At 158 Seattle selects: Luke Willson, TE Rice

I can't decide who my adopt a rookie is but I'm seriously leaning towards this dude. Our coaching staff can take a physical freak of nature like this and really make something out of him, and it seems like he's not a bad player, just had a down year due to injury.

High hopes for this pick.

I have a really hard time believing that anyone was taking this guy before the 7th if at all. This is the one pick this year I just don't understand

Here is some tape on him, the game is from 2011 season.
Go to the 1:37 time mark; he is at the top of the screen jersey #82.

[youtube]I9Mrepi9dQc[/youtube]

The big man gets a TD.

bellingerga":3igcsbzx said:

I can't decide who my adopt a rookie is but I'm seriously leaning towards this dude. Our coaching staff can take a physical freak of nature like this and really make something out of him, and it seems like he's not a bad player, just had a down year due to injury.

High hopes for this pick.

Click to expand...

We didn't draft Darren Fells, but he's definitely a rookie. Jump on the Fells Express and just hang on. He's taking us to pay dirt.

I don't have a problem with taking a shot at a potential physical mismatch if he develops but I would of rather taken one of the Fla. school kickers here and taken a chance on Willson in the 6th. But as I have found out too many times in the past 3 drafts, don't question P.C. & J.S.'s rational for the moves we make. We have two physical specimens to try to develop as a flex/joker mismatch with very little investment. The TE class fell way off after the 1st three were off the board and I really didn't want a clone of McCoy so I am happy with the efforts to try to upgrade the position without spending big money in FA for under achievers or altering their board to get one of the top 3 in the draft. Lets just see what we get out of this pick before we kill them over it. After all, I questioned why we take a corner from Stanford a couple years back because his college coach passed him and they needed corners. We know how that turned out?

FlyingGreg":242vdhus said:

seatt1eslew":242vdhus said:

Jameson Konz 2.0? Hopefully Willson is a good blocker too.

Click to expand...

He won't be used as an in-line blocker. He's more a joker type.

Think about it this way...in a 2 TE set, when defenses are flustered trying to cover Harvin, Rice, Tate and Miller...this is the kind of guy to leak out into soft coverage spots and kill it.

Click to expand...

I think you may be wrong after listening to Mitch interview a sports writer for the Rice Owls this morning. He said his best attribute is blocking. The guy was also surprised that he ran a 4.5. My initial thought was the same as yours that because of his slighter build(for a TE anyway) and great speed that he would be more of a down the field pass catching threat. Sounds like he may be a good blocker who is a little raw in the pass game but showed at his pro day he has the athleticism to become a well rounded/do it everything TE.

The guy also said he was a team leader. I am liking this pick more and more. Hopefully he can get hooked up with Miller and Wilson and work on his receiving skills. Maybe he starts out this season as our 3rd option at TE and works his way into our future starter down the road.

Found this, and he can't be all that bad, he's a Canuck....a very athletic one at that.

http://canada.nfl.com/2013/04/29/six-ca ... -nfl-jobs/

TJH":i51brw5f said:

Sports Hernia":i51brw5f said:

Another nice big target for RW3!

Click to expand...

Stop that.

Click to expand...

:13:

Missing_Clink":2yoj9jdl said:

I have a really hard time believing that anyone was taking this guy before the 7th if at all. This is the one pick this year I just don't understand

Click to expand...

Maybe this helps a little as to why the Seahawks were high on him:

Prior to the 2012 season, Willson was considered one of the top TEs is the country as he was on the John Mackey award watch list but an unfortunately high ankle sprain derailed his 2012 season and he was buried by a strong depth chart at TE. Yet, he was still voted to Honorable Mention at his position by his conference’s coaches despite a weak stat line. He was the 2nd Rice TE taken behind 49er’s Vance McDonald and both players are comparable:

Vance McDonald: 112 catches, 1504 yards, 15 TDs
Luke Willson: 78 catches, 986 yards, 9 TDs.

LW stats adjusted to VM catch line: 112 catches, 1416 yards, 13 TDs

Measurables:
VM: 6'4, 267 / 31 bench reps/ 33 ½ Vert/ 9’11 Broad Jump
LW: 6'5, 250/ 23 bench reps/ 38 Vert/ 10’02 Broad Jump

VM: 4.60 40-yd dash/ 2.78 20-yd dash/ 1.68 10-yd dash
LW: 4.51 40-yd dash/ 2.57 20-yd dash/ 1.53 10-yd dash

VM: 4.53 20 Yard Shuttle/ 7.08 3-Cone Drill/ 2nd Round pick
LW: 4.29 20 Yard Shuttle/ 7.08 3-Cone Drill/ 5th round pick

Willson, while not as big or strong as McDonald, is faster, slighty more explosive, and likely more fluid as an athlete. Willson's measures would rank in the top 10 in most categories among fellow TEs had he participated in the Combine. The Seahawks will utilized his extraordinary speed to take the top off of defenses as well as figure him into their offense as a big WR and Red-Zone threat to create mismatches. Behind Miller and McCoy, he’ll have a year or so to develop his core strength and blocking fundamentals which are already solid but more or less a necessary and demanding attribute in the Seahawks run heavy system before he becomes a legit contributor.