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Best two years in college:

Player ---------------------- school (draft spot) -- TFL*/Sacks

Jackson Jeffcoat ------------ Texas (FA) ---- 43/21
Jadeveon Clowney -------- So. Carolina (1st) -- 35.5/21
Kahlil Mack ------------------- Buffalo (5th) ---- 41.5/18.5
Anthony Barr ------------------- UCLA (9th) ---- 41.5/23.5
Dee Ford --------------------- Auburn (23rd) ---- 21/16.5

*Note: TFL is tackles for losses

And they wonder how we do it ...

I agree Bob, the kid certainly knows how to get it done. Like so many young pass rushers in the league today though the question is can he get to 265, can he stay there, and will he still have competitive speed and abilities. Obviously the feeling from the draft board composers was no. I like how the hawks seek out these guys with talent that might feel slighted. Only time will tell, but I'd like to see him show some people they screwed up.

I'm sure there is viable reasons why conventional teams passed on him ( and even this FO passed on him 10 times), but he has a pedigree, will be driven, and odds are they will get the most out of him ( whether that be stud type stuff or not isn't really the point IMHO). My guess would be teams saw him as to small for d-line and to slow for LB. Carroll and Co love guys like this, and he fits the mold perfectly, now it's up to him to earn his praise, which IMO is EXACTLY how it should be. I'll take the guy with average talent or slightly above ( to be fair to even start in college you aren't of average talent) that works his arse off, and has a chip on his shoulder, over a phneominal athlete that feels like his talent will carry him, every single time.

Seems the only major knock on him is he had some injuries that hurt is strength development. Otherwise, as HC said, the kid is hungry and is working. I don't believe anyone is expecting him to crack the 53-man roster this year, and maybe not even next, but you have to like how Carroll and Schneider look at this stuff; this is obviously a planned approach to get the right guys for that LEO spot. I also though it was interesting that his daddy is just now starting to coach him up; he apparently never did it when Jackson was in highschool and college. His dad also played with Ken Norton, Jr., so, as long as he keep working, Jackson will get his shot.

HumanCockroach wrote:I'm sure there is viable reasons why conventional teams passed on him ( and even this FO passed on him 10 times), but he has a pedigree, will be driven, and odds are they will get the most out of him ( whether that be stud type stuff or not isn't really the point IMHO). My guess would be teams saw him as to small for d-line and to slow for LB. Carroll and Co love guys like this, and he fits the mold perfectly, now it's up to him to earn his praise, which IMO is EXACTLY how it should be. I'll take the guy with average talent or slightly above ( to be fair to even start in college you aren't of average talent) that works his arse off, and has a chip on his shoulder, over a phneominal athlete that feels like his talent will carry him, every single time.

I think his tweener size (6'3 253).

“I never found out what the reason was,” Jackson said. “But I use it for motivation. It’s fuel to my fire. I just keep working. Every day I think about it, because it keeps me going. It keeps me even more hungry. When I start feeling tired, when I start feeling like, ‘Man, I really don’t want to do this,’ I look back at that and say, ‘Hey, 31 other teams didn’t want me. They didn’t think highly enough of me to draft me.’

As for us, I think we greatly value the chip on the shoulder that deep drops on draft day foster and the deeper the drop the bigger the chip, thus the more valuable to us they become. It's a tightrope we walk and I imagine requires quite the talent for reading other team's draft priorities. I reckon if we hadn't drafted Marsh (a strikingly similar player) we may have spent a pick on him, but as it was there was greater value to us letting him slide. I also reckon we feel that we pretty much have our choice of undrafted kids (being reigning Champs and having the best facilities in the league and all) when the draft is over. Also remember that this was a deep deep draft, making this kinda gambit all the easier.

An interesting tidbit about Jeffcoat is that he comes from a Texas team that for the first time since 1939, did not have a player taken in the NFL draft, obviously a record streak.

Of all the UDFA's, Jeffcoat has the best chance of making the team. Depth along the DL is something that's always in demand.

Sportin' follows the Horns and I think he said something like "meh" when we picked him up. He wasn't too impressed... It coulda been his reaction to the whole team underperforming in 2013, but he had a Birdseye view and was underwhelmed. I like the pedigree and the draft day dis... His stats look good but they are out of context for me as I didn't really watch him.

