The forgotten man

[Seattle Person]

We all know this is an epic draft class. We have 1,2,3,4,5,6 rookie starters! Let that sink in. They are all balling too. A few stars in the making.

I want to talk about the forgotten man in this mix though. Time to put the shine on Boye Mafe. He is quietly becoming one of the better run defenders on the team. Dude had an 80 grade in run defense this past week vs the Chargers. Remember he is the Sam starter on base downs.

How awesome would it be to have an Edge develop his run defense first before he unleashes his pass rushing skills. It's almost like a pitcher developing their off-speed stuff before unleashing a fastball. It's good stuff. I think the Mafe breakout game is coming.

 

[HawkStrong]

Thought this was going to be about Tre Brown!

But I agree Mafe continues to get better every game. Seems to be helping DT out as well (playing fewer snaps), if last game is any indication.

 

[Ozzy]

We all know this is an epic draft class. We have 1,2,3,4,5,6 rookie starters! Let that sink in. They are all balling too. A few stars in the making.

I want to talk about the forgotten man in this mix though. Time to put the shine on Boye Mafe. He is quietly becoming one of the better run defenders on the team. Dude had an 80 grade in run defense this past week vs the Chargers. Remember he is the Sam starter on base downs.

How awesome would it be to have an Edge develop his run defense first before he unleashes his pass rushing skills. It's almost like a pitcher developing their off-speed stuff before unleashing a fastball. It's good stuff. I think the Mafe breakout game is coming.

The weird part about Mafe is he’s doing things he wasn’t all that known for in college. The pass rush will come. He has a good chance of being another foundational piece

 

[Seattle Person]

The weird part about Mafe is he’s doing things he wasn’t all that known for in college. The pass rush will come. He has a good chance of being another foundational piece

I agree. It's almost backwards development...? He was known as a great pass rusher but needed to work on his run game. But I view it as he is quickly learning the run game but still maintaining his pass rushing skills. I just think he needs more opportunities to rush the QB.

 

[HawkStrong]

The weird part about Mafe is he’s doing things he wasn’t all that known for in college. The pass rush will come. He has a good chance of being another foundational piece

Wasn't known for setting the edge in run defense? Scouting profile said different, if I remember correctly. Could be wrong though, scouting profiles can be all over the place.

 

[Ozzy]

Wasn't known for setting the edge in run defense? Scouting profile said different, I remember
correctly. Could be wrong though, scouting profiles can be all over the place.

Corbin Smith said when he scouted him he didn’t do much of it in college and Pete seemed to agree but maybe he’s wrong, I didn’t watch Mafe in college

 

[HawkStrong]

Corbin Smith said when he scouted him he didn’t do much of it in college and Pete seemed to agree but maybe he’s wrong, I didn’t watch Mafe in college

Yeah just looking at a random handful of scouting reports, some say he needed work in the run game, some say he was competent, a few say it was a strength. Really just depends on who is doing the scouting apparently.

 

[Own The West]

He seems a bigger guy like a DE instead of a LB. I remember in camp thinking he had a lot of baby fat on him and it was going to be a season or two until he was ready to start.

Still, maybe the extra weight is helping him in the trenches. Taylor has been pretty meh on edge this year. Mafe was pretty slow getting out to the flat against the Chargers though.

Nwosu seems to be the only complete edge player we have right now, maybe Irvin now too. I still see Mafe as a work in progress.

 

[Mick063]

To paraphrase Pete from his press conference, the staff felt like they need to get Mafe on the field due to his physicality, but that Mafe was admittedly a work in progress and had a way to go before he was a finished product. Sounds to me like they love his attitude and physical ability to hold up at the point of attack, but Mafe needs on-field experience to become what they envisioned for him. Pete always seems to use the term "physicality" when referencing Mafe.