The Seahawks want explosive offensive linemen.

According to our weighted TEF formula Germain Ifedi is the third most explosive O-liner in the draft behind Jason Spriggs and Connor McGovern. They might take McGovern to play center tomorrow.

The pick fits in with everything they’ve done on the O-line since 2012. It’s not about Tom Cable getting ‘his guys’ per se — it’s looking for explosive O-liners to combat the growing disparity between offense and defense in college and the NFL.

You’re going to hear people make comparisons to James Carpenter. Ifedi is longer, taller, much more athletic and more explosive.

Here’s his mirror drill at the combine vs Laremy Tunsil:

And here’s four back-to-back snaps vs Alabama. Note the way he uses length and a strong base to stone edge rushers. On the third snap he drives the DE into the turf and finishes. On the fourth snap he identifies and reads a stunt and shuts it down.

@SheilKapadia Texas A&M's Germain Ifedi very underrated. He's the right tackle here, #74, vs 'Bama pic.twitter.com/TUSWnyrVO8 — Rob Staton (@robstaton) March 4, 2016

Carpenter was a powerful run blocker who helped Mark Ingram win a Heisman. The Seahawks needed to establish their own run game in 2011.

Ifedi is an athlete built like the Hulk.

He could play left guard, right tackle or even left tackle for the Seahawks. They might try him at all three.

In October we noted him as a possible top-20 talent (click here). When we looked closely at Ifedi in early December, here are the notes:

He’s an enormous 6-5 and 320lbs yet moves superbly. His footwork is quite brilliant for a man his size — his kick slide is good, he moves freely to the second level. In the two games I watched he didn’t get beat once off the edge by a speed rush. There’s very little ‘bad weight’ to his frame — he’s an enormous tackle and most of it is muscle. When a D-end tries to hand fight he usually absorbs the defender and it’s over. Technically he had some nice blocks — turning his man to open up a crease and moving people off the LOS to create a running lane. He has the athleticism to adjust on the move and if he ever moved to guard he’d have no trouble pulling or kicking out to the next level. He kind of looks like a more athletic James Carpenter who’s in better shape. I like his chances of playing tackle in the NFL because of the athletic upside. He moves a lot better than Carpenter (who in fairness was more of a run blocker — and did it very well at Alabama). I’ve seen quite a few complaints about his power in the run game but these issues didn’t show up in the two contests here. I thought he actually showed good leverage and punch to drive a couple of defenders off the line. Perhaps it’s more of a technique issue? Certainly to look at Ifedi you wouldn’t assume any lack of power.

This piece went into a bit more detail and offers some background on the latest Seahawks addition.

We started mocking him to the Seahawks in March and remained fairly consistent with it until our final projection yesterday.

The best thing for the Seahawks is — they were likely taking Ifedi at #26 anyway. They were able to move down five spots, still get their man and collect an extra third round pick in the process.

They’re set to pick at #56, #90, #94 and #97 on day two.

If they want to they have the ammunition to move up in round two — possibly targeting Jonathan Bullard or Bronson Kaufusi.

They could even stay at #56 and move up in round three — as they did last year to select Tyler Lockett.

Based on yesterday’s final first round mock, the following players remain on the board:

Myles Jack (LB, UCLA)

Jarran Reed (DT, Alabama)

Reggie Ragland (LB, Alabama)

T.J. Green (S, Clemson)

Noah Spence (DE, Eastern Kentucky)

Emmanuel Ogbah (DE, Oklahoma State)

Also remaining:

Kevin Dodd (DE, Clemson)

Jonathan Bullard (DE, Florida)

Bronson Kaufusi (DE, BYU)

Chris Jones (DT, Mississippi State)

Derrick Henry (RB, Alabama)

Kyler Fackrell (LB, Utah State)

There’s still a ton of depth on the D-line and the Seahawks should be able to address that need in rounds 2-3. Running back, receiver, linebacker and defensive back also provide some nice options.