Tag: L.J. Collier

Why Troy’s Marcus Webb could make the Seahawks roster

The Seattle Seahawks have a lot of depth at five-tech, but former Troy star Marcus Webb could sneak onto the roster with a good camp.

The Seattle Seahawks brought in a whopping 17 undrafted free agents from the 2020 class to compete for spots on the active roster.

Most years, teams are lucky to get one UDFA to make the squad, as they are primarily brought in to give the team extra bodies during training camp.

However, the Seahawks have had plenty of luck in the past, going all the way back to Dave Krieg, and including Jermaine Kearse, Doug Baldwin and more recently, defensive tackle Poona Ford.

In fact, defensive tackles have been a recent source of success on the undrafted market, with Ford and Bryan Mone both making the team last year.

They have a handful of guys to choose from if they want an undrafted defensive lineman three years in a row, and one of them is former Troy University defensive end Marcus Webb.

Webb was a monster in his final season with the Trojans, leading the Sun Belt conference with seven sacks. His size (six-foot-three, 279 pounds) likely limits him to five-tech duty, as he is too small to line up on the interior and doesn’t have the requisite skills to be a LEO.

Five-tech is a position currently occupied by some combination of Benson Mayowa, Rasheem Green and L.J. Collier, with rookie Alton Robinson and Branden Jackson on hand as well.

While some of those guys will occasionally rotate inside on passing downs, it does appear to be pretty crowded at the moment.

However – the Seahawks will definitely have a close eye on Webb, and considering his performance in college, even in a not-so-great conference, there’s reason to believe he could work his way onto an expanded practice squad in 2020.

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Seahawks unwilling to match previous offer to Jadeveon Clowney

The Seattle Seahawks appear set to only bring Jadeveon Clowney back into the mix if he takes an offer lower than their previous one.

Neither Jadeveon Clowney or the Seattle Seahawks have closed the door on a reunion, but after nearly six weeks of being on the open market it is looking less and less likely that the big time defensive end will be back in the green and blue next season.

In fact, Clowney’s waiting has actually lowered the price Seattle is willing to pay for his services, a league source told ESPN’s Brady Henderson on Wednesday.

Clowney originally wanted a contract in the $21 million dollar range annually, with the asking price reportedly dropping to roughly $17 million last month.

Seattle does not currently have an offer on the table, according to Henderson, after Clowney rejected their latest.

The team has roughly $21 million in cap space at the moment, but that does not include the contract of Bruce Irvin, which has yet to be finalized, as well as other potential costs against the cap.

Additionally, general manager John Schneider has made it very clear he hopes to have additional cap space available to them during the season.

“We have to be careful with our budget and our salary cap because as you guys have seen, we take pride in our ability to work with the coaches and try to build our team throughout the season,” Schneider said in a radio interview shortly after the draft. “This thing doesn’t stop when you get to 53. It doesn’t stop after the draft. There will be cap casualty guys out there throughout the offseason. What you don’t want to do is bring yourself right to the point where you’re not able to add players that are all of the sudden available on the market that you didn’t see coming.”

Although Clowney indicated he is interested in a return, and Schneider has not shut the door, the team opted to move on with their offseason by signing Irvin and Benson Mayowa, two guys who combined for 15.5 sacks last year.

Irvin and Mayowa join Darrell Taylor and Alton Robinson, the two edge defenders Seattle selected in the NFL draft.

Factoring in the team’s confidence in L.J. Collier and Rasheem Green next season, the Seahawks could ultimately decide to move forward with who they already have on the roster, outside of maybe making their customary veteran addition on the interior defensive line.

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Seahawks had video conference with TCU DT Ross Blacklock

The Seattle Seahawks need help on the defensive line, and TCU’s Ross Blacklock could be an early round target for them in the NFL draft.

The pre-draft process for team personnel and the players hoping to hear their name called in the 2020 NFL draft has been as unique as ever this year, thanks to the coronavirus.

