Meet Tyson Alualu

I wasn’t sure if you saw something that you didn’t like or if he just didn’t jump off the page at you.

If you didn’t know anything else about Mebane, you would have guessed he was a 1st round pick caliber DT from his highlights. He blew into the backfield with incredible ease and once he got back there would land monster hits on the ball carrier. He even had some highlights were he’d break though on goal line formations. Mebane was exceptionally fast and destructive despite looking pretty chunky.

AluAlu looks totally different, compared to Mebane’s video Alualu looks like a finesse player. Whereas Mebane destroyed anyone that had the nerve to stand in his way, Alualu uses what the OL gives him and hustles to the ball. Alualu dominates some single blocking but doesn’t really dominate double teams, just splits them when the blockers mess up.

He looks very skinny compared to Mebane. But that’s probably a good thing because it means he could add some decent weight. And he probably needs to beat NFL lineman with just brute force.

Sadly the Mebane video isn’t around anymore, I just tried looking for it. It was awesome too.

You’ll notice I said elite pass rusher in the “front four.” I was vague on purpose because if the Seahawks are so fortunate to have a crack at Suh or G. McCoy, they could actually add that elite pass rusher at DT, which would just be amazing. There are some very good pass rushing DE’s also, but my preference would be for a DT since Tapp creates good pressure already and Jackson should be at least an average NFL DE. I’m crossing my fingers that one of those elite DT/DE will still be available when the Seahawks pick.

The Seahawks were have been almost totally healthy for a few weeks now, and lost by two scores to the good teams they played and came from behind to beat the lions. If the Seahawks are a good team next year, it would be a 2009 Broncos sized surprise. Matt Hasselbeck is basically a rich man’s Shaun Hill at this point, he’s a game manager who struggles when he tries to put the game on his shoulders. Last Sunday, he threw picks and made several near picks even when he wasn’t pressured. He’ll be even worse next season, due to age. At best, he’ll be a league average QB in 2010, unless he inexplicably goes Kurt Warner or Brett Favre on us.

Fixing the OL will not happen over-night. There are some decent ZBS prospects in this draft, but OL tend to struggle as rookies and often take 2+ years to play well in the NFL. Free agency for OL is really bad too. The line probably won’t noticeably improve for a couple years still, especially if the team decides to cut bait with Spencer and Sims for not being Alex Gibbs types.

Then you have all the other needs listed in the previous post. It hasn’t dawned on most people, but the Seahawks offense is extremely lacking in athleticism. They have enough solid players to occasionally put together a nice drive, but they simply do not have a home-run threat that would scare defenses and add explosiveness. Even if Hasselbeck bounces back next year, he’d still be throwing 8 yard passes to Housh and Carlson most of the time. The team needs to add explosiveness to RB and WR, and quality to OL. By the time all that is in place and clicking, Hasselbeck will long since be gone. So the team should also look at getting a franchise QB as soon as possible too.

I’m excited for the Seahawks future, but its still a long ways away.