By Jared Stanger
Welcome to a new feature on SeaMocks…”Stanger Things” where I will just be compiling miscellaneous thoughts about the draft and the Seahawks. It’s simply just the THINGS that I’m currently thinking about.
- What a great win. Winning in all 3 phases. Winning against a division opponent. Winning at home. Winning on the ground. Winning in the air. And really glad to get that first takeaway. Hope that opens the floodgates a little more.
- I think Christine Michael has earned the starting RB job. He really hadn’t done anything wrong in preseason not to get the gig, but the team seemed to want to go back to Rawls out of, I don’t know, loyalty? In the first two games of the year, Rawls carried 19 times for 25 yards (1.3ypc). Even without including Sunday’s blowout performance with the best OL game we’ve yet seen, CMike had been 25×126 (5.04ypc) versus the same two opponents that Rawls went for 1.3ypc. Maybe Rawls has been better in practices that we haven’t seen, or maybe the team has just been optimistic that Rawls will be 2015 Rawls again, but the fact is: he hasn’t been. And until he is 2015 Rawls, let’s just ride a different train. We still have a ticket on the T-Train when we need it.
- I really loved having the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and Huskies all winning this weekend. After losing my step-grandmother early last week, and hearing all of what is going on with my ailing grandfather down in Texas and what will need to be done next, I really wanted to just escape into sports, and fortunately sports were predominantly uplifting for me this week.
- 2018 Draft. I spent a lot of time recently digging in on OL for the draft. Unfortunately, this won’t be a great OL draft. Especially at OT. But, with underclass declares, the 2018 OT class could be epic.
a. As I mentioned on twitter, Saturday was basically the event horizon for Wisconsin LT Ryan Ramczyk. His was a name that I first saw pop up from PFF a week or two ago, and then I watched what chunks of his tape I could find. Draftbreakdown hasn’t cut him specifically yet, but I borrowed from some guys he played with/against (multiple gifs in tweet thread…click through):Ramczyk is a redshirt Junior and could return for his r-Sr year (Draftscout has him as their 21st-ranked OT for 2018), but at this rate I think he declares and he will become the second-hottest OT commodity behind Cam Robinson of Bama in 2017. Probably off the board before Seattle can even sniff a shot at him.
b. Texas’ Connor Williams is a pretty terrific-looking sophomore LT. Slightly undersized which helps him movement-wise, but he’s also pretty strong. He’ll have 1.5-2.5 years to fill out.c. UW’s Trey Adams. A bigger-bodied guy, but that moves plenty well. Keeps his butt low in his stance, and holds solid pad-level. (Also make sure to check out the pass set in the second tweet.)
d. Pittsburgh’s Brian O’Neill. Actually a redshirt-Sophomore, so he COULD declare this year. But my assumption is that he will return next year, after Pitt Senior LT Adam Bisnowaty has moved on to the NFL, and O’Neill will become the incumbent to play LT in 2017 for the Panthers.
Might also be worth checking out this Pitt OL Draftbreakdown video to watch their LG Dorian Johnson, too. Some good stuff from him, as well (#63 overall).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ18C8_Ha9c - 2017 Draft. There are still some OL talents I’m pretty interested in for 2017. They mostly just seem to either be playing inside, or project best to playing inside.
a. Pat Elflein. Pat is currently playing Center for the Buckeyes, but he could easily move back to RG for a year or two if that is the primary need of his drafting team. I think is my 1a draft wish right now for Seattle.Draftscout has Elflein as their #1 Center, but not until #50 overall. Umm…sign me up at #32. Done deal. (It will never happen.)
b. Forrest Lamp. Currently playing LT, but I’d project him at RT or LG in the league. His performance versus the extremely talented Alabama DL was very encouraging. Draftscout has him as the #300 overall (which is UDFA, and which is pretty negligent on their part).c. Dan Feeney. Feeney is Draftscout’s #1 ranked OG for 2017, and a pretty fairly-ranked overall #29. I don’t have any clever scouting language on him, or cool SPARQ anecdotes. I just think he puts out really good tape.
d. Tyler Orlosky. I watched WVU for about a quarter of their game against BYU and I came away more impressed with Orlosky. He is incredibly stout at the LOS. I’ve recently been seeing other draft writers noting Ethan Pocic’s trouble anchoring…Orlosky is the photo-negative of that. Here he is in 2015:
I don’t know yet if Britt is the long-term answer at Center…certainly I feel better about him today than three months ago…but if Orlosky holds current projection of #115 overall (mid-4th round), you could get him late enough that you can afford to either redshirt him until Britt walks in free agency, or try one of them at RG.
e. And lastly, because I’m intent on finding SOMETHING in the cupboard at LT for 2017, and my previous target Tyrell Crosby just went down for the year injured…this is Avery Gennesy from A&M. 6’5″/310 lbs and he played LT well enough that the Aggies were okay keeping Ifedi at RT. There are some quirks in his game that I also saw in Ifedi’s tape (late hands, etc); which tells me they were both probably coached into those techniques (and, presumably, can be coached out of them). I will watch him again as soon as 2016 tape becomes available, but for now here is a 2015 tape where Gennesy looks really solid, to me.Draftscout has Avery at #107 overall. Very good value.
That’s it for now. I’ll see you out on those mean tweets of Seattle.
Seattle Seamocks 
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