Jeremiah: Potential Seahawks OL targets in ‘sweet spot’ of draft

We’re just three weeks away from starting to find out who will be in the next class of rookies to don Seattle Seahawks uniforms.

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The NFL Draft gets underway April 24 in Green Bay, Wisc., and many eyes will be on the Seahawks as they hold five picks in the top 92. Most notably, those watching will be following along closely to see how Seattle addresses its needs on the offensive line.

The Seahawks could go after an O-lineman with the 18th overall pick in the first round, but they could go elsewhere and address the trenches later.

During his return to Brock and Salk on Thursday, NFL Network insider Daniel Jeremiah shared a few offensive linemen the Seahawks could target after the first round of the draft. That came with a caveat, though, as FOX football analyst and former NFL quarterback Brock Huard shared what he’s hearing Seattle is coveting in offensive lineman.

“In chatting with the folks around there a little bit … they say, ‘Hey, first-step quickness is a priority.’ It’s a premium if you’re going to run this kind of zone-blocking scheme,” Huard said.

With first-step quickness in mind, Jeremiah highlighted USC center Jonah Monheim, Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson and Oregon State guard Joshua Gray.

Monheim was a four-year starter at USC who made the transition from tackle to center last season. He also played some guard from the Trojans. The 6 foot 4, 307-pounder made a combined 46 starts in college and was a third-team All-Big Ten selection last season.

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“Now his issue has just been a little bit of strength anchor,” Jeremiah said. “But (if) you’re talking just first-step quickness, can you get out and move? He’s outstanding with that, and he’s really, really smart on top of that. So that’s more like third, fourth-round type.”

Jackson, a 6-4, 315-pound former five-star recruit, helped the Buckeyes win the national title while earning second-team All-America honors last season. The three-time All-Big Ten honoree played left guard throughout most of his college career, but kicked out to left tackle for nine games for the Ohio State in 2024. He also has a wealth of experience, starting 40 games over this final three college seasons.

“I think Donovan Jackson plays with quickness out of Ohio State,” Jeremiah said. “He’s my 41st player. I think he’s going to go in the second round, probably top half of the second round would be my guess.”

Gray was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection before the conference experienced a mass exodus. He started a program-record 56 games over five seasons with the Beavers. The 6-foot 5, 299-pounder allowed only one sack and committed only one penalty in 12 games after moving from left tackle to left guard last season.

“Joshua Gray from Oregon State is someone who can really move, has got excellent quickness, is a good football player,” said Jeremiah, who noted Gray as a likely fourth-round pick. “You’re just trying to get around the (lack of) length.”

The ‘sweet spot’ of the draft

General manager and president of football operations John Schneider has a history of trading back in or out of the first round during his tenure with the Seahawks. Recently, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell proposed a trade that had Seattle dealing its first-rounder to the Cleveland Browns for guard Wyatt Teller, a second-round pick and a third-rounder.

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Jeremiah said he’d need to give a closer look to Teller’s recent play to judge the viability of the proposal, but he does the like the idea of getting more picks on the second day of the draft.

“I think that’s kind of the sweet spot for what this draft is,” Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah said that’s because of the lack of top-end talent in this year’s draft, which has led to a large disparity in how teams view certain players.

“You can talk to one team and they’re like this guy is going to go in the 50s, and you talk to another team and (it says) this (same) guy is going to go in the teens,” he said. “That’s the range. It’s all over the map.”

How rare is that?

“I would say it’s become more commonplace over the last few years … but this year they’re lower-graded (players this year),” Jeremiah said. “Like on our (NFL.com) grading scale, in years past we might have more like 6.4, 6.5, 6.7-type grades, and there’s some similarities with some teams. And this year it’s like the whole draft is just full of 6.3s, which are like traditional second-round-type players.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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