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Seahawks draft target: Michael Roberts, TE, Toledo

By Keith Myers

Oct 10, 2015; Toledo, OH, USA; Toledo Rockets tight end Michael Roberts (80) celebrates after the game against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Glass Bowl. The Rockets won 38-7. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2015; Toledo, OH, USA; Toledo Rockets tight end Michael Roberts (80) celebrates after the game against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Glass Bowl. The Rockets won 38-7. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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If the Seattle Seahawks draft a replacement for TE Luke Willson this year, Michael Roberts from Toledo would be a great fit in Seattle’s offense.

One of my favorite parts of the NFL Draft is when a player sneaks up on you with very impressive tape despite having no media attention whatsoever. Tight end Michael Roberts from Toledo is just such a player. He’s a guy many people have never heard of, and he’d look very good in a Seattle Seahawks uniform next year.

At 6 ft. 5 inches and 270 pounds, Roberts has very intriguing size for a guy that moves as well as he does. He is a fluid athlete that creates difficult matchup challenges for any linebacker or safety that is asked to cover him.

He has soft hands and can make a difficult or contested catch as long as the ball is relatively close to his frame. Catch radius overhead isn’t as large as you might expect, but he does a good job adjusting to balls thrown behind him or down near his feet.

Roberts lined up almost exclusively as a H-back. This allowed him to either pull inside as a lead blocker or have a cleaner path to second level to block a linebacker. He does a great job of blocking in space, keeping his eyes up to locate and engage defenders to keep holes open for the running back.

In the rare instances when he lined up in-line, the results were not as good. He often stands up too quickly and loses leverage. Expecting Roberts to be the point of attack blocker on these plays often proved to be a problem.

For the Seahawks, Roberts would make a tremendous replacement for Luke Willson who is currently a free agent. Roberts offers a similar skill set in a larger and more powerful frame. While he lacks Willson’s straight-line speed, Roberts is more-than capable of reproducing what Willson provided in Seattle’s passing game.

Next: Seahawks need a new plan at SAM linebacker

Full disclosure: 1) TE is a position that I’m particularly strong at scouting. 2) I’d consider this an incomplete evaluation, since there aren’t 4 games worth of tape available on Roberts at the moment. So definitely don’t weight my evaluation heavily over that of other evaluators.

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