Assessing Seattle Seahawks Slot Cornerback Options Prior to OTAs

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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Last season, Devin Witherspoon took the NFL ORG by storm, primarily thriving out of the slot. But is that where he's going to be at moving forward with coach Mike McDonald PERSON, or does the new coach have some new wrinkles up his sleeve in the secondary? We'll be working it all down on our Wednesday edition of Locked on Seahawks WORK_OF_ART.

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You are Locked on Seahawks, your daily Seattle Seahawks ORG podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

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Greetings 12s. This is Corbett Smith, host the Locked on Seahawks podcast, your daily Seahawks podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Glad to be joined here on our Wednesday episode by my coast and crime Rob Rang PERSON. And a special thanks to all the 12s that are tuning in, whether you're listening in Houston, Texas, or over in Portugal GPE. We greatly appreciate each and every one of you for making locked on Seahawks ORG, your first list in five days a week.We're going to be continuing our pre-OTAs position group breakdowns. We're going to have our defensive position group rankings. And we're going to take a look at the slot cornerback situation. Devin Witherspoon and company in Mike McDonald's PERSON defense and our latest undrafted rookie free agent profiles. It's a jam-packed episode coming your way, courtesy of FanDuel ORG. Make every moment more right now. New customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning$5 bet. That's $150 with any winning $5 bet. Visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. Now for your lead story here on our Wednesday edition of Locked on Seahawks WORK_OF_ART. A year ago, the Seahawks were breaking in their top five pick Devin Witherspoon PERSON. Many were wondering how they were going to be deploying the former Illinois ORG star. He ended up finishing fourth in rookie of the yearballoting, many, including myself, believed that was much lower than it should have been, but nonetheless was a finalist and finished fourth in balloting for rookie of the year honors on the defensive side of the ball. And many of his contributions happened from the slot last year, the vast majority where he was able to really be disruptive and put up a historical stat line. So looking towards his sophomore season, Rob PERSON, obviously the general consensus probably is, even with the new coach and Mike McDonald PERSON,he's loved to blitz his corners in the past. Devin Witherspoon PERSON seems like the type of weapon that he's going to want to continue playing inside for the majority of the slot reps. And yet at the same time, this guy was invested in a top five pick now two years ago. He has been an outside shutdown corner in the past at Illinois ORG. So there may be some differences in how he ends up deploying that position. And maybe we might see a few other guys mixed in in the slot.

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Yeah, I really think that this is the most fascinating decision that Mike McDonald PERSON has to make on the defensive side of the ball. As you just articulated, you know, Devin Witherspoon PERSON was a superstar, but primarily inside at that nickel cornerback spot. Now, he was on the field for roughly 700, 750 plays this past season, the defensive side of the ball as well as special teams, and 400 of them were inside at that nickel corner spot. Another 300 were outside.So it's not like Devin Witherspoon PERSON has not shown the ability to play outside. But to your point, Corbyn PERSON, so many of the big plays when it came in coverage, when it came as a run defender, when it came as a blitzer and a pass rusher, came when he was lined up inside at the slot. And obviously, you are just that much closer to the quarterback, that much more opportunities for blitz packages and things of that nature.It would seem logical to just to keep Devin Witherspoon PERSON where he is. If it's not broke, don't fix it, kind of a mentality. And considering the fact that the Seahawks drafted two corners that have extensive experience on the outside this year with Mike McDonnell PERSON, of course, on staff, that would seem to suggest that the Seahawks ORG are in fact going to follow that path. At the same time, I think that they have some quality nickel cornerback behind Devin-Witherspoon that they should maybe be considering at that spotand just allowing, as you said it, a former top five pick to excel outside because obviously that is where the vast majority of these superstar wide receivers play the vast majority of their snaps as well. And then maybe have the ability to move Devin Witherspoon PERSON inside and out, as he did, of course, under P. Carroll PERSON.So that to me is what's going to be interesting. Again, those nickel corners that the Seahawks ORG already have, I think that the depth chart right now, I think you have to go with the incumbent in Artie Burns PERSON, who behind only Devin-Wither Spoon hit was second most on the Seahawks ORG a year ago in terms of snaps from inside.I think that we, that's where you start the conversation about, say, Kobe Bryant PERSON, where does he fit? He was third on Seattle's roster in terms of, you know, nickel corner reps a year ago. Trey Brown PERSON is a player that I've always been intrigued by his physicality and awareness moving back inside, although he has played almost exclusively outside. And then I think the rookie as well, DJ James from Auburn, the second of the two fourth round selections, I think would be, you know, an interesting candidate to move inside as wellagain, because of his awareness, because of his physicality. But there is no doubt about the best cornerback on the field for the Seahawks is Devin Witherspoon PERSON. And that's why you've got to basically figure out what his best spot is and adjust the rest of your secondary behind him.