Still, NFL front offices have found ways to learn more about the players they are interested in selecting in the upcoming draft, and the most common way of doing so has been via video conferencing – much like how the rest of the world is communicating while staying at home.

The Seattle Seahawks have managed to keep many of the video conference meetings they’ve had private, but Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle revealed via Twitter that Seattle is one of 15 teams that held a video conference with TCU defensive tackle Ross Blacklock.

Some fans may be skeptical seeing Seattle take a defensive tackle from TCU for the second year in a row, especially after L.J. Collier’s disappointing rookie campaign, but Blacklock boasts excellent agility, instinct and leverage as a gap penetrator and would be a good fit in coach Pete Carroll’s 4-3 base defense.

His stock has risen considerably since he declared for the draft, and at this point it’s hard to imagine Seattle could get him unless they took him with their first round pick.

Of course, it’s also not hard to imagine the Seahawks trading down into the early second round, acquiring a pick in the later rounds in the process, and using their new first pick on Blacklock.

With the draft only a few short days away, and defensive line still a big issue for the Seahawks, a player like Blacklock makes a lot of sense – and perhaps a reunion with Collier would bring out the best in both of them.

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Will Seahawks defensive lineman Nazair Jones reappear in 2020?

Nazair Jones saw his playing time dip from 2017 to 2018, and then he missed all of 2019 with a knee injury. What can we expect in 2020?

The Seattle Seahawks finished the 2019 season among the worst pass rushing teams in the NFL, an issue that impacted them all year long despite an 11-5 record.

While the team added a pair of veterans in Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa, they also lost Quinton Jefferson to free agency, and have yet to pull the trigger on any of the big name pass rushers on the market, including Jadeveon Clowney, Matthew Judon, Everson Griffen and Yannick Ngakoue.

The draft is almost certainly an avenue the Seahawks will explore to improve the team’s pass rush, but they also have some in-house options that could step up and contribute meaningful snaps in 2020 – including 2017 third round pick Nazair Jones.

Jones has steadily declined since his strong debut in 2017, which saw him appear in 11 games, making two starts, while recording 19 combined tackles, two sacks and an interception. He only appeared in nine games in 2018, making just seven combined tackles, and then missed the entire 2019 season with a knee injury.

Prior to going on the shelf, Jones was reportedly transitioning from three-tech to five-tech, a move that should give him added flexibility for a Seahawks defense that could use it. It also means he probably wasn’t getting the job done on the interior, which isn’t a great sign.

Jones will have to compete with Jarran Reed, Poona Ford, Bryan Mone and Demarcus Christmas for a job on the inside, and the Seahawks are almost certainly going to add to that mix via free agency and/or the NFL draft.

The five-tech spot is currently occupied by some combination of Benson Mayowa, Rasheem Green, L.J. Collier, Branden Jackson and Bruce Irvin – with more additions likely to come there as well.

Jones doesn’t have a clear path to a roster spot at the moment, but his 2017 performance was good enough to earn him another chance this summer – and if he looks healthy and displays some of that aggression and instinct we saw from him back then, he could be a dark horse candidate for rotational snaps in 2020.

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Should the Seahawks reunite with free agent DE Benson Mayowa?

The Seahawks need any help they can get off the edge, and DE Benson Mayowa could be a nice addition after recording seven sacks last year.

The Seattle Seahawks are connected to every single free agent who is remotely capable of rushing the passer – as they struggled mightily in that area in 2019.

While Jadeveon Clowney is the primary target, and names like Everson Griffen and Matthew Judon carry more weight, this team could also look for some cheaper, veteran alternatives to supplant the names they already have on the roster – building that culture of competition in training camp that coach Pete Carroll loves.

A list of names that fall into that camp includes some familiar ones, such as Michael Bennett and Clay Matthews, but another less memorable name that could be a solid under-the-radar signing is Benson Mayowa.

