Seattle Seahawks: 3 UDFAs with chance to make final roster
By Lee Vowell
Eli Mencer, edge rusher
Eli Mencer does not even have a sports-reference.com page. That doesn’t mean Mencer is a bad player, it means he played at a smaller college where he didn’t garner national attention. But Mencer has talent. The question is whether that talent will translate to an NFL level.
In his senior year at the University of Albany, the 6’1″ and 230 pound Mencer had 14.5 sacks and 24 tackles for loss as well as 5 forced fumbles. Maybe these numbers were made at a level that wasn’t the SEC, for instance, but guess who else had the same numbers? Few. Overall combined? None.
Mencer is a bit small for the NFL level but he also has what Pete Carroll loves. That is he has heart and drive and a chip on his shoulder. Remember players like Richard Sherman and Baldwin and Chris Carson? Those were little-known players who didn’t accomplish much, right?
Wrong. All those guys became important members of the Seahawks and Mencer could too. Maybe Mencer would never break records at the NFL combine, but a willingness to be great overcomes all most of the time. Mencer wants to be great and given the chance, he could be for the Seahawks.