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This really comes down to a little bit at least a philosophical debate here. And I feel like last year that Pete Carroll made it pretty clear what he thought about this predicament by the fact that Devin Witherspoon played more than half of his snaps on defense playing inside. The predicament here philosophically is just how valuable is that slot defender in today's NFL ORG. And I certainly believe I'm a subscriber to the idea that this is as important of a position in the secondary as you can have right now because of the way that offenses have changed. And think about in the NFC West, you've got Debo Samuel PERSON, you've got Cooper Cup and all the stud receivers that are in this division that do a lot of their work from the inside. Having a standout corner in the slot is imperative,especially in this division. With those two-way goes, it is an imperative position to really put your resources into and be able to find quality players there. And at the same time, as you were mentioning a moment ago, you still have to contend with the stud receivers in the outside more than the guys in the inside. And so we've seen Pete Carroll PERSON in the past. He wasn't somebody that liked to have his corners travel. I really curious to see what Mike McDonald does here because Devin Witherspoon PERSON has that kind of talent. He's thatrare athlete and skill player at the cornerback spot that you can have travel with the best receiver, whether it's inside or out, both sides of the boundary. You can do that if you want to. And so I really want to see philosophically as a head coach with his defensive background. What Mike McDonald does, because no offense to the corners Baltimore ORG had last year, Marlon Humphreys PERSON had a really good career. But I don't know that he's had a guy with this upside who is this good playing inside and out, like what Devin Witherspoon PERSON offers. And so I'mwondering, is he going to be sticking with the status quo, how he's handled that slot spot in the past? Or is this going to be a special exemption because, well, this guy is an incredible talent. And I can do a lot of different things. I can get away with other things moving him around. We know how aggressive he likes to be blitzing his secondary players. So Witherspoon PERSON checks off a lot of those boxes.I'm just wondering how he's going to deploy him. And if he isn't going to be the one that's playing most of the snaps inside, there are some other intriguing options. I'm glad that you mentioned Arty Burns because that wasn't a name I was even thinking about, but he actually looked pretty solid last year in his first extensive action plan inside. That may be the only way that he can keep his roster spot with this football team. And Kobe Bryant, he's only two years removed from a rookieseason where he forced four fumbles and second half of the year only gave up one touchdown in the slot. He really made marked improvement than his toe injury last year, limited to him to only a handful of games. And he's kind of become an afterthought with the two rookies, Nehemiah Pritch and DJ James PERSON being drafted.James is the one of those two players, even though he actually has less career snaps at the college level in the slot than what Nehemiah Pritchett PERSON does. He's the one that when I look at skill set-wise and film seems to me like the better fit to play inside. And oh, by the way, that's where the Seahawks ORG were playing him in rookie mini-camp, especially on Saturday.So that looks to be something they're looking into for him. He's a little bit more of a, he's not a thick built corner, but he's got more meat on his bones than what Nehemiah Pritchett PERSON does. And Pritchett PERSON, with his speed, he looks like a pure boundary corner to me. But James is a guy to keep a very close eye on because he is willing to come up and hit people. He's got physicality to his game.He likes to press. And I think he can handle those two-way goes playing in the slots. So there's a number of names to look at. Heck, Kvon Wallace PERSON is another name we get throwing there. Kvon Wallace PERSON has played a lot of snaps in the slot in his career as well. So it's not like Mike McDonald PERSON isn't going to have options in his disposal. If he hasn't to say, look, I don't want this stud corner to just play primarily inside. I want to be able to move around. You have some flexibility there with other options,whether it's rookies or returning veterans, who have enough talent capability to be able to play significant snaps in nickel. And in dime packages, you might have two of these guys in the field together.

