The Seattle Seahawks are back in the NFC West lead with a 4-3 record, and there’s one thing all four of the Hawks’ wins have in common: rookie defensive tackle Byron Murphy II was healthy enough to play in them.
When the Seahawks have had the No. 16 overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft on the field, they’ve won. When they haven’t, they’ve lost.
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Now that’s obviously an oversimplication of the Seahawks’ recipe for success, but it’s a reminder to pay attention to Murphy’s presence – which is certainly standing out to football experts and former NFL players. Just ask ex-Seahawks and current analysts Brock Huard and “Big” Ray Roberts.
The 6-foot, 306-pound Murphy is proving to be a handful for opposing offensive lines, and the assessment of Murphy by Roberts, who played O-line for Seattle and the Detroit Lions, is particularly notable.
“He’s a really tough dude to block,” Roberts said Tuesday when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “He already has leverage because he’s a shorter dude than most of the guys he’s playing against, but the thing that’s really difficult is that he’s able to maintain his leverage through contact.”
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Murphy’s stature and skill level allow him to do something that not all defensive tackles can pull off.
“Some dudes can give up their leverage and stand tall and don’t have the power or the speed or the quickness to kind of defeat a double team when they get in that situation,” continued Roberts, who is a studio analyst for the Seahawks Radio Network. “But he’s able to split double teams, get away from those dudes and then chase down the ball carrier, which is pretty unique to me. Some guys, when you engage them as an offensive lineman, then the fight is just between the two of you and you just gotta win that battle. But with him, he fights you on his way to fighting the running back.
“It’s like, ‘We’re gonna be in this little tussle for a little bit, but my goal is not to fight you, it’s to fight the dude with the ball.’ … As an offensive lineman, it’s hard when you’re 6-6 to maintain that type of leverage on a guy that’s so short and powerful and quick and is always on the move.”
Block Destruction
A little later during Tuesday’s show, FOX football analyst Huard provided some more context on the points Roberts made.
“I tweeted last night ‘Byron ‘Block Destruction’ Murphy,’ because he’s not just there to do the dance,” Huard said during his daily Blue 88 segment. “When you watch a lot of tape … you know what you see a lot of D-linemen doing? Just kind of dancing. ‘I’ll take on this block and I’ll be physical with it, I’ll try to disengage, but I’m just kind of in that tussle,’ like Ray said. ‘I’m just in this fight with this guy.’ And sometimes those D-tackles gotta fight two guys, and I’m just fighting with them and I’m tussling with them. And that’s the majority of defense linemen.”
Huard related players like Murphy to Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk.
“The difference makers (at defensive tackle) are kind of like Marshall Faulk,” Huard said. “Marshall Faulk would say, ‘I’m not looking at the first gap. I’m looking at the the safety. I’m not even concerned about this.’ The elite (defensive tackles) are like, ‘I’m not even concerned about doing this dance. I’m gonna toss you, and I’m concerned about getting to the quarterback,’ or ‘I’m getting concerned about the running back.’
“That’s what the difference makers (do). That’s what the 16th pick in the draft does. The 90th pick, the 150th pick, the 200th pick? They’re big, they’re physical, they’re strong, they’re tough, they do the job. But then the difference makers and the ‘block destructors’ are the ones that do that tangle and then are able to disengage and get to the running back and reset that line of scrimmage. And man, those guys are hard to find.”
Sounds like the Seahawks found one of them.
Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation with former NFL offensive lineman Ray Roberts, as well as Brock Huard’s Blue 88 segment, in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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