By Mike Kahn
Seahawks Insider
The relief was palpable for Brandon Mebane.
He had waited virtually all day Saturday, hoping that he would be picked in the NFL Draft by the third round, so he wouldn’t have to go through the four rounds of Sunday as well.
So when the phone rang, and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren – among others from the Hawks staff wanted to congratulate him on being their third round pick – the initial strain was over for the defensive tackle from California.
“I had to be real patient – just waiting around where I was going to be picked up at,” Mebane said. “I didn’t really know where I was going to go. I was real anxious … but I am real blessed to be picked on the first day and by the Seattle Seahawks. I thank the organization for picking me.”
And the Seahawks are glad he was there when their turn came with the 85th overall pick. In need of a big run-stopper, they snatched the 6-1, 309-pounder with hopes that he can help clog the middle as he did for Jeff Tedford at Cal. A two-time, and first team All-Pac 10 selection, he had 9.5 tackles for losses and 7.0 sacks this past season for the Bears.
“He’s more of a run-stopper,” Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said. “His best trait is his ability to hold the point, be stout at the point of contract. And he’s also a very quick, first-step guy. We thought he was a disruptive run player. His pass rush comes in the form of pushing the pocket. He’ll bring the ball down or flush the pocket.”
In other words, this was a time where the top player left on their hot list just happened to meet the need of the team considering both Marcus Tubbs and Craig Terrill are coming off knee surgery. His aggressive, non-stop motor against double-teams all season didn’t stop him from success either.
“My strength is stopping the run,” Mebane said. “I’m a great pass-rusher to when I get to one-on-one pass rushing. I was getting double-teamed a lot. In practice my coach helped on the double teams. I tried to stay low and make sure my head was down.”
His strength and explosiveness impressed scouts and coaches alike in the Senior Bowl, considered the most effective defensive lineman on the north team by several scouting services. His 40 time was 5.15 at the Combine and once the Combine and bowl games were over, he knew it was no time to quit working.
“I was really focusing in training at the Senior Bowl and the Combine,” Mebane said. “I wanted to stay in shape and relax and keep playing hard. I felt that I gave it all my best. My main goal now is to give my best effort toward playing with Seattle and just playing hard and trying to learn something from the veterans.”
Obviously, he played in Seattle when the Bears played at the University of Washington. A graduate of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, he’s excited not only for himself, but teammates like Daymeion Hughes whom he has played with in high school and college. He played in a variety of defensive schemes on the Cal line, and the hope is he can give the Seahawks one more big force inside.
As a senior, Mebane was named third team All-American and recorded a career-high 52 tackles. For his career, he had 14.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for losses. He caused and recovered a fumble as well.
“He’s just another piece of the puzzle inside,” Ruskell said. “Initially we’ll rotate him inside. Everybody knows our situation there with some injuries. It’s kind of a little smoky as to how that’s going to turn out this year. We felt like another piece of the puzzle inside in terms of rotation with the defensive linemen would be a good thing to get.
“This was a best player thing. We would have gone in any direction. We weren’t limited in what we could do because we’re not talking about a guy who has to come in and start right away. It’s funny … he’s a guy that was kind of on the cusp of the grade level we took him at and a level higher. We kept going back and forth. We felt fortunate to get him there.”
And vice versa, considering Mebane felt just as fortunate to go as opposed to going home and having to sleep on not knowing where his future would be.
“After the second round, I didn’t know where I was going to go,” Mebane said. “I thought I was going to be on the second day. I didn’t know what was going to happen. It is a blessing and an honor to be picked by the Seattle Seahawks.
“As a kid, that’s (all) you want to do, to get to the NFL. But our overall goal is to get into the classroom, make sure that we pass a lot of classes and once all that is taken care of, then we focus on the football part. Basically, it’s just working hard, playing hard, doing our assignments,, producing and being good citizens in the community of Berkeley.”
With those priorities, plus his size and talent, it’s just the fit they wanted.