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You know, exactly, especially in the dime packages. And I love the fact that you just mentioned that the dominant slot receivers that the CX ORG are going to have to go up against in the NFC West, especially Debo Samuel, Cooper Cup, you know, Pooka Nakua, of course, of the L.A. Rams ORG as well. And then when you have such a dynamic running quarterback threat like Kyla Murray in Arizona GPE, then the Cardinals ORG obviously very dangerous also.The other thing is, I'm sure Corby PERSON, there's going to be some listeners out there. They were just saying, what about, say, a guy like A Rik W Wollin or the corner who started opposite him a lot of the year ago. Mike Jackson PERSON, of course, was, you know, recently had his contract, you know, resettled. Both of those two guys are a little bit bigger and more physical, you know, longer. It's certainly in the case of Wollin PERSON, much, much faster. And some of their questions have been about playing, you know, tighter to the box,like in the case of Rick Wolland PERSON. So with Mike Jackson PERSON, I think that basically is best to leave the veteran on the outside the game because we have so many moving parts here. But I do think that it's worth noting that the one coach, of course, that was retained by the Seahawks is the defensive backs coach Carl Scott PERSON. And so that is one thing that Mike McDollal PERSON obviously is going to have his thoughts on this,and Dirty as well as defensive coordinator. But I think it's key that Carl Scott PERSON obviously has a great deal of experience. He knows Devin Witherspoon as well as the rest of the Seahawks ORG defensive backs, even better than McDonnell than Dirty do at this point with any other position.

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That might provide a little more certainty than what you're going to see elsewhere, because he is the only returning assistant off Pete Carroll's PERSON staff from a year ago. At the same time, Mike McDonald may overrule some of the things that Carl Scott wants to do. It's going to bea little bit of a negotiating effort on this front. So I am curious to see whether they're going to do that slot position because, again, Devin Witherspoon PERSON is just a different level of talent for Mike McDonald compared to other players that he's had. So I'm really fascinated to see what he's going to do that slot position because, again, Devin Witherspoon PERSON is just a different level of talent for Mike McDonald compared to other players that he's had.So I'm really fascinated to see what he's going to do on that front and how it has ripple effects and the rest of this secondary. When we return, we're going to be looking at the defense as a whole post draft and ranking our positional groups. We did offense yesterday, which one stand out as the greatest strengths? And one of the biggest question marks for the Seahawks now that we are closing in on the start of OTAs and eventually training camp in the 2024 season.You're listening to the Locked-on Seahawks WORK_OF_ART podcast. This episode is brought your way by our friends over at Fanduil ORG. It's playoff time in the NBA and NHL ORG. Baseball's in full swing. And Fandu ORG is your place to bet on every game. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed. That's $150, win or lose.Do you think Keal McCar PERSON has a hat trick coming for the avalanche? They look to go up to go up 2-0 versus the stars in the second round in the NHL playoffs. Is George Kirby going to strike out 10 or more for the Mariners on the mountain his next start? Do you think that Nicole Yokic is going to bounce back in game three with 20 plus points against the Minnesota Timberwolves? You can bet on it all an app that is safe, secure, and easy to use. So what are you waiting for? Visit fanduel.com slash locked on and make your first bet an automatic win. Fan duel America's number one sports book.You're listening to the Wednesday edition of Locked on Seahawks WORK_OF_ART. I'm your host, Corbett Smith PERSON. Glad to be joined, as always, by my host and crime. Rob Rang PERSON and a special thanks to all the 12s that are tuning in and making Locked on Seahawks your first list in five days a week. We greatly appreciate it.Just a little bit of a programming note, we will have another coach from our NFL ORG draft coaches series joining for a bonus episode tomorrow. So stay tuned for the link when that drops. Can't wait to break down another one of Seattle ORG's incoming draft picks. Let's get back to our post-draft positional rankings.Yesterday, Rob PERSON, you and I were talking about the offensive side of the football. We had seven position groups. Defense, it's a little bit more, a little less specific, a little bit more broad when you have five position groups. But as we go through these rankings, we might break apart some of these position groups a little bit explaining why we ranked them where we did.And again, this is based on post-draft, where things stand with the draft class, the undrafted rookies, the free agent signings, really most of the moves in the barn at this point. How is your list breaking down on defense? Rob, I guess we'll start with the bottom of the totem pole. What is the group that is taking up the rear that you think might be the biggest concernfor the Seahawks ORG on defense at this stage?

