The Seattle Seahawks have a bit of flair when it comes to taking undrafted free agents and turning them into quality contributors, and they might be able to do the same thing once more now that they have former Ole Miss star Jared Ivey on their defensive line.
Ivey was one of the best individual players in Seattle's 23-23 tie against old friend Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders during their preseason duel, recording six tackles and flexing the same run defense skills that helped make his Rebels defensive line one of the best in the country.
Ivey's even making it to the UDFA pool was regarded as a massive scouting error by the collective NFL community, and the Seahawks are reaping the benefits of landing someone with his massive physical gifts.
Pro Football Focus listed Ivey as the ninth-best rookie throughout the first week of the preseason, giving him an 84.4 overall grade and an 81.9 run defense grade that ranked fourth-best among all defensive ends in the league. Ivey's case for a 53-man spot is getting stronger by the day.
Seahawks UDFA EDGE Jared Ivey keeps impressing in preseason
Ivey went undrafted despite the fact that multiple pre-draft analysts pegged him as someone who could be picked late on Day 2 or early on Day 3. While teammate Princely Umanmielen went in the third round (which is later than many assumed he would go), Ivey's lack of speed caught up to him.
Ivey was viewed as too small to kick inside fully at over 270 pounds, and running a 5.16 40-yard dash that many offensive linemen with 50 extra pounds on them topped at the NFL Combine seemed to be the death knell for him. What those numbers could not capture are his run-stuffing ability and playmaking.
Ivey may face some longer odds when it comes to making the Seahawks roster, as it remains to be seen if Seattle views him as more of a pass rusher or someone who could stick their hand in the dirt. The latter might be better for him, and the competition among the backups there doesn't exactly consist of a bunch of All-Pros.
Even if Ivey doesn't end up becoming a star with Seattle, it has become obvious that watching him go undrafted was not representative of his overall football talent. Ivey may force Mike Macdonald to keep him on the 53-man roster if he strings together a few extra strong performances like this.