Seahawks draft 2020: Julian Okwara could fill the need at edge rusher

The Seahawks need to find edge rushers in the 2020 NFL draft. One might come early in the draft in Notre Dame’s Julian Okwara.

The Seahawks are going to trade down in the 2020 NFL draft. Seattle always does this. Mostly, John Schneider wants to pick up more draft picks and one way of doing that is to trade early picks. But the Seahawks also need pass rushers. Fortunately for Seattle, one pass rusher that should fall to them is Notre Dame’s Julian Okwara.

Okwara is an athletic 6’4″ and 250-pound linebacker. But he is lean enough to gain 15 pounds and become a defensive end. Even better, he would fit perfectly into the Seahawks LEO position and create havoc for opposing quarterbacks. Okwara might not yet be ready to help stuff the run, but Seattle can worry about that with another player. The Seahawks need pass rushers and Okwara is just that.

In 2018, Okwara had 8 sacks. And in 2019, Okwara had 5 more in just 9 games before breaking his fibula in November and missing the rest of the season.  Because of the injury, Okwara missed taking part in the NFL combine. There is little doubt that a healthy Okwara would have shown extreme athleticism and moved up draft boards. Lucky thing for Seattle is that didn’t happen.

According to Pro Football Focus, Okwara had the highest pressure rate of anyone else in college football since 2018 at 19.1 percent. Ohio State’s Chase Young, expected to go within the first few picks of this year’s draft was third at 17.6 percent. Young is better against the run than Okwara is, but again, Seattle needs guys who can get to the quarterback, not stop the Ezekiel Elliott’s of the NFL.

Okwara will need to gain strength to take on NFL offensive linemen. At this point, if he gets hit initially he might not be able to get up enough burst to get around the blocker. But once Okwara gains muscle and learns how to use his speed at the next level, he is capable of 10-plus sacks a season. And he might become a better run defender at the same time.

The Seahawks are likely to move down out of the first round in the 2020 NFL draft and pick up picks. This doesn’t mean they will lose out in quality, however. If the Seahawks move back to the top of the second round and take Julian Okwara, Seattle will have gotten more choices while also getting a player who will make the franchise better for several seasons.