In relation to College of Connecticut guards, most minds most likely flip to the basketball courtroom. However that's not at the moment the case within the Pacific Northwest, the place the UConn guard is doing his job on the soccer area with the Seattle Seahawks.
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Seattle invested a third-round choose in UConn guard Christian Haynes on this 12 months's NFL draft, and there may be hope that he can develop into a much-needed drive within the Seahawks' offense.
Haynes, 6-foot-3, 317 kilos and a two-time All-American for the Huskies, was listed Friday because the No. 21 participant on Brock and Salk's annual “Most Intriguing Seahawks” rankings.
“By all accounts, he stands out as a result of he's a mauler, as a result of he's a bruiser, as a result of he's an enormous, unhealthy man who performs with a imply streak,” co-host Mike Salk stated.
That's how Haynes described himself throughout an interview with Brock and Salk after he was drafted. Here’s what he stated:
“Somebody who will get off the ball and simply dominates the defender in entrance of him. Somebody who's going to have the ability to get by the block and put folks on the bottom, additionally simply reveals how athletic they will the second stage on screens or completely different spots, and that's destroying defenders, destroying linebackers, destroying DBs, destroying whoever. that stands in his means and he all the time tries to be dominant in each recreation.”
“It’s a must to love the angle, it’s important to love the discuss,” Salk stated. “The tape clearly says a variety of the identical issues, that he's any individual who's going to be bodily, who's going to have some nastiness, who's going to need to run the ball and get in entrance of issues and knock folks down.”
Filling the weak spot
The offensive line has lengthy been an issue space for the Seahawks, however they've been capable of finding promising items on the skin lately with tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. Nonetheless, the inside of the road remained an issue. Following the offseason departures of Damien Lewis and Evan Brown, free agent Laken Tomlinson is Seattle's solely inside O-lineman with intensive expertise on the NFL stage.
“Let's be sincere, the 2 largest weaknesses within the place group on this workforce are inside linebacker and linebacker, relying on what you consider linebacker,” Salk stated. “… The offensive line can destroy every part else you need to do offensively. I don't care how sensible (new offensive coordinator Ryan) Grubb is, when you don't have time for it, it doesn't matter. It would spoil every part. If the holes aren't there, if the safety doesn't maintain, every part else is meaningless.”
Tomlinson is favored at left guard, leaving Haynes to compete with the likes of Anthony Bradford and McClendon Curtis and fellow rookie Satao Laumea for taking part in time at proper guard.
“Anthony Bradford had his moments final 12 months, however a variety of them have been overshadowed by some actually unhealthy ones,” Salk stated. “They might actually use a hitter and possibly Christian Haynes will probably be that man.
An fascinating growth
Being drafted within the third spherical means the Seahawks have invested extra in Haynes than the others he's competing with at proper guard. Nonetheless, Curtis, who went undrafted in 2023, was unexpectedly getting reps with the primary unit throughout OTAs.
When requested why Curtis bought the job over Haynes, Macdonald talked about that Curtis “is aware of just a few locations”.
“I haven't discovered to decode the Mike Macdonald-es but, but it surely was like, 'Nicely, this man is aware of video games,'” Salk stated.
Macdonald additionally talked about that Haynes “has finished some good issues” and that he thinks Haynes' “recreation is when the mats are on, when he's shifting folks and attending to the subsequent stage.”
“I'm not going to be loopy about McClendon Curtis getting these reps, even when it's taking Christian Haynes somewhat longer to be taught,” Salk stated. “And I don't know if that's true, however I'm simply attempting to learn between the traces. His recreation ought to begin to present as soon as the pads are on.”
Take heed to the total interview at this hyperlink or within the audio participant on the prime of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 or seek for the podcast on the Seattle Sports activities app.
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• Large Ray: What stands out about Seattle Seahawks' new OL coach
• Why the Seattle Seahawks inside O-line is so essential to success