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Well, I don't know if that was a Freudian slip, I guess, or, you know, but they do take up the rear. And the deep secondary, the safety position is going to be the position I'm going to focus in on here as I feel like is the weakest of Seattle ORG's current defense. Look, I'm intrigued by the addition of Ray Sean Jenkins and Kvon Wallace PERSON. But once you are making a switch from pro bowl players like Cawandre Diggs PERSON andJamal Adams PERSON, say what you will about the durability issues that he had, you know, he still was a weapon when he was healthy and certainly Julian Love PERSON as well. But obviously Julian Love is returning to the Seahawks ORG. I'm excited about Jerich Reed PERSON as well.You know, we talked about Kobe Bryant just a couple of moments ago and his positional versatility. There are some intriguing parts back there and that secondary, but at this point, it basically feels like it's a position group that we don't exactly know. It's kind of like what Mike McDonnell said when he first signed on with the Seahawks ORG, is he doesn't know what the Seahawks ORG do well yet.We don't really know what these safeties do well yet for the Seahawks ORG. We can tell you that Ray Sean Jenkins and Kvon Wallace PERSON are both physical and will come up aggressively in run support, but there have been some times they've been beaten in coverage. Julian Love, of course, proved his ability and coverage and his instincts a year ago for the CX. So right now, Corbyn, I think that Julian Love PERSON has got to be the safety. You feel best about apass coverage. I fully expect Ray Sean Jenkins PERSON to be their most physical run stuffer of the safety

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position this year. Yeah, you and I are going to be different on the end of our list here, although safety is going to be one of my bottom two, because I agree with you. There is some uncertainty there. And the fact of the matter is Ray Sean Jenkins PERSON has been a good, not great starter for most of his career. And Kvon Wallace was on three different teams last year, even though I thought he played well for the Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals. He had a really difficult time keeping a job. And so you're talking about some one and two year contracts on journeymen to an extent. And then Julian Love pro bowler last year, but the play was very up and down, particularlyearly in the season. I want to see if he can replicate how he did the second half and do it for an entire year. Can he play at that level in Mike McDonald's PERSON defense? So I have my questions about safety, but I actually am going a little different direction here. I've still got the off ball linebacker standing out as the biggest weakness for the Seahawks ORG defense. Because when I look at what they did this offseason, Jerome Baker has been a solid starter in the league at six years of the dolphins. But he's never been a pro bowler, never been an all pro kind of player, got cut earlier in the off season. So he is a solid stop gap at minimum, but I don't know that he'sa long-term option. Tyrell Dodson, he started 10 games last year. He had five starts his entire career before last season. That still feels like somebody there's not a big enough sample size to really know what you have there. And then the player that they drafted, Tyre's Knight PERSON, I think, has a very high ceiling as a fourth round pit. With that said, I had a sixth round grade on it because I feel like his game is very unpolished,particularly when it comes to instincts, reading keys and not getting baited on misdirection. There are a lot of things he's got to clean up in his game. I don't know when we're going to see him ready to play on defense moving forward. So I just don't feel like this is a position group that Seattle ORG has a true long-term solution right now unless Tyrese Knight develops into that player. And there's a lot of questions about that. And you get two veteransthat are on one of your deals. John Radigan PERSON, we don't know what's going to happen with him. Maybe they do the same thing they did with Mike Jackson, his contract. But there's a drop off with very little experience of this roster after the first two guys. And Tyrell Dodson isn't exactly a season event. He's mostly been a special team's guy. So I've got linebacker last to my list. I've got safety at four because at least you do have players like Julian Love and Ray Sean Jenkins who have been quality starters for multiple years in the league. There's positional versatility there.There are certainly question marks there as well, though.

