Field Gulls
Try this Seahawks mock draft on for size.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler recently released his full seven-round mock draft, making predictions from Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall to the Chicago Bears all the way to former Washington Huskies running back Dillon Johnson as ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ as the 257th and final pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
We (generally speaking) only care about the Seattle Seahawks, so we’ll focus on what Brugler has in store for Seattle’s class of 2024. As has been commonly predicted throughout the mock draft world, Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu is the Seahawks’ big move in the first round. The expectation is that Fautanu, who was a tackle in college, would move inside to guard.
What about the rest of the draft? Well the Seahawks aren’t done picking ex-Huskies, and they will also go for a developmental quarterback of sorts. For each pick, I’ll also include an excerpt from Brugler’s 2024 NFL Draft Guide.
Round 1, Pick 16 - Troy Fautanu, G/T, Washington
With his lower-body agility and flexible hips/knees, Fautanu displays athletic muscle twitch in his pass sets and when pulling and locating in the run game. Although he needs to become more disciplined with his technique, he flashes violence with his hands and makes defenders feel it when he connects. Overall, Fautanu is explosive on the move and at contact with the foot quickness, body control and temperament to stack wins in both pass protection and as a run blocker in the NFL. While he has the talent to remain at tackle, his skill set also projects well to guard and center and he offers legitimate five-position potential at the next level.
Round 3, Pick 81 - Jonah Elliss, EDGE, Utah
A long, high-effort pass rusher, Elliss displays quick and instinctive initial movements as a two-way rusher who can fit, rework and leverage his physical hands. However, he tends to rely more on effort than refined counters and doesn’t consistently play big against the run (doesn’t quite have his NFL father’s size). Overall, Elliss is an inconsistent edge setter in the run game, but he is threatening with his upfield burst/motor and skilled with his hands in the pass rush. It is encouraging to think of what he can develop into with a full bag of counters. His pro ceiling is an Alex Highsmith-style edge defender, although a high-end subpackage rusher is his more realistic NFL projection.
Round 4, Pick 102 - Cedric Gray, LB, North Carolina
With his lateral agility and pursuit skills, Gray has terrific playing range to the perimeter and acceleration downhill. He was a tackling machine at UNC (only Power 5 player to average double-digit tackles per game in both 2022 and 2023), but he lacks functional take-on strength and too often finds himself stuck and swallowed. Overall, Gray might not be exceptional in any one area, but he is equal parts athletic and aggressive and is always in the vicinity of the football. He projects...
