Charles Cross dominating camp, besting Leonard Williams

[Maelstrom787]

Cross is still only 23 years old. He came into the league very young and is still rookie-aged.

 

[Maelstrom787]

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Been hearing on 710 quite a bit that Cross looks like a completely different player. Good to hear.

 

[AROS]

Excellent news. He has the intangibles, size, talent. He has shown flashes but not really played to his potential so far in my opinion. Sounds like he is maturing. Wonderful.

 

[NoGain]

Few things would make me happier about the Hawks than to have the LT position nailed down.

 

[Jville]

That toe injury in the first game of 2023 interrupted Charles's on field development. He's been upgrading technique and strength all along. Fully committed to his development.

Good to see a confirmation post regarding his progress.

 

[onanygivensunday]

This is fantastic news... now, we just need to get Lucas back and fully healthy.

starters... Cross/Tomlinson/C. Williams/C. Haynes/Lucas

 

[bileever]

Even without Lucas, this will be our best O line in years. To have a healthy Cross and Connor Williams? Wow. George Fant at RT will be good fill in until Lucas gets back. And to have Tomlinson, Haynes or Bradford as the guards will be an improvement over the last few years.

 

[MORGULON]

This is fantastic news... now, we just need to get Lucas back and fully healthy.

starters... Cross/Tomlinson/C. Williams/C. Haynes/Lucas

That might be a formidable line right there.

 

[MyrtleHawk]

This is on par with how Tackles usually mature in the NFL (about the 3rd year or so), so it's not surprising to me. I am really glad to hear him getting a lot better though, hopefully he keeps up the production and they keep him around long enough for him to retire a Seahawk.

 

[projectorfreak]

Tomlinson still worries me a bit
Memories of a. d. Hopefully it's memories that don't repeat themselves
Go Hawks

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Coach Mike strikes me as someone with a very short leash. You eff up, you're on the bench. Just a hunch, and something I think I'm going to like a lot about him.
ACCOUNTABILITY.

 

[bileever]

Tomlinson still worries me a bit
Memories of a. d. Hopefully it's memories that don't repeat themselves
Go Hawks

Yeah, at this stage of his career, Laken isn't what he used to be. He might be even below league average. But he's still an upgrade over Phil Haynes, who was truly terrible, and not that much worse than Damien Lewis, who got $53 million from the Panthers.

On top of that, he's apparently a leader among the O-line and in the locker room: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...ng-his-leadership-to-seahawks-offensive-line/

To get a guy like Tomlinson for $1.2 million is a steal, even if he's 32.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Coach Mike strikes me as someone with a very short leash. You eff up, you're on the bench. Just a hunch, and something I think I'm going to like a lot about him.
ACCOUNTABILITY.

Gotta be careful, though. That can hamper development if the leash is too short, and the backup will usually be worse. Delicate balance as a coach.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Yeah, at this stage of his career, Laken isn't what he used to be. He might be even below league average. But he's still an upgrade over Phil Haynes, who was truly terrible, and not that much worse than Damien Lewis, who got $53 million from the Panthers.

On top of that, he's apparently a leader among the O-line and in the locker room: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...ng-his-leadership-to-seahawks-offensive-line/

To get a guy like Tomlinson for $1.2 million is a steal, even if he's 32.

If Laken Tomlinson is the worst player on our line, then we're in great shape.

 

[sutz]

Love reading that shit!

Even Walter had injuries that slowed him the first year or so.

 

[SeaWolv]

Love hearing this about Cross. Sounds like he might be showing us what we thought he could when they drafted him in 2022.

If we get Lucas back healthy and playing like he did in 2022, along with Williams, we'll be in pretty good shape. Then the only question marks left would be the guards, Tomlinson and Bradford/Haynes. I have my concerns about Tomlinson so we'll see how that goes at LG. I'm more hopeful about the RG situation. The battle between Bradford and Haynes is looking like a good thing and both are bringing their best stuff.

Sounds like Haynes may have the higher ceiling:

Simmons bulled through Bradford, Seahawks center Olu Oluwatimi and left guard Laken Tomlinson all that Wednesday morning.

The 6-foot-3, 317-pound Haynes pushed Quinton Bohanna, Tennessee’s 6-4, 360-pound defensive tackle, to the ground in a one-on-one pass-rush drill. Then Haynes pushed Bohanna again, while he was down. Bohanna didn’t like that. The fourth-year veteran got to his feet and charged at Haynes. They went nose to nose, yelling and pointing at each other. In his next rep, Haynes threw down Titans defensive tackle Marlon Davidson, a fourth-year pro. In scrimmaging, ones versus ones, Haynes often held his own repelling Simmons.

https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article291193250.html

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

Cross was relatively young coming out especially considering we also drafted Lucas in the same draft which it was hard not to compare and contrast both players “readiness” to compete at the NFL level. Lucas more or less had 2 more years of starting experience and body development.

Cross, coming in, essentially was going to have to develop and put in the work. I thought he was two years away in terms of being able to put everything together. More specifically get stronger and bulk up.

So I’m not surprised that he looks like he is starting to show consistent quality in year 3. I did a whole post comparing him to Walter Jones, writing in one of his post draft threads:

I just want to compare Cross to Walt Jones coming out:

Cross, 21 years old, 76.75 inches, 307 pounds.

Jones, 23 years old, 76.9 inches, 301 pounds.

Cross, 34.5 in Arm Length, 10.75 in Hand, 81” in Wing Span.

Jones, 34.5 in Arm Length, 9.88 in Hand, N/A but I’d give Jones at least 81-82” and maybe upward to 83-84” inches. He was known for his pretty based shoulder game.

Cross, 4.95s Forty, 1.73 TenYS
Jones, 5.09s Forty, 1.84 TenYS

Cross, 26” Vert, 9’4 Broad
Jones, 30.5 Vert, N/A

Cross, 7.88 3-Cone, 4.65 Shuttle
Jones, 8.23 3-Cone, 4.73 Shuttle

Walter Jones, in today’s standards, did not test as an elite athlete. No one thought of Jones as a dominant road-grader type and he was massively undersized compared to his 1st Round peers in Jon Ogden and Tarik Glenn. But what made Walter Jones special and a top 10 pick was being the best pass protector in his class and he made it look easy despite being considered a little raw. Then Jones developed himself at a Professional level, added weight, strength, pushed Escalades into being an elite complete HoF LT.

Cross wasn’t my pick, I was definitely “meh” on his athletic testing especially seeing some of these guys put up 7.25s 3 Cones. That he kind of got pushed back and ignored completely in the last month. But just gathering information and data, insights, opinions, watching his film. He’s a baller. His pass-protection technique, footwork, balance, leverage, body control, awareness, intelligence is beyond his years. His run-blocking doesn’t get enough credit, he was pretty solid in his opportunities.

But the biggest thing to me is that he’s still growing into his frame, adding weight up to 307 from 270 in the last 3 years. I know people tend to believe that this stuff comes easy but it doesn’t and the fact that he looked as good as he did on tape in the SEC no less and is still developing makes me believe that Cross is no where near is overall ceiling.

I’m envisioning his development 2-3 years down the road and if he makes the necessary gains to his strength and conditioning much like Walter Jones and Duane Brown did while losing nothing in body control and only gets more smarter the Seahawks are going to have a dominant cornerstone LT.

 

[Shane Falco]

This is some really good news to hear. We straighten out the oline and defense, it may not amount to more wins but probably much more enjoyable to watch.

 

[sutz]

This is some really good news to hear. We straighten out the oline and defense, it may not amount to more wins but probably much more enjoyable to watch.

Perhaps it leads to both.