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No, there's no doubt about it. And I think just real quick on those offball lineback, because that was my next position of group. I was going to list here fourth of the five defensive positions here. You know, I am intrigued by Tyrell Dotson and Tyrese Knight PERSON in particular, those two. Jerome Baker, I feel like is the most polished of the bunch. I think he's going to be a quality starter for the CX, perhaps better in coverage than what Seattle ORG has seen at the offball linebacker position since the great K.J. Wright PERSON was in his prime. But at the same time, I don't thinkthat he is going to provide the physicality, the Tyroo Donson and Tyrese Knight and perhaps John Radigan PERSON. To me, those are the top four inside linebackers or offball linebackers, as we're calling him. I think on the roster at this point, I'm really intrigued by Drake Thomas as well, NC State, a guy that signed a year ago as a free agent. I thought like the Seac stole him from the Raiders ORG. It remains to be seen, of course, that what he's going to be able to do for Siop PERSON, he's going to be healthy for his full return. You know, Patrick O'Connell PERSON is another one. But at the same time, again, to me,there are the top three positions, which you might be able to see up there already, defensive tackle, cornerback, and edge rushers for me. And then I think there's a drop-off. I think that off-ball linebacker and safety to me are definitely the two lower position of groups. So transitioning here to the edge rushes, Corby. I am as intrigued by what Seattle ORG could have at the edge rusher position as just about anybody, I believe. There's no doubt about, we talked at nauseam about the drop-off that we sawwhen the Seax ORG did and did not have a healthy Eucharine Nuo on the field for them. Obviously, that the pass rush skills of Boi Amofi PERSON started to blossom a year ago, but are they really going to get better? Or is this kind of as good as things you're going to get? That, of course, is going to be one of the fascinating storylines.I am speaking of fascinating. I am fascinated by Daryl Taylor PERSON. That burst, that bend. I think in a defense that has a little bit more to protect him, I think he could have a splashy season. So again, Derek Hall, of course, the second round pick from a year ago.There's just so many intriguing storylines about the CX ORG edge rushers. I feel like we should dedicate, you know, not only entire segment, but entire show to them here soon.

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Yeah, that really is a boom or bust position as much as any because it feels like there could be three or four players that really have strong seasons, but we just haven't seen consistency from Darrell Taylor PERSON, particularly in the run defense aspect. We don't know what to expect in year two from Derek Hall PERSON. What does year three look like for boy, Mafei PERSON?Can he build off last year or is he going to have trouble replicating the success that he had? And you've got a new scheme on top of it. So there's going to be a lot of questions there. I'm in agreement with you. I've got it at number three. It feels like a middle of the road position group for the Seahawks ORG.As far as the top two, this one was actually kind of tricky for me. And it's surprising because in the past, and we talked about this two months ago, I had a corner head and shoulders above every other position group here in Seattle drafted two quarters on day three to add to the group. But you bring in Byron Murphy the second with your 16th overall pick. That defensive line that already had Leonard Williams PERSON,Draymont Jones, Jaron Reed PERSON. You've got Mike Morris PERSON coming back. You added Jonathan Hankins PERSON. That makes it tricky here for me to just say, oh, this is all about the corners. But I'm still going corners first because I just think Devin Witherspoon has the potential to be a perennial all pro weapon in the second year. I'm not even going to call him a corner.I'm not going to call him a safety. I'm going to call him a weapon. He's that kind of a player. Rieke Wollin PERSON, I'm really curious to see how he responds to playing for a different coach because Pete Carroll got so much out of him as a rookie. Last year was a little bit more of a struggle for him. What do you see from him in his third season? You've got Mike Jackson PERSON. He gotTrey Brown, both guys that are very capable of being a starter on the outside. And then you've got some other solid veterans like Artie Burns PERSON. I still think Kobe Bryant PERSON can play. I'm just trying to figure out where he's going to fit into this puzzle with all the talent and young players. The Seahawks ORG have in the secondary. I still feel like the corner spot is the best on defense. But I think that the margin between them and the defensive line has closed.And that should be really good news for the Seattle Seahawks. And the corners should be excited about that too, because that means more past rushing from the interior to go with their edge rushers. And maybe that makes life a little easier for that corner group that's already got a lot of talent. Yeah, no question about it.

