The right tackle position has been an ongoing nightmare for the Seattle Seahawks.
Macdonald: Seattle Seahawks CB made ‘shocking effort’ on touchdown
Starter Abraham Lucas hasn’t played a snap this season due to a knee injury. Veteran George Fant, the insurance policy for Lucas signed this offseason, hasn’t played a down since injuring his knee in Week 1. And third-stringer Stone Forsythe had his share of struggles before a hand injury sidelined him this past weekend.
With the top three players on depth chart unavailable, the Seahawks turned to rookie Michael Jerrell, a sixth-round NFL Draft pick, at right tackle against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Jerrell is making a massive leap to the NFL this season. He’s less than a year removed from playing D-II college football at University of Findlay in Ohio. And while his performance on Sunday had its ups and downs, he held his own during his first start as an NFL player.
“I thought he played his tail off,” head coach Mike Macdonald said Monday morning during his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “I mean, there’s a couple plays he missed. But when you just look at how hard the guy plays and where he’s in position, he played really, really hard and that’s what we’re looking for right now.”
There were a few mistakes from Jerrell. He was called for a false start early in the game and allowed the most pressures (four) on quarterback Geno Smith of any Seahawks lineman, but there were also a handful of times where Jerrell was a difference-maker and showed an ability to recover in tough situations.
On running back Kenneth Walker III’s 20-yard touchdown run that put the Seahawks up 10-0 late in the first quarter, it was Jerrell (alongside rookie guard Christian Haynes) who cleared out a wide lane for Walker to burst through and reach the end zone.
One time for the birthday boy ?
Touchdown @Kenneth_Walker9! pic.twitter.com/WtKSHQbGf2
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 20, 2024
When Smith connected with DK Metcalf on a 31-yard pass in the end zone in the final seconds of this first half, Jerrell held his ground just long enough against Falcons edge rusher James Smith-Williams to allow Smith to climb the pocket and find his receiver.
?????????? pic.twitter.com/yLAYhPYT8e
— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) October 20, 2024
And on Smith’s 17-yard TD pass to Walker late in the third quarter, Jerrell recovered from being beaten off the edge and pushed Atlanta’s Arnold Ebiketie off his path to Smith, which allowed Seattle’s quarterback to step up out of the potential sack and deliver a strike to go up two scores.
YES HE KEN. pic.twitter.com/BNhmOXCBec
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 20, 2024
“How about Mike Jerrell stepping in?” Smith said Sunday after the win. “A rookie sixth-rounder stepping in and playing some big-time football today. I thought he did a great job.”
According to Smith, there was never any doubt that Jerrell was ready for the moment.
“He belongs. Whether you’re D-II, D-III or undrafted, it doesn’t matter,” Smith said. “… He’s been doing great things in practice, so he was prepared for this moment. We just continued to breathe life into him. Let him know, ‘Hey, you’re ready for this. You’re going to go out there and you’re going to play excellent.’ And I thought Mike (Macdonald) did a great job (Saturday) night saying that exact thing to the team, that Mike (Jerrell) was going to come in and step up and play some big-time minutes for us and help us get this win. And that’s what he did.”
A closer look at Mike Jerrell
The Seahawks used their final selection of the draft to take Jerrell in the sixth round at No. 207 overall. The little-known tackle was viewed as a developmental pick considering the level of college football he played, but the athleticism was clearly there.
Jerrell wasn’t invited to the NFL scouting combine, but he did go through the testing at powerhouse Ohio State’s pro day. He logged a 4.94-second 40-yard dash with a 1.69-second 10-yard split. Both would have tied for second among tackles at the combine.
“It’s a credit to (Seahawks general manager) John (Schneider), our personnel staff, our offensive staff, kind of having an alignment throughout the process of this is a guy that we felt like had a lot of potential,” Macdonald said.
Listen to the full conversation with Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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