RENTON, Wash. — When the Seattle Seahawks were terrorizing the rest of the NFL in the early 2010s, they had a unique blend of great players with unique personalities. From Richard Sherman to Kam Chancellor to Michael Bennett to Red Bryant, that locker room was packed with alphas both on and off the field.
The Legion of Boom is no more — linebacker Bobby Wagner, the last guy on the boat, was unceremoniously discarded in the 2022 offseason and signed with, of all teams, the Los Angeles Rams. And the offense that set the league alight isn’t quite what it used to be — not with Russell Wilson in Denver, and Marshawn Lynch wherever he is — through it did look pretty good on Monday night Football.
For the Seahawks to redefine their franchise in a positive way, they’ll have to get some new alphas with their own ways of doing things. And it appears they did just that when they selected Washington State right tackle Abraham Lucas in the third round of the 2022 draft.
One thing that stood out to me about Lucas — beyond the college tape that had me ranking him as the fifth-best tackle in this class — was a story presented to me by NFL.com’s Eric Edholm, a longtime friend of the program.
Washington State OT Abe Lucas was bored at 3 am as a freshman and started ripping this song on his Fender in his dorm
Got a noise violation for it
“Still worth it,” Lucas said
Adjust the rankings, @NFL_DougFarrar pic.twitter.com/dZxhkqCsCV
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) March 3, 2022
As I have been a guitar player since age 13, and my tastes tend to lean metallic, this certainly piqued my interest. I was beholden to avoid adjusting Lucas’ ranking based on his musical taste for professional reasons, but this is when you start rooting for a guy.
My first encounter with Lucas happened last Thursday, as I visited the Seahawks’ facility to get the lowdown on Monday night’s matchup with Russell Wilson and his Denver Broncs. I got that, but as legendary director Marty DiBerghi said at the beginning of “This is Spinal Tap,” I got more… a lot more. I was able to talk with Lucas about football, guitars, metal in general, and the art and science of the perfect pancake block.
Lucas is a local native who played his high-school ball at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett (about 30 miles away from Washington’s capital), so when we say that Abraham Lucas is the most interesting man in Seattle, it’s a homegrown thing.
Read on, and you’ll understand.