The Seattle Seahawks stockpiled late-round picks on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft, together with No. 242 from the New York Jets together with No. 199 (Emmanuel Henderson Jr) for No. 188. With that decide at No. 242, the Seattle Seahawks chosen defensive lineman Deven Jap from Minnesota. Jap comes with wonderful measurement and size, however may have loads of competitors in an ocean-deep DL room to make the energetic roster.
Relative Athletic Rating (RAS)
Jap’s athletic profile is the definition of a blended bag. He brings “Elite” measurement and an 86th percentile broad leap, however that’s offset by a twenty fifth percentile vertical and “Poor” agility occasions. As a participant anticipated to clog up the center of the road, that measurement and size can be of the utmost significance.
Of the RAS and Mockdraftable comps listed, I selected to spotlight three of them. All of them are shut when it comes to general RAS, but are good comps for various causes.
Tomlinson and Jap have related weight, vertical and broad leap. Derrick Brown is heavier and has the power benefit with much more size than Jap. Raekwon Davis is the closest throughout the board. All three have been drafted within the first two rounds, not like Jap. Davis was out of the NFL after 5 seasons, whereas Brown and Tomlinson are nonetheless mixing it up within the trenches.
I had a whole lot of enjoyable pondering of the subsequent two comps, and I hope these of you who’ve been NFL followers for the previous few many years will take pleasure in this. Means again within the early to mid 2000s, the Jacksonville Jaguars had a hell of a DT duo in John Henderson and Marcus Stroud. Seems that Deven Jap has some related traits with each of them!
May you think about having each of these monsters in the course of the road subsequent to one another just like the Jaguars did? Henderson’s bench, vertical, and broad are close to Jap’s whereas Stroud and Jap are shut within the broad and shuttle. Jap is smack dab within the center when it comes to weight whereas being shorter than each Henderson and Stroud, who have been each first spherical picks in back-to-back seasons. They have been a really, very enjoyable duo.
The following comp was one other pull from method again in my mind that I simply needed to put in right here for enjoyable.
Does anybody moreover me keep in mind Igor Olshansky? He had top-of-the-line names ever and is clearly a greater athlete than Jap. Nonetheless, they’re the very same peak and weight with very shut broad jumps. That should rely for one thing!
Alright, now we are able to transfer on to the Seahawks Legends comps.
Purple Bryant, arguably the heartbeat of the primary Seahawks Tremendous Bowl championship crew, has an analogous weight, vertical, and broad leap. Alan Department is nice for vertical and shuttle. Rubin was equivalent when it comes to weight with an analogous vertical and three-cone. So, why do I’ve Naz Jones in there? Peak and size. Most of those guys have been stable for not less than a couple of seasons, which it is best to actually join in a heartbeat with Jap being a seventh-rounder.
Although Seattle has nice depth at DL, you may all the time use extra horses within the steady. With that a lot depth, would the Seahawks have been capable of lure Jap out West(ern) as an undrafted free agent? Perhaps not. As an alternative, they used a seventh-round decide to make the selection for him. I’m high-quality with that.
This can be a robust one for me to challenge. Most late spherical draft selections have low odds of creating the energetic roster, and that time is simply exacerbated by depth at their place. Seattle’s DL is filled with stars and some unheralded names that coaches consider in. Jap’s measurement permits him to play a couple of completely different inside DL positions, however the crew clearly sees a spot for him at nostril sort out.
The Seahawks don’t have a transparent NT on the roster. Byron Murphy can play there, however he’s such a beast at 3T. Brandon Pili has taken snaps there, and there’s Bubba Thomas, J.R. Singleton, and UDFA Uso Seumalo as competitors. The Seahawks didn’t preserve a real NT on the preliminary roster final season and went with simply 4 inside DL: Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, Byron Murphy, and Mike Morris. Rylie Mills will make the roster this season whereas these 4 from final yr are all returning. I simply don’t see a spot for Jap on the ultimate roster – not less than initially. Utilizing that draft decide on him and training him up all spring/summer season will result in a follow squad spot with a couple of call-ups for choose video games in 2026.
