Report: John Moffit Senior Bowl Review

It is Groundhog’s Day in the Hawk Blogger household as I found myself watching the Senior Bowl yet again. This time, it was the North squad that drew my attention as I zeroed in on new Seahawk John Moffit. Grading out an interior lineman is a little tougher than a guy like James Carpenter on the edge of the line. Moffit started the game lined up as Center, and spent a fair amount of his time chipping or double-teaming other lineman’s defenders. When he was isolated one-on-one with a DT, he generally held his own. The glaring exception was when he lined up against Clemson’s Jarvis Jenkins. Jenkins manhandled him in a few cases.

Once Moffit slid over to guard, he appeared much more comfortable. He even staggered Jenkins with a good jab off the line. I had remembered Moffit being more dominant, but he did not have a great game at the Senior Bowl. It wasn’t horrible, but it was not outstanding.

Where Moffit was remarkable was during the week of practices leading up to the Senior Bowl. He stood out in the 1:1 pass rush drills and the drive-blocking drills. He plays with a nasty edge that will be a welcome addition to the Seahawks line. It will be interesting to see whether the game or practice was more indicative of Moffit’s abilities. Nobody he lined up against made a play that I saw, so even if the game was a better measure, it was not all that bad.

Now that we know the Seahawks fancied Moffit, you can safely assume the team really was not high on his line mate, Gabe Carimi. They were watching Wisconsin film a lot to choose Moffit, so it was impossible not to spend equal time on Carimi. Watching Carpenter again was encouraging. He does seem to be a pretty good tackle prospect.

I’ll try to find some time in the morning to break down what the draft strategy of the Seahawks means, and why I’m a big fan.