I'll keep my eye on him now; I'm thinking I like his chances in 2015.

I was surprised he went through the entire draft without being drafted.
Other than being a "tweener", teams must have seen something else they didn't like. Late rounds and compensatory picks would have been a good gamble if it was only size.
I always thought he was someone to watch whenever Texas was on TV, and I hope he can make an impression in Seattle.

Is he by any chance related to former Dallas Cowboy Jim Jeffcoat??

Seahawks4Ever wrote:Is he by any chance related to former Dallas Cowboy Jim Jeffcoat??

His son.

That's what I thought, I just never saw it written any where. I would take a flyer on a legacy pick because even if they don't have the perfect body or the stats they sometimes have willingness to work that much harder because they have to fight being compared to their accomplished parent. Look at Tatupu, he was considered to small and too slow but no one could measure his heart.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:That's what I thought, I just never saw it written any where. I would take a flyer on a legacy pick because even if they don't have the perfect body or the stats they sometimes have willingness to work that much harder because they have to fight being compared to their accomplished parent. Look at Tatupu, he was considered to small and too slow but no one could measure his heart.

Tatupu isn't a great example, considering that he WAS too small to take the punishment for more than a few years and he was too slow to be able to survive losing a step. He broke down just as predicted but he managed to play at a high level for a short period of time.

Obviously if Jeffcoat can help us even half as much as Tatupu did then it will be a great pick.

NorthHawk wrote:I was surprised he went through the entire draft without being drafted.
Other than being a "tweener", teams must have seen something else they didn't like. Late rounds and compensatory picks would have been a good gamble if it was only size.
I always thought he was someone to watch whenever Texas was on TV, and I hope he can make an impression in Seattle.

Considering the other co defensive MVP from his conference was Michael Sam and he wasn't drafted until a compensatory pick in the 7th, I don't think many GM's were overly impressed with defensive ability of that conference as a whole.

HumanCockroach wrote:

NorthHawk wrote:I was surprised he went through the entire draft without being drafted.
Other than being a "tweener", teams must have seen something else they didn't like. Late rounds and compensatory picks would have been a good gamble if it was only size.
I always thought he was someone to watch whenever Texas was on TV, and I hope he can make an impression in Seattle.

Considering the other co defensive MVP from his conference was Michael Sam and he wasn't drafted until a compensatory pick in the 7th, I don't think many GM's were overly impressed with defensive ability of that conference as a whole.

Jeffcoat played for Texas, which is in the Big 12. Sam played for Missouri, which is in the SEC.

briwas101 wrote:

Seahawks4Ever wrote:Tatupu isn't a great example, considering that he WAS too small to take the punishment for more than a few years and he was too slow to be able to survive losing a step. He broke down just as predicted but he managed to play at a high level for a short period of time.

Obviously if Jeffcoat can help us even half as much as Tatupu did then it will be a great pick.

Sounds like Tatupu is actually the right example, considering his tweener size. Who knows how much punishment Jeffcoat's body will be able to handle in the NFL? And like you said, if he produces half as much as Tatupu did in his time, that's not bad. At least he's a little faster than Lofa (4.63 to 4.83), but that's not saying much.

RiverDog wrote:

HumanCockroach wrote:

NorthHawk wrote:I was surprised he went through the entire draft without being drafted.
Other than being a "tweener", teams must have seen something else they didn't like. Late rounds and compensatory picks would have been a good gamble if it was only size.
I always thought he was someone to watch whenever Texas was on TV, and I hope he can make an impression in Seattle.

Considering the other co defensive MVP from his conference was Michael Sam and he wasn't drafted until a compensatory pick in the 7th, I don't think many GM's were overly impressed with defensive ability of that conference as a whole.

Jeffcoat played for Texas, which is in the Big 12. Sam played for Missouri, which is in the SEC.

My bad,Jeffcoat shared that honor with Verrett, Sam with another player in his conference, as I don't spend a ton of time investigating college players ( especially those that don't really get much press, or at least positive press) when I saw Sam Co MVP and Jeffcoat co MVP I associated them together.