As it stands, the Seattle Seahawks have arguably the deepest tight end position group in the NFL. When healthy, the group of Will Dissly, Greg Olsen, Jacob Hollister and Luke Willson is excellent, and gives Seattle a variety of different types of tight ends to work with.
However, Dissly’s injury history is well-documented, and both Olsen and Willson are not going to be around forever – so it might make sense for the Seahawks to pursue a young, developmental tight end through the NFL draft.
One name that Seattle was recently connected to is UCLA’s Devin Asiasi, who NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo mentioned had a video conference call with the Seahawks.
I'll throw out a name here: UCLA TE Devin Asiasi. Mentioned as a Day 3 guy but could be in play Day 2. Lots of teams have done work on him, with the #Jaguars, #Bears and #Seahawks among those who had videoconferences with him recently. Likely a top 5 TE in this draft. https://t.co/hNodG2tGAC
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) April 22, 2020
It’s not clear exactly how many players the Seahawks held video calls with, but it’s safe to say they wouldn’t go through the trouble unless they were at least somewhat interested.
Asiasi has a lot of speed and athleticism for a tight end, often resembling a big wide receiver, but his weight has fluctuated a lot, and his in-line blocking leaves a lot to be desired.
After not contributing much for the Bruins at all until last season, Asiasi would definitely be a developmental piece for coach Pete Carroll and company, a player the team would hope to keep on the practice squad for a year while he learns under guys like Dissly, Olsen and Willson.
Whether that is worth a pick on Day 2, as Garafolo suggests, remains to be seen, but Seattle could use a young tight end for the future, and Asiasi could be molded into a great fit for this offense in time.
[lawrence-related id=59588]