The Overrated Red Bryant...Position?

"Say that to my face, skinny white boy."

He was the mini-Hutchinson of 2010, the one who got away. Most eulogies of Seattle's 2010 season mark the injury loss of DE Red Bryant as the point of collapse for Seattle's run defense, which ranked a surprising #2 by Week 7. It was a frustrating end to one of the offseason's most exciting stories, as training camp reports gushed about Bryant's experimental shift from tackle to end and the immediate improvement that followed.

Bryant, a fourth-round afterthought before the experiment, left such an indelible impression in his six games healthy that the run-stopping RDE in Carroll's scheme is now popularly named after him. With Red's future clouded by injury, the "Red Bryant position" is now seen as one of the team's foremost needs, the key to unlocking smashmouth defensive play. This has a lot of mock drafts, including this week's version from Rob Staton, handing Seattle a similar hulking-but-quick hybrid like Phil Taylor or Muhammad Wilkerson, who is set to visit with the Seahawks.

Here's the thing: the numbers don't support the idea that Seattle's early-season defense was all that amazing in the first place. In fact, it looks downright overrated upon close examination. And an overrated defense calls into question the value of, perhaps not Red Bryant himself, but the position he plays in Carroll's scheme.

I investigate this because it affects Seattle's draft board: where does a hulking-but-quick 5-tech like Taylor or Wilkerson really belong in the hierarchy of the Seahawks' needs?

This is a long one.

Roundtable: Six Seattle Prospects to Watch

As the country turns its attention to the NFL Scouting Combine today, 17 Power has grouped together the six first-round draft candidates that are most commonly being mocked to the Seattle Seahawks at #25 in the upcoming draft. These are the guys that seem to make the most sense for the Seahawks on the basis of Best Player Available - the intersection between the most talent available at that spot, and the greatest need for the Seahawks, with neither taking undue precedence over the other.

So we've individually rated all six prospects and come out with an interesting consensus. The players are listed in the order we would draft them if all six were still on the board at #25. Contributing to this nonsense are 17 Power writers Brandon Adams, Scott Williams, and John Campbell, with a guest appearance from Kyle Rota of NFL Draft Reports!

Enjoy - and remember to keep an eye on these guys at the Combine.