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, the Seahawks had an interior defensive tackle make the roster as an undrafted free agent two years in a row, as Ford was followed by Michigan’s Bryan Mone in 2019, who appeared in four games for the Seahawks.
If they are going to keep the streak of undrafted defensive tackles alive, hope likely rests on Iowa’s Cedrick Lattimore.
Lattimore is a beastly six-foot-three and 295 pounds. He started all 13 games for the Hawkeyes last year, recording 44 combined tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, four QB pressures and a fumble recovery.
He also won the Iowa Coaches Appreciation Award on defense, and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten as well.
Lattimore’s path to a roster spot is less crowded than many other UDFA, simply because Seattle has a lot less interior defensive linemen standing in the way.
Jarran Reed and Poona Ford will start on the inside, and right now the third DT spot is an open competition between Mone, Demarcus Christmas and the two undrafted guys, Lattimore and Josh Avery.
Seattle is expected to sign a run-stuffing veteran, potentially Mike Daniels or Damon Harrison, but if they opt to use that money elsewhere than Lattimore could contend for a spot on the opening day roster, extending Seattle’s streak of hitting on undrafted defensive tackles to three years in a row.
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