Poona Ford might be the Seahawks next Michael Bennett
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks have had success with undrafted defensive linemen. Poona Ford might be the next great player for Seattle.
Poona Ford went undrafted out of the University of Texas. NFL teams saw him as too small to play defensive line. The Seahawks may have viewed Ford this way too because they signed him to an undrafted free agent deal instead of picking him in the draft. Seattle, though, has had a lot of success from players who didn’t get taken and Ford may be the latest guy who will turn out to be great.
Ford played limited reps in his rookie year of 2018 but he was very good in the little time he played. Basically, Ford was proving to everyone what Big 12 coaches already knew: He is difficult to move, a smart player and is a force stopping the run. His last year at Texas Ford was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Last season with the Seahawks, Ford had the highest run-defense grade of any rookie interior defender since 2006, according to Pro Football Focus. The five-foot-eleven-inch yet 310 pound Ford wasn’t movable in college and he wasn’t moved by NFL offensive linemen either.
This sounds a lot like another undrafted free agent who played with Seattle, Michael Bennett. Seattle didn’t sign Bennett out of college. It took him four years to get to Seattle. But he blossomed in the Seahawks scheme. Basically, Bennett made himself into a great player by using his skill set and learning different techniques to stop the run and get to opposing quarterbacks.
I mean, Poona Ford did earn a run-defense grade of 91.5 last season, which is the highest run-defense grade among any rookie interior defender in the PFF era (since 2006), and one spot ahead of Aaron Donald's mark of 90.8 in 2014. #Seahawks https://t.co/Ls6uLrVaDC
— PFF SEA Seahawks (@PFF_Seahawks) August 2, 2019
Ford will do the same thing. He understands his height isn’t what the NFL execs want but it also something that offensive linemen don’t see. Plus, Ford is beastly strong and knows it. He uses his incredible leverage in the run-game. Though he hasn’t done much to get to quarterbacks yet, I have a feeling he will find a way to develop there too.
Next. Projecting the Seahawks 2019 roster, version 2.0. dark
With the suspension of Jarran Reed, Seattle needs a defensive tackle to be great in Reed’s absence. Ford is going to go from undrafted free agent into a starter for the Seahawks. This is something Seattle loves to see and Ford is motivated to become one of the best. Don’t bet against him.