For the Seattle Seahawks, no position has suffered more injury than their right tackle spot. From the beginning, the Seahawks were dealing with diminished capacity, as starter Abe Lucas began the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He is still on the PUP list as of this article’s publication.
His back up, George Fant, became injured in Week 1, and was later placed on Injured Reserve. Now, his backup, Stone Forsythe, is out for the Week 7 showdown in Atlanta. The NFL is a total “next man up” kind of league. Well, the next man up is rookie Michael Jerrell.
Originally a sixth round selection by the Seahawks in the 2024 NFL draft, Jerrell was the only Division II player chosen. The Findlay prospect had options to transfer to larger schools, but decided to stay. Largely seen as a project, Seattle felt he was worthy of a draft choice to mold into something.
So far, Jerrell made it through the offseason, he made it onto the active roster, and is now going to enjoy his first start in the league. Interestingly, he had been made inactive for every single game this season up until last week. Jerrell was chosen instead of veteran Jason Peters, who won’t be elevated off the practice squad this week.
When asked, head coach Mike Macdonald gave a glowing endorsement to his new starting right tackle.
“He had a great week of prep, the guy has just kept improving since he’s gotten here.” Macdonald declared. “He has come such a long way in less than a year, so I’m proud of him. He’s got a great opportunity, I know he’s excited, and I’m excited to see him go do his thing. The game has slowed down for him tremendously. I know he’s working his tail off, and he’s banked a lot of great one-on-one reps against our ones in practice. He’s got a bright future, and hopefully this is the start of it.”
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