2024 NFL 3-Round Mock Draft: Seahawks land dream haul on defense

1st Round, pick 16 - Jared Verse, Edge rusher, Florida State

If the Seattle Seahawks are truly going to stay at pick 16 and give up a chance to collect more picks, then that must mean a blue-chip caliber player has fallen to them at their pick. Based on my personal rankings and consensus mock drafts all over, there are seven players that I can see being realistically worthy of that discussion.

Brock Bowers 
Troy Fautanu
Tallese Fuaga
Jared Verse
Michael Penix, Jr.
Byron Murphy
Johnny Newton

I would say there's probably a 60 percent chance at best one of those first five players will be sitting there at number 16. A much higher probability that one of the premier defensive tackles should be available, which brings in the risk of losing out on one of them if you trade too far back.

In this mock draft, Bowers, Fautanu, and Murphy were gone, and we were staring down the choices of Fuaga, Verse, Penix, or Newton. After much deliberation with my draft team (me staring at my phone for 2 minutes), we decided to select the Florida State star pass rusher.

The 6-4 254 lbs pass star lineman was a transfer to Tallahassee from Albany, and became an instant star for the Seminoles. In his two seasons, Verse totalled 89 tackles, 29.5 for loss and 18 combined sacks, with 3 passes deflected this season, in 25 total games.

With a RAS score of 9.6 and a successful combine, Verse is not just a pass rusher, but a valuable piece along the defensive line that is a force in the run game as well. As Daniel Jeremiah noted in his Big Board, Verse has the best power of any pass rusher in the past few seasons. With it's his dominant bull rushing the offensive lineman into the quarterback, or his vicious stutter step and then lightning-quick charge to get past the tackles, Verse brings a physicality that has not been seen in Seattle since the handful of games that Jadeveon Clowney brought it when he was a Seahawk in 2019.

Penix is tempting as hell, Fuaga and Newton would be fantastic selections as well, but Seattle desperately needs a premier pass rusher, and Verse brings that potential while also bringing a physical and intense style of play that this roster desperately needs more of.