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And you mentioned all the names as far as the defensive line group, which again, I have as the top group here. But it's just the fact that I was surprised that Seattle ORG was able not only to retain Leonard Williams and draft Byer Murphy the second, but also bring in a true noseguard in Jonathan Hankins, who of course, Adam Dirty PERSON is going to know very well from their time together in Dallas. I am excited about the possibilities of, you know, the big Michigan defensive line. And Mike, Mike, I'm spacing as the last name.

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Mike Morris PERSON. Mike Morris, exactly. Almost said Mike McDonald PERSON there, but I think he's going to be playing a different role on Seac Sunday. But anyways, as well as Cameron Young PERSON, you know, as well as,

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you know, Seattle ORG's entire defensive line to me feels like a legitimate game-wracking possible unit. And that's one of the things that's most intrigued by. As we talked about so many times, of course, this unit struggled in run defense a year for the last several years now. But it feels like they got one of the best run stuffers in all of the NFL, in my opinion, in Jonathan Hankins PERSON and free agency. Not that they can play a lot of roles, but that one specific role, I feel that he can be very, very effective in.You've got one of the toughest defensive linemen remains on your team in Jaron Reed PERSON. Now, I was kind of questioning if that was going to be the case. Leonard Williams' versatility, Byron Murphy's PERSON upside explosiveness. To me, there's so many things. Oh, by the way, Dremont Jones, who should be just kind of chomping at the bit to prove that last year was just a, you know, just a tough season. And I do think that he has the talent to really to excel in Mike McDonald's system with Mike Morris PERSON next to him. And so again, I just am so intrigued by this defensive tackle group that that's why I'm listing them above. I think that you can make a strong argument as you did, sir, with cornerbackbeing listed as Seattle's top group. But I do think that this is the group that if the CX ORG are going to make a real postseason run, this is going to have to be the group that leads them to

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that. When we come back, we're going to continue our undrafted rookie profiles. We're going to be on offense at receiver and on defense looking at Nelson Caesar PERSON. Going to be having some fun here looking at a couple prospects to Seahawks ORG sign his priority free agents. That'll be coming up next year on our Wednesday edition of Locked on Seahawks WORK_OF_ART. This episode is brought your way by Monopoly Go PRODUCT. All right, we are officially game off here.We got to pause to talk more about Monopoly Go PRODUCT. And I know what you're saying. There's a flag on the play. You already talked about that, but there's just so much good stuff in this game. And Monopoly Go PRODUCT, you can team up with your friends for time tournaments. You can work together to build up each other's boards. The more you win together, the more awesome prizes you unlock. And there's so much you can get, such as unique stickers you can trade with friends to complete albums for big prizes. They've got cool new playing pieces to travel your boardswith and hilarious emojis for taunting friends when you smash their buildings and you don't have to worry about getting fined by Roger Goodell. Plus, Monopoly Go feels new and exciting every day. With constantly changing tournaments and challenges, a ton of those include unique mini games like Digging for Treasure WORK_OF_ART or the robot machine. And there's always new timed events that help you win big like massive multipliers for everything you win or rent frenzies. There's always something fun to discover a Monopoly Go PRODUCT.So get off the bench and go download it now for free on Google Play ORG or on the app store. Game on. You're listening to the Wednesday edition of Locked On Seahawks. This is your host, Corbett Smith PERSON. Glad to be joined as always by my Coast in Crime, Rob Rang PERSON. And a special thanks to all the 12s out there that are listening in.And making Locked on Seahawks are your first list in five days a week. We greatly appreciate your support. Continuing our undrafted rookie signy profiles, we've covered four players to this point. We've looked at a lot of big school undrafted free agents. And that's going to change up things a little bit here today because we are going to an FCS program used to be at FBS school. But the Idaho Vandals in the Kibbe Dome FAC may now playin the FCS again. They took a step backwards. But one player that has been very much on the rise, the last couple of years, as a potential NFL player, wide receiver, Hayden Hatton PERSON, coming from the Vandals ORG. And Rob PERSON, I know that this is somebody that you have followed closely who actually got to watch him perform at his pro day this off season. So break down Hayden Hatton PERSON a little bit because this is a guy with over a thousandreceiving yards each of the last two years. Oh, by the way, he got 93 receptions and nine touchdowns last year. I don't care what level you're playing at. Those are incredible numbers. And this kid's got a lot of NFL ORG caliber skills as a receiver.

