Seattle Seahawks capitalize on massive overthink from testing to land versatile defensive chess piece that will give offenses headaches
Whether it was Pete Carroll as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in the past, or Mikc Macdonald currently, they are a program that has traditionally valued versatility on the defensive side of the football. You can think about players like Michael Bennett, who was a dynamic defensive lineman that was used on the […]
Whether it was Pete Carroll as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in the past, or Mikc Macdonald currently, they are a program that has traditionally valued versatility on the defensive side of the football. You can think about players like Michael Bennett, who was a dynamic defensive lineman that was used on the edge and inside up front. Having that type of versatility allows defenses to do a lot more things, which can cause some issues for opposing offenses.
During the 2025 NFL Draft, the Seahawks didn't attack the defensive line much. The only player they selected up front was former Notre Dame defensive tackle Rylie Mills, a versatile interior defender who has experience playing up and down the line for the Fighting Irish. One of the more interesting defensive acquisitions the team made defensively was actually after the draft when they signed Ole Miss standout Jared Ivey as an undrafted free agent.
It was shocking to see Ivey go undrafted, a player that most NFL folks were pretty high on throughout the process. He, unfortunately, put together one of the worst Pro Day testing performances of all time to push him far down the board. Many believed Ivey would still be one of the 257 players to hear his name called during the event, but it didn't come to fruition. The NFL chose to trust one day of testing over multiple days of very solid film.
Now a part of the Seahawks, there is a very good chance that Ivey could end up being a real value for this team both in the short and long term. At nearly 6-6 and 274 with a ton of length, Ivey has had experience playing up and down the line of scrimmage with the Rebels. He was able to make his impact felt as both an interior rusher, as well as on the edge, both in the run and pass game. That makes Ivey's floor pretty high.
Over the course of the last couple of seasons, Ivey has been a constant for an extremely talented Ole Miss defense. Ivey ended his Rebel career with 165 total tackles, 35 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles. At some point, the size, versatility, and production need to be talked about more. Without the testing, Ivey was absolutely a player who should have been drafted. The Seahawks got themselves a steal.
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