Mayowa, 28, spent last season with the Oakland Raiders, his fourth NFL team in his seven year NFL career which began as an undrafted free agent with the Seahawks back in 2013.

Mayowa only appeared in two games with Seattle, recording two tackles before ending up in Oakland, Dallas, Arizona and back to Oakland in 2019.

However, despite his nomadic career, Mayowa has topped four sacks in a season three times, including a career-high seven last year with the Raiders. Four sacks is what Rasheem Green, Seattle’s team leader, recorded last year.

So, there’s little doubt Mayowa could make an impact on this defense, regardless of whether or not the team is able to bring Clowney back into the mix.

If nothing else, Mayowa would be an excellent veteran to bring into training camp on an incentive-laden, one-year deal to push youngsters like Green and L.J. Collier. If both of them beat him out for a job – that’s a good sign things are improving up front.

If not, well, they have a veteran with 20 sacks to his name to help out as a situational pass rusher.

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John Schneider discusses L.J. Collier’s unlucky rookie season

Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider is excited about the versatility defensive end L.J. Collier will bring to this defense in Year 2.

Speaking to the media ahead of the 2020 NFL combine, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider discussed the injury-shortened rookie season that defensive end L.J. Collier – the team’s first round pick in 2019 – had last year.

Collier suffered an unusual ankle injury early in training camp last summer, which cost him the entire preseason as well as a portion of the regular season. By the time he was healthy, he was so far behind developmentally that he rarely had any impact in game situations, often getting placed on the inactive list, despite a clean bill of health.

Even though his performance was disappointing, Schneider was just happy they were able to see Collier on the field at all in 2019.

“We were lucky that we had him,” Schneider said. “We thought we were going to lose him for the season that day. We’re lucky that we didn’t have to place him on IR. Obviously we’d have liked to have seen him make a little bit more of a dent, but his checkout meeting was awesome, he’s really excited about next year and what that brings.”

With one of the worst pass rushes in the league last year, the Seahawks have plenty of work to do to improve in that area in 2020. A second-year leap from Collier would go a long way toward improving that unit as a whole, especially with the added versatility he brings to the table.

“He’s a powerful rusher,” Schneider continued. “He’s got great hands, he can rush inside he can rush outside. Rush at the five, rush at the three. We’re excited.”

With Quinton Jefferson, Jadeveon Clowney, Jarran Reed and Al Woods all set to hit free agency, the Seahawks have a lot of holes to fill on the defensive front. Collier will almost certainly get a chance to play regularly next year – and his development will be a key story for this Seattle defense.

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Seattle Seahawks 2020 free agent profile: Defensive end Ziggy Ansah

Will the Seattle Seahawks reunite with Ziggy Ansah, or will they look elsewhere to shore up their depleted pass rush?

*The Seattle Seahawks are heading into the 2020 offseason with 19 players set to become unrestricted free agents, which should make for another busy spring and summer for Pete Carroll and John Schneider as they look to shore up the roster and contend for the number one seed in the NFC again next year.*

Our Seahawks Wire series on Seattle’s free agents continues with defensive end Ziggy Ansah.

The Seahawks did not have a good pass rush last year, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. The team made a pair of veteran additions in Ziggy Ansah and Jadeveon Clowney, while also using their first-round pick on defensive end L.J. Collier.

Unfortunately, injuries and ineffectiveness worked their way across Seattle’s defensive line, hitting the veteran Ansah the hardest.

After signing a one-year deal worth $9 million dollars, Ansah was only able to deliver 2.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits in 11 games played, gradually losing playing time to Shaquem Griffin down the stretch.

While Seattle is still desperate for more help on the edge, it seems unlikely the team will give Ansah another chance after a disappointing campaign in 2019.

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After Super Bowl win, Frank Clark trade is a win for both sides

The trade that sent Frank Clark from the Seattle Seahawks to the Kansas City Chiefs will work out for both teams in the long-run.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the Super Bowl LIV champions, staging a historic fourth quarter comeback and defeating the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20, to win their first championship in 50 years.

