Ty Powell. Jaye Howard. Lazarius Levingston. E.J. Wilson. Jesse Williams. Jordan Hill. Bruce Irvin. Greg Scruggs. Jimmy Staten. Cassius Marsh. Four years of drafts under the Pete Carroll and John Schneider regime have led to 10 picks on the defensive line. That means one out of every five Seahawks picks made during that time have been defensive lineman, and that doesn’t count folks like Jared Smith or J.R. Sweezy who were college defensive lineman the team turned into offensive lineman. Bruce Irvin has easily been the most successful of the bunch, with 8.0 sacks as a rookie, but he has since been turned into a linebacker. The bar is low for rookie Marsh to become the best defensive lineman drafted by Schneider, and early signs are that he will not only clear it, but set a standard future lineman will be challenged to reach.



The dreaded high-motor

She has a great personality. Your friend utters those words to you ahead of a blind date, and your heart likely sinks. Not because you hate girls with good personalities, but the emphasis placed there often means her appearance is going to be underwhelming. When a scout or coach calls a defensive lineman a “high motor guy,” there is a similar knee-jerk response. Calling out a player’s effort level immediately raises questions about how much natural talent he has. Trying really hard all the time is great, but it can only go so far to obscure talent deficiencies. Cassius Marsh is a high effort player. He is not short on talent.

The first thing that jumped out about watching Marsh first-hand was his get-off. He bursts out of his stance at the snap and accelerates quickly. Most offensive lineman will need to rush to cut off his outside angle, which leaves them open to counter moves, like the swim move Marsh employed in week one of the pre-season versus the Broncos. He had one sack and should have had two. When people say Marsh has a high motor, they are likely referring to the consistency of his attack on every snap and the consistency of his effort through the play until the whistle blows. They are not talking about a “try-hard” guy who has to live with results off of hustle.