“Men win wars. Not magic tricks.”
Bronn’s point applies to modern football as well as the Game of Thrones. Specifically, the men who determine who wins and who loses are the very large ones in the trenches who often get overlooked despite their size. Even the cleverest offensive playcallers and most talented quarterbacks find it difficult to overcome a ragged offensive line. On defense, no amount of manufactured pressure can best having multiple pass rush threats and stopping the run can be pretty close to impossible without the right pieces.
The Seahawks can attest to all of that, coming off a season where they exceeded expectations but hit a hard and painful ceiling whenever they faced opponents with superior offensive and defensive line units. Back-to-back losses against the Super Bowl contender Chiefs and 49ers illustrated that much, as did the season-ending loss to San Francisco.
In order to catch up with the Niners – who are making their third NFC Championship appearance in four years this weekend – Seattle has to get bigger, meaner and better on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
With that in mind, we went into our latest 2023 seven-round mock draft with a simple idea: all linemen, every pick. Observe.
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If Georgia’s Jalen Carter is off the board at this point – as was the case in our mock draft – then Anderson is the best consolation prize that Seattle can hope for. Anderson (6-foot-4, 235 pounds) is the top-ranked edge defender in a deep class of them and is as disruptive as they come. In 41 career games at Alabama, Anderson put up some video game numbers, including 34.5 sacks and 58.5 tackles for a loss.
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One could argue that going back to the edge here immediately qualifies as overkill. However, teams like the Eagles got to where they are because they weren’t afraid to overdraft at positions that were already considered a strength. We don’t just want a good defensive line, here – we want a ridiculous one. Smith (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) can help the Seahawks get there. He’s ranked fifth at his position and in 38 games at Georgia he posted 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for a loss.
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While Al Woods, Shelby Harris and Poona Ford are all accomplished interior linemen the results were extremely disappointing this season. Adding more firepower inside can’t hurt and…
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