On guard: Seahawks go interior offensive line again with Utah’s Sataoa Laumea 6th round
The Seahawks are absolutely on guard.
As they must be for their needy offensive line.
Seattle selected Sataoa “Towa” Laumea, a guard from Utah, with its first of three picks in the sixth round in the NFL draft Saturday, at pick 179 overall.
The veteran of 44 career starts, three years at right guard and last season at right tackle, at Utah is the second guard Seattle took in three rounds of this draft. The team made right guard Christian Haynes from Connecticut its third-round choice Friday night.
The Seahawks get instantly more competitive with Laumea.
How competitive?
He is one of 10 children, age 36 to 21, the third-youngest child and youngest boy.
What was it like growing up with nine siblings?
“Very competitive,” Laumea said Saturday on the phone from a draft party at a draft party in Fontana, California.
Kids are running around clanging in the background as the newest guard spoke.
“Shoot, getting food was competitive,” he said. “Eating cereal, they’d be finishing the box before I even grabbed my bowl and spoon. It was very competitive.”
Though Laumea played two positions in college, he said he believes the Seahawks and new line coach Scott Huff are looking at him solely as a right guard, at least to begin his NFL career.
“Shoot, man, it was a great feeling it was a great opportunity,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to prove everybody who didn’t draft me wrong — and to prove the Seahawks right.”
Another Seahawks cornerback
Seattle’s most-stocked position is overflowing.
The team used its second pick of the sixth round Saturday on D.J. James, a 6-foot and lighter, 175-pound cornerback from Auburn.
The Seahawks selected Auburn’s other starting cornerback from last season Nehemiah Pritchett in the fifth round earlier Saturday.
James ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine last month. He played his first three college seasons at Oregon. He left after the Ducks’ coaching change of Mario Cristobal from Oregon to Miami.
Some see James as a possible NFL nickel defensive back inside, though at 175 pounds that may be an issue in run support.
Seattle had Devon Witherspoon, the fifth pick in last year’s draft, make the Pro Bowl as both a nickel inside and outside cornerback last season. The Seahawks also have 2022 rookie Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen and part-time starters Tre Brown and Michael Jackson returning to the position.
And now they have two rookie corners from Auburn joining them.
James said on a phone call from Gulf Shores, Alabama, he played inside slot cornerback and outside corner at Auburn. He also enjoyed Auburn’s man-to-man coverage and “challenging receivers to get in their face. It’s fun getting in other receiver’s faces.”
James says the Seahawks are getting in him a “quick-burst, instinctual, high-football-IQ guy.”
He said he’s thrilled to be coming to the Seahawks with Pritchett. They often switched sides during games as Auburn’s two starting cornerbacks.
“What a great guy, a great locker-room guy who brings his own brand of juice,” James said of Pritchett.
Another offensive lineman: Michael Jerrell
With its third pick of the sixth round, and eighth and final selection of the draft, Seattle took yet another offensive lineman: Michael Jerrell, 6 feet 5, 309 pounds from Division-II Findlay in Ohio.
He played only right tackle in college. But he said after the Seahawks drafted him 207th overall in round six Seattle’s coaches have mentioned him playing right tackle and possibly right guard for the Seahawks.
Jerrell was a four-time all-conference blocker at Findlay. He impressed scouts at the Hula Bowl college all-star game this winter. He impressed more of them while participating as a visiting athlete invited to the mega Pro Day at Ohio State about two hours from Findlay, in Columbus.
Jerrell had a pre-draft prospect visit at Seahawks headquarters, among the 30 prospect visits the team was allowed this spring.
What was impression of Seattle on his pre-draft visit?
“Very green. Beautiful city,” he said Saturday by phone from his hometown in Indianapolis at a draft party with 20 people at his home. “Amazing to see the mountains, see the trees. The buildings.
“It’s like God and man met together and just made a beautiful city.”
Yet when the Seahawks called, Jerrell was floored.
“Man, it was a bit of a shock,” he said. “I felt like I had a good visit and everything. I thought I had a good visit and everything, but it was a crazy experience.”
The 24-year-old Jerrell weighed 245 pounds as a senior at Pike High School in Indianapolis. He gained 65 pounds while getting a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Findlay.
“The bigger I got, the faster I got,” he said.
He said as he grew, coaches from major, Power 5 college programs tried to get him to enter the transfer portal but he stayed at Division-II Findlay.
“I’m a loyal guy,” he said. “I stick with those who stick with me. They believed in me from the start.”
Now, he is in the NFL.
“It means everything to me to see ‘Mike Jerrell, the University of Findlay’ up on the screen, “ he said, “instead of a Power 5 school.”
“Man, it means everything. It can show guys that come from small schools you can make it to the NFL, you don’t have to go to Power 5s and chase NILs to get to the NFL.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2024 at 2:09 PM.
