Report: Seahawks met with Tennessee pass rusher Byron Young in Top-30 visit

We can add another name to the list of Seattle Seahawks pre-draft visits.

The Seattle Seahawks recently met with Tennessee outside linebacker Byron Young, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. There’s actually an Alabama defensive lineman named Byron Young, so we’ve got to be pretty specific on which Byron Young is which.

Tennesee’s Young played in the Senior Bowl and just turned 25 years old, so he’s pretty much on the Seahawks radar by default. A former walk-on at Georgia Military College, Young developed into a standout player for the Volunteers and was named first-team All-SEC in 2022. He led the team with seven sacks, four more than the next highest total, and finished second behind Aaron Beasley for the team lead in tackles for loss.

Take a look at some highlights below:

Lance Zierlein’s NFL.com scouting report:

An explosive edge defender with disruptive play qualities, Young is still in the process of learning how to play his position. His rush hands lack skill and he’s missing go-to counters, but that could be coachable for him. He creates chaos when using his twitchy first step to slant and twist but still needs to tune up the stack-and-shed technique and build out a cohesive rush approach. He will be a 25-year-old rookie with a lack of polish for his age, which could be a deterrent for some teams, but a fully fueled motor and strong desire to make plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage give him a shot to become a capable pro.

One “strength” I saw that stood out is “Elite first-step quickness for gap disruption.” Needless to say, the Seahawks have a thing for the first-step quickness. Doesn’t mean you pencil in Young for Seattle, but they clearly have a type as a pass rusher.

Mel Kiper Jr’s first mock draft actually had the Seahawks taking Young at 20th overall, but that was pre-combine. Most recent mock drafts have Young going no earlier than Round 3, so he could be one of those Day 2/Day 3 gems of interest.