3 sleepers that could make the Seattle Seahawks roster in 2023

Seattle Seahawks nose guard Austin Faoliu

The Seahawks need a nose tackle. It's that simple. Cam Young was taken in the fourth round of the 2023 draft to likely play in the middle of the defensive line, but he still needs to gain some girth. He came into the draft at a bit over 300 pounds and needs to be more like 320 or more. The nose tackle is supposed to eat up blocks, but unless one has a lot of weight, being a wall at the line of scrimmage gets more difficult.

Faoliu isn't overly heavy either (for an NFL nose guard, that is), but he has learned how to develop his game into being one where he plays with a strong and low base. He knows how best to use his balance and his lower-body power is without question. The biggest question about Faoliu is how quickly he can be ready after having knee surgery a bit over a month ago.

Head coach Pete Carroll said that the procedure for Faoliu was simply one to clean up an existing issue. This might mean two possibilities. One is that Seattle likes what they saw from Faoliu so much as a Seattle Sea Dragon in the XFL that they knew Faoliu would need to have minor surgery on his knee and were completely OK with it. Or Faoliu's surgery will hold him back from competing early in training camp and he simply loses ground to guys like Young and fellow rookie Jonah Tavai.

The Seahawks have talent all over the roster, but also have spots that are thin, such as nose tackle. Faoliu definitely has a chance to earn a roster spot at no worse than simply being depth. But he could also surprise some and be the starter between Dre'Mont Jones and Jarran Reed in Week 1.

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