last year.

“I’ve never had anything close to that,” Jeremiah said Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “(There’s) literally twice as many defensive tackles in this draft.”

How does that impact a team like the Seahawks, who seemingly have more immediate holes to fill – especially along their oft-criticized offensive line?

One only needs to look at the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

If it’s good enough for Philly…

The Eagles’ defensive front tormented Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the game’s biggest stage this past Sunday, flustering the superstar quarterback with a relentless onslaught of pressure while holding the Chiefs scoreless for nearly three quarters. Philadelphia racked up six sacks and pressured Mahomes on 45% of his dropbacks, despite not blitzing a single time, according to Pro Football Focus. The Eagles also limited Kansas City’s running backs to just 24 yards on seven carries.

And for Philadelphia’s fearsome defensive front, it was a true group effort. Nine defensive linemen played at least 10% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps, including six who played at least 40%. Of those nine defensive linemen, eight recorded at least one pressure, according to PFF.

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“I was talking to a buddy in Philadelphia with the Eagles a while back, and we were talking about some of the other top defensive lines in the league and comparing this team’s starting four versus their starting four,” Jeremiah said. “And he goes, ‘Yeah, but our next starting four are almost as good as their starting four. Like, you can make a case and say their starting versus our starting four? We’ve got four more guys behind those guys.’

“That’s the difference between the Eagles and everybody else. It’s just waves of dudes. And this is a draft, to me, just keep adding to it. Just keep going back to that well.”

In his recent draft prospect rankings, Jeremiah has a whopping seven defensive tackles in his top 50: Michigan’s Mason Graham at No. 4, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant at No. 18, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon at No. 22, Mississippi’s Walter Nolen at No. 26, Florida State’s Joshua Farmer at No. 39, South Carolina’s T.J. Sanders at No. 42 and Texas’ Alfred Collins at No. 50.

And in his recent mock draft, Jeremiah has five of those defensive tackles going in the first round – including the 6-foot-3, 339-pound Grant to the Seahawks with the No. 18 overall pick.

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“You can’t find 340-pound men that move like (him),” Jeremiah said. “And by all accounts, the character is really, really good too. You’ve got some guys who can play up the field, especially with Byron Murphy. And I think about those two guys together going forward – that would be a fun combination.”

But as Jeremiah noted, the defensive tackle surplus extends far beyond the first round or two. He thinks a team like Seattle could get a potential starting-caliber defensive tackle as deep as the fifth round.

“They’ve already got a really good start with what they have, with the pieces there,” Jeremiah said. “I’m just adding depth to it.”

Listen to the full conversation with NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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