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No, he really does. This is Jake Boba PERSON all over again. I mean, this is a really good football player that the biggest concern about him is straight line speed. He ran a 4-70 at the pro day. He's 6-2. He's 210 pounds. He had a 39-inch vertical jump. So he's got some explosives to him. He catches everything that's in his zip code. He is just a, you know, a saint on and off the field in terms of his practice, practice habits and just who he is as a human being.The people at Idaho, you mentioned the Kidby Dome FAC. I mean, they rave about this young man, as well as his brother, Longstapper, Hogan Hatton PERSON. Just an unbelievable person that you're rooting for. I just question whether or not he has a straight line speed to be able to make this roster. You know, this is a new coaching staff, as we talked about so many times, I don't know that Jake Bobo PERSON is a guarantee to make this roster.This is the team that Ryan Grubb PERSON has prioritized straight line speed in the past at the wide receiver position. You know, you think back to those husky guys, Adunze and, you know, Jailen McMillan and, you know, and Jailen Polk, I mean, they were all four-four guys. And so, again, you know, Jalen McMillan and, you know, and Jalen Polk PERSON. I mean, they were all four, four guys. And so again, I think that that is going to be a struggle for Hayden Hatton PERSON.But in terms of his hands, in terms of his route running, in terms of his body control, in terms of his ability on special teams, ability to make the big play in big moments. I mean, he was huge in Idaho's win over Montana, a team that they don't beat very often. But unbelievable player. As you mentioned some of the statistics, in the last 25 games, Corbyn, he's got 25 touchdowns. He's got almost 2,500 receiving yards. I mean, he is just the epitome of consistency. Again, it's this lack of elite 40-yard dash time.I had an argument, same thing with Nelson Caesar PERSON. The second, the edge rusher from Houston, you look at his production, nine and a half sacks led the Big 12 this past season, but also ran a 4.89 40-yard dash time. And when you're 6.3, 250 pounds, I don't know that that's going to cut it. But then there's no doubt about it. Like Hayden Hatton, I don't know since Caesar PERSON's a terrific football player does a lot of littlethings well. And that could get him a spot on the squad. Yeah, I think when you're looking at these

