Seahawks grades: Is Will Dissly Seattle’s second best pick of 2018?
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks want to get back to a run heavy offense. This is why they took Rashaad Penny with their first pick. But with Seattle’s third choice, Will Dissly, the team proved they want to run teams over again.
Will Dissly is the Seattle Seahawks’ newest tight end. He won’t be the teams leading receiver probably ever, but his value lies elsewhere. How good of a pick is the player from the University of Washington?
Round 4, Pick 120: Will Dissly, Tight end, University of Washington
Don’t ever doubt that the Seahawks are getting back to a more run heavy attack. With their first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, they chose Rashaad Penny, a running back. With their third choice, they stayed in town and took Dissly from U-Dub.
In the 4th round, with pick 120 overall, the Seahawks select Washington TE Will Dissly. Dissly stayed in to pass protect on 78 snaps in 2017. He did not allow a single QB pressure for the draft class' highest pass-blocking efficiency at a perfect 100.0.#SeahawksDraft #NFLDraft
— PFF SEA Seahawks (@PFF_Seahawks) April 28, 2018
Dissly can catch the ball. But what he does extraordinarily well is block opponents. The tight end is 6’4″ and 265 pounds but all 265 of that is nasty and mean when it comes to blocking, especially in the running game. Though clearly from the statistic above, he can also pass block.
Dissly isn’t the greatest receiver, though. He isn’t overly fast and his hands are not among the best of this 2018 NFL draft class. He only caught 21 passes his senior year. This was 17 more than his junior season. But Seattle could really care little about this.
I am so excited to be a Seahawk!! #Justakidfrombozeman #seattle12s #compete
— Will Dissly (@Will_Diss) April 28, 2018
Dissly’s blocking technique is excellent and will need little change in the NFL. He uses his hands to latch to a defender and is strong enough to keep that defender in space. As I said, Dissly likes to block.
My one concern would be that Seattle might want to transition him into the kind of player they hoped George Fant would be. Take a tight end and make him into a tackle. Hopefully this won’t happen to Dissly. He is much more the way Zach Miller was with Seattle than a good blocking interior lineman.
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The converted defensive end knows what the other position wants to do. Is he probably going to catch 60 passes in a season? No. But he will help in the run game. And that is why the Seahawks took him.
Grade: B