There were a handful of former Seattle Seahawks who played for both Kansas City and San Francisco, and while Richard Sherman drew the most attention it was defensive end Frank Clark who had the biggest play, and the one who came away with some new jewelry.

Clark recorded a sack late in the fourth quarter, bringing down Jimmy Garoppolo for a nine-yard loss on fourth down, turning the ball back to the Chiefs.

Kansas City scored almost immediately, and Clark also recorded a quarterback hit on the second-to-last play of the game for San Francisco’s offense.

It was a big day for the 26-year-old defensive end, who was named to the Pro Bowl in his first year with the Chiefs.

A Super Bowl win, a Pro Bowl appearance and a massive five-year, $105.5 million dollar contract caps off an impressive year for Clark, who is no doubt happy to be in Kansas City after being traded by the Seahawks just before the 2019 NFL draft.

However – despite it not looking good so far – this trade is going to end up a win for Seattle as well. The Seahawks shipped Clark away for a first and third round pick in the 2019 draft, as well as a third round pick in 2020.

Here’s where things get wacky. The Seahawks already had the No. 21 overall pick, but decided instead to trade down and use the first rounder they got from Clark to pick L.J. Collier at No. 29 overall.

Through a series of trades, the Seahawks ended up turning that No. 21 pick into six additional picks, which they used to acquire Marquise Blair, DK Metcalf, Gary Jennings, Ugo Amadi, Ben Burr-Kirven and Travis Homer.

It’s hard to imagine those deals working, and those players coming to Seattle, had the team not dealt Clark to Kansas City.

Of course, Seattle’s pass rush was an area of weakness last year, and Collier didn’t show much of anything in his rookie season, so the trade has yet to prove it will pay off just yet.

But the emergence of Metcalf has already been an outstanding one, and the potential of Blair, Amadi and Homer is sky-high, which could make this a franchise-altering trade in the long-term.

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Seahawks’ 2019 rookie class ranked 10th in the NFL

The Seattle Seahawks had the tenth best rookie class in the NFL last season, according to Pro Football Focus and ESPN.

Although their first round pick didn’t go as planned, the Seattle Seahawks still boasted a strong rookie class in 2019, thanks in part to a flurry of trades that netted them an 11-man group – and of course the performance of wide receiver DK Metcalf.

That was enough for Seattle’s class to be named the 10th best in the NFL last year, according to Pro Football Focus and ESPN.

From the article:

“The first-round selection of pass-rusher L.J. Collier was a flop in Year 1, but the Seahawks got one of the biggest steals of the draft, with wide receiver DK Metcalf falling in their laps at the end of the second round. His freakish athleticism has been a game-changer for the offense, pushing the class into the top 10.”

Metcalf was understandably listed as the team’s best value pick, but one could argue that late round picks Ugo Amadi (fourth round, 132 overall) and Travis Homer (sixth round, 204 overall) also had a strong impact on this team, primarily on the special teams.

The Seahawks will hope for a rebound from Collier in his second year, which will further solidify this group among the best draft classes in franchise history – particularly if safety Marquise Blair and linebacker Cody Barton develop as expected.

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NFL Draft: 3 Senior Bowl players the Seahawks could consider

The Seattle Seahawks have used the Senior Bowl to inform NFL draft decisions in the past. Here are three players they could consider.

The Senior Bowl concluded on Saturday afternoon with the North squad defeating the South squad, 34-17.

The Seattle Seahawks have always used the Senior Bowl to evaluate talent, and plenty of recent draft picks (including 2019 first rounder L.J. Collier) shined during the contest.

As such, a list of high performers from the 2020 game could be a good starting point when evaluating potential targets for the Seahawks come draft day.

With a handful of positions in flux next season, including the offensive and defensive lines and the wide receiver spot, here are three Senior Bowl high-performers who could be on the Seahawks radar as they get ready for the combine and, eventually, the draft itself.

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