NFL Draft Prospects: Defensive Tackle
By Keith Myers
The Seahawks have an interesting dilemma come up this offseason at defensive tackle. Both starter Alan Branch and super sub Jason Jones are going to be free agents. Both are likely to command rather large pay increases.
The Seahawks have the cap space to pay both, but doing so will greatly limit their ability to actually upgrade the rest of the team. The Seahawks will also want to re-sign Kam Chancellor who’ll be entering the last year on his contract. The Seahawks have also already sunk a tremendous amount of salary into the rest of the defensive line, giving Chris Clemons, Brandon Mebane and Red Bryant all large extensions. That’s a lot of money already sunk into one position group.
While I doubt that the Seahawks will do so, there’s a chance the Seahawks will look to the draft to find a cheaper alternative at the position. With that in mind, I decided to put together my DT rankings for the draft next.
This is a deep draft at DT. The top 2 are likely going to go in the top 5 in the draft. I could also see as many as 6 DTs go in the first round. There are quality NFL players up and down the draft at the position.
| Player | Pos | Rank |
School
Star LotuleleiDT
1
UtahJohnathan HankinsDT
2
Ohio StateJohn JenkinsDT
3
GeorgiaSheldon RichardsonDT
4
MissouriJesse WilliamsDT
5
AlabamaKawann ShortDT
6
PurdueSylvester WilliamsDT
7
North CarolinaSharrif FloydDT
8
FloridaEverett DawkinsDT
9
Florida StateDominique EasleyDT
10
FloridaJordan HillDT
11
Penn StateAkeem SpenceDT
12
IllinoisAbry JonesDT
13
GeorgiaBrent RussellDT
14
Georgia SouthernCory GrissomDT
15
South FloridaJosh BoydDT
16
Mississippi StateAnthony WhiteDT
17
Michigan StateAnthony McCloudDT
18
Florida StateChris JonesDT
19
Bowling GreenBrandon WilliamsDT
20
Missouri S. State