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two players, in the case of Hayden Hatton PERSON, as you mentioned, there are tons of football skills here. The thing that jumped out to me when I've watched a few Idaho ORG games since he signed with the Seahawks is the ability to win contested catches and jump balls. And that's where that 39 inch vertical comes into play. This is a guy that at Idaho, they just chucked the ball up and said, hey, you go get it. And he can do it. He can go up at high point in the football, win those contested situations. and there's a toughness to him in the way that he runs his route, catching balls over the middle of the field. He's just been a ball magnet when it's thrown his direction. I wonder about the ability to separate. Is that going to be a much bigger problem for him in the NFL than it was in the FCS ORG againstmuch inferior competition? So that's really going to be the question mark. And then when you look at Caesar PERSON, as you mentioned, this is not a guy that had great testing numbers, but when you watch the film, it looks like a different caliber of athlete. And this is a player that's played some off ball linebacker. There's some really fun clips of him doing that, by the way. But Houston moved him around some. Off the edge, he rushes with incredible power for a guy of his size.That is where my biggest problem comes into play. And again, as you mentioned, the production last year, 9.5 sacks, 13 and a half tackles for loss, he was as productive as any edge defender in the Big 12 ORG conference last year at getting after the run and the quarterback. My biggest concern is the way that he did it, the way that he was successful. It wasn't with an explosive first step where he was ripping past people, flying past people.That's not his game. He is a power rusher and at 254 pounds, it's difficult to make a living as a power rusher in the NFL ORG. It's tough to do that. Has it happened before? Absolutely. We've seen guys that can turn speed into power. The issue is going to be, do that. Has it happened before? Absolutely. We've seen guys that can turn speed into power. The issue is going to be, is that going to be translatable at the NFL ORG level? This is what I will say, though, if there is some translating ability there, and he's able to show a few other tricks that he didn't necessarily show at Houston GPE or didn't have to use, this is a positiongroup. Seattle ORG did not draft an edge rusher. They didn't sign anybody else in undrafted free agency that has near the talent that Nelson Caesar does. And there's a big drop off after those first couple of guys, unless you're going to get those big step forward from Darrell Taylor and Derek Hall PERSON. This is a position group where an undrafted rookie could come in and make things interesting because, again, you've got a new coaching staff.Mike McDonald PERSON and company, they don't have any allegiance to these former players that arrived in the Pete Carroll PERSON era. And so if Nelson Caesar is a guy that fits what Mike McDonald PERSON wants at that position, he has a strong on-season program training camp pre-season and he's able to put some of the stuff on tape we saw in college,

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he could very well be a threat, especially with his special team potential to make this football team. Yeah, two block kicks over his career. And as you mentioned, he's got some, he's got power to him. He does have some first step quickness, but it's not explosive enough, I think, to consistently beat NFL ORG tackles. So he is very reliant on his snap anticipation. He had a bunch of penalties a year ago where he wished to tick, a tick too early, but also some of the most impressive sacks that you're ever going to see because he does time the ball right and basically leaves the tackles standing at the altar when he just kind ofgoes by him. I mean, he has an incredible speed rushes. And you talked about the power. I mean, he's got a couple where he locks his arm out and drives guys onto the ground and basically folds him like Kmart ORG chairs. I mean, it is impressive.Some of his highlight Rio PRODUCT plays. At the same time, he is still very raw. He does still need to kind of, you know, you wonder about how big he is. He's going to be able to kind of add any more weight. He's already, when you see a picture of him or those fans out there, he's got kind of a round face and kind of a stocky body. And so I don't know that he's going to be able to add muchgood weight to him. And as I mentioned before, with the 489, 490 40 yard dash time, that's the concern that people had. But, you know, he's a player coming out of Houston, Corbin PERSON. Years ago, the Seahawks were interested in a guy that came out of Texas A&M ORG as an undrafted for agent, Michael Bennett PERSON, that also was a bit of a tweener, that also could incorporate his hands and would surprise people with his initial quickness when he timethe snap right. Frustrate you sometimes with some of the penalties as well. It's a bad comparison, but there is a pathway for this young man to make him into the NFL ORG. And as you just said, the Seahawks ORG perhaps have the best pathway because of the drop off of edge rush of town on their squad.

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As always, you can follow me on X and threads at Corbett Smith NFL ORG. You can follow Rob at Rob Rang PERSON. Make sure to subscribe to Locked-on Seahawks on YouTube ORG or wherever you listen to your podcast to make sure you don't miss a single episode. Coming up tomorrow, we're going to have not one but two episodes. We're going to continue our NFL draft coaches series breaking down one of Seattle ORG'seight incoming draft picks. And it is our annual episode. My mother will be joining as a co-host and we are going to rank every quarterback on the Seahawks ORG schedule. Should be an absolute blast. So make sure you're listening into both those shows. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.And thanks for listening. Go on. Hey, Prime members.

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You can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon Music ORG. Download the Amazon Music app today.