4 surprising candidates to make the Seattle Seahawks 53-man roster in 2023
By Lee Vowell
Austin Faoliu - Seahawks nose tackle
Seattle, as everyone likely knows, needs to find the guy who is going to play in between Dre'Mont Jones and Jarran Reed (or possibly Mario Edwards is playing end sometimes). The Seahawks did choose Cameron Young out of Mississippi State in the 2023 draft and Young has already bulked up some in anticipation of fighting for the starting nose tackle job. But Austin Faoliu is going to want to stake claim to that spot as well.
Other Seahawks news and analysis
manual
Faoliu has a tiny bit of time in the NFL. He played in one game for the Dallas Cowboys in 2021 and made two tackles. He didn't play in the league last year and most recently played with the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. With the Sea Dragons, Faoliu was named to the All-XFL team after playing 10 games, getting one sack, and making 24 tackles.
The key to being a successful nose tackle for the Seahawks is to eat up blockers and letting the linebackers clean up the running backs. Faoliu won't need to have 50 tackles and 5 sacks. He likely isn't capable of that anyway, but he does have the size - he is 6'3" and 290 pounds - to battle on the inside of the defensive line.
dark. Next. 4 false narratives about the Seahawks heading into 2023. 4 false narratives about the Seahawks heading into 2023
Seattle probably won't keep more than two nose tackles on the 53-man roster. Cam Young is almost a sure-thing to make the team. The Seahawks currently have six nose tackles on the 90-man roster trying to make the team. Faoliu could be one of the two on the final roster and has a decent chance of being the Week 1 sta