Originally published Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Scouting the Draft | Hawks might pick from deep pool

Position summary How good is this draft for defensive linemen? Good enough that perhaps seven or eight of them could be chosen in the first...

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Chris Long


Top defensive linemen
Rk	Pos	Player	College	Ht	Wt	Comment
1	DE	Chris Long	Virginia	6-3	272	If he is as good as his famous dad Howie, watch out
2	DE	Vernon Gholston	Ohio State	6-3	266	One of two players to get a sack on No. 1 pick Jake Long
3	DT	Glenn Dorsey	Louisiana St.	6-2	297	ESPN The Magazine touted him for the Heisman Trophy
4	DT	Sedrick Ellis	USC	6-1	309	Report: has already picked out the kind of car he wants
5	DE	Derrick Harvey	Florida	6-5	271	11 tackles for loss last season, his junior year

Position summary

How good is this draft for defensive linemen? Good enough that perhaps seven or eight of them could be chosen in the first round.

Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell addressed a misconception about the draft recently, involving defensive linemen.

"The one that gets broken quite often now is the size of interior defensive linemen in terms of their height," he said. "There was a day when you wouldn't take anyone under 6-4 for your defensive line, no matter what their weight was, really. I think people got more enamored with the Chuck Darby types [Darby is 6 feet tall at the most] where you can play with leverage and play underneath people's pads. The weight deal [upwards of 300 pounds for tackles, 275-280 for ends] has hung steady, but the height deal has not. The two guys that are talked about way up high, Ellis and Dorsey, they are not giants."

Local products are Washington State's Ropati Pitoitua (6-8, 289) at defensive tackle and UW's Greyson Gunheim (6-5, 268) at defensive end. Both figure to at least get invited to a camp.

Seahawks slant

Is there a need here? Yes. Defensive tackle over defensive end? Yes. The Seahawks' philosophy is that they want to replenish at those positions year after year anyway. Ruskell was asked Thursday if defensive tackle Rocky Bernard's recent arrest would impact the team's draft approach. "We have been targeting all along defensive tackles, and defensive linemen in general," Ruskell said, "because we lost Chuck Darby and we lost Ellis Wyms [two DTs]."

Coach Mike Holmgren said at the end of last season that the team would be looking for a wide body in the middle of the defensive line. North Carolina's Kentwan Balmer fits the bill, and could be the pick in the first round.

Rob Rang, senior draft analyst for nfldraftscout.com, pointed out that the Seahawks' personnel department is partial to players who have been four-year starters, and Balmer was a two-year starter.

A week ago, Rang felt Lawrence Jackson, a defensive end from USC who had 30 ½ sacks in four seasons, would be Seattle's first pick.

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