Seahawks DE Mike Morris Makes Seattle a Promise: 'They're Getting a Monster'
RENTON, Wash. - After slogging through the tail end of his final collegiate season at Michigan with a high ankle sprain, new Seattle Seahawks defender Mike Morris felt he had much to prove to prospective teams when he declared early for the NFL Draft.
Now, he's looking to prove the Seahawks right for selecting him in the fifth round at No. 151 overall.
"They’re not wasting this pick on anybody," Morris said. "I’m going to give everything I have, all I got. They’re getting a monster.”
Coming off a breakout season for the Wolverines, Morris put his best foot forward aiming to trim down hoping to post quality athletic testing numbers at the NFL combine. Cutting 15 pounds in time for the job audition with the goal of showcasing additional speed, quickness, and explosiveness at a lighter weight, he checked in at a sleek 275 pounds after hovering well north of 280 pounds last season.
Unfortunately, the strategy backfired for Morris, who still wasn't fully recovered from the ankle injury when the combine rolled around in February. Turning in a poor overall performance in Indianapolis at less than 100 percent health, he ran a 4.95 40-yard dash and failed to post a 30-inch vertical jump, exacerbating concerns about his athleticism as an edge defender at the next level.
Luckily, the slow 40 time and underwhelming testing didn’t knock him off the radar for every team and after visiting with him at the combine, the Seahawks were more than happy to use one of their two fifth-round picks to select the disruptive defender.
"Mike had an interesting spring because he tried losing weight to test better and he had a high ankle sprain and he's just kind of figuring out, like, ‘You know what? I'm a big person.’ I'm a defensive end,” general manager John Schneider said following the draft on Saturday. “So as of today, he was 295… We got a cool video this morning and he's sitting on the scale because we're like, come on. He's a big guy. He's long and he plays hard.”
Putting on 20 pounds between the combine and the draft, some fans may be concerned about the sudden body change, especially after seeing Georgia’s Jalen Carter fail to finish his pro day workout earlier this spring after gaining close to 10 pounds.
But Morris played heavier than his combine weight last season and he told reporters in a Saturday conference call that the Seahawks specifically advised him to bulk back up due to positional preference. Since that meeting, he has focused on adding good weight with proper nutrition and with his ankle now fully healed, he’s in excellent shape with rookie minicamp just around the corner.
“The Seahawks said they wanted me to get a little bigger, and my agent talked to me about it, said after the combine it didn’t go well,” Morris said. “They see the numbers, they see D-tackle or D-end, so just gain a little weight, and if you get drafted as an outside linebacker you can lose it and you’ve done that before, so it won’t be hard. So, I did it.”
As Schneider and coach Pete Carroll confirmed, the Seahawks intend to maximize Morris’ strengths and physicality as powerful, long-armed interior defender by sliding him inside full-time to play defensive end in their 3-4 hybrid scheme.
That’s a significant contrast from how the Wolverines used Morris, who spent most of his time outside as a standup outside linebacker in college. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 311 of his 325 defensive snaps covering the tackle as a 5-tech or outside of the tackle, accounting for 95 percent of his playing time as a junior.
Thriving in that role in the Big Ten, Morris produced nine sacks, which tied for 18th-most among defensive ends and edge defenders in the nation. On 205 pass rushing snaps, he also recorded 35 pressures and posted a 20.5 percent pressure rate, higher than Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness, LSU’s BJ Ojulari, and USC’s Tuli Tupulotu, who were all drafted higher than him last week.
Considering his success harassing quarterbacks against stout competition, the Seahawks believe Morris’ athleticism will play far better in the interior, especially with him bulking up to close to 300 pounds to handle the rigors of playing inside full-time. Carroll anticipates the position change will include plenty of growing pains for him, specifically as a run defender working against NFL guards, but envisions his skill set being best suited for the job in the pros as he develops.
“He’s going to have his hand on the ground for the most part,” Carroll explained. “And a little bit of transition for that. He played there quite a bit, but we're going to play him there a lot. So that's a little bit of an adjustment for him."
As part of a completely retooled defensive line, Morris should have a legitimate opportunity to compete for a substantial role in Seattle’s rotation out of the gate. Before being selected, the team only had three healthy defensive ends and tackles under contract, including free agent signees Dre’Mont Jones and Jarran Reed, leaving ample snaps to be earned for the incoming rookie.
Grateful to be given a shot by the Seahawks, Morris doesn’t care where the team asks him to line up. Whether he's reduced inside with his hand in the dirt or occasionally sliding back outside the tackle as a standup pass rusher, he's not going to leave anything in the tank and promises his new team will be "getting a monster" ready to wreak havoc along the defensive line.
“I feel like I didn’t really get to showcase who I really was in the last, back half of the season. I have a big chip on my shoulder and I’m just ready to unleash everything that I have in a big Seahawks uniform. I’m so excited to be a Seahawk. I’m ready to get after it and be great.”
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