Why Seahawks' UDFA Easton Gibbs could be a breakout candidate in 2024 NFL season
Former Wyoming linebacker Easton Gibbs has signed with the Seattle Seahawks after going undrafted at last month's event. Gibbs is an interesting pickup for Seattle, and looked good during Shrine Bowl week, especially in terms of one-on-one coverage reps vs. running backs.
Gibbs displayed quick feet to redirect with opponents and kept them in front of him, to where even if he did surrender catches, he would’ve been right there to set the tackle for minimal yardage.
He was asked to move over the slot quite a bit during team drills and showed the ability to read the eyes of the quarterback as a quasi-overhang. He’d also toggle back to targets in his vicinity and his play of the week came at the goal line, undercutting a slant route, where he would’ve been off to the races for a pick-six.
On tape, Easton Gibbs' closing burst as a delayed blitzer or taking off as a spy popped a few times, as well as the force to plow through running backs in protection. At 6’1”, 230 pounds, Gibbs presents a pretty dense build, with a wide chest, strong arms and a powerful lower half.
He excels at creating leverage and stepping past the hips of linemen in order to circle around for the tackle when the ball is going his way, yet his lateral mobility to track (wide) zone concepts from the backside is equally strong.
As for the cons, Easton Gibbs can be overly concerned with beating blockers to the spot and loses vision on the ball at times, where he runs himself out of the picture. His transitions as a zone-defender and in open-field tackling situations can be a little heavy-legged, leading to a missed-tackle rate of 11.6% across three seasons as a starter.
How Easton Gibbs will fit with the Seahawks
That role doesn’t necessarily exist in Mike Macdonald’s system, but I think if paired with more of a rangy player on the second level, he can be a useful piece. That’s where the pairing with former Dolphin Jerome Baker makes a lot of sense. Baker can drop out of mugged-up looks and match up with guys out of the backfield as Gibbs is used as a pressure player.
Looking at what else they have on the roster, there’s really only Tyrel Dodson in terms of guys with legit NFL experience, who logged two-thirds of his career starts last season (10).
Otherwise, they only have 23 total defensive snaps to show at off-ball backer. Seattle did draft Tyrice Knight out of UTEP in the fourth round, who is a fun player in terms of the violence he plays with, but it also leads to him running himself out of trouble quite regularly at this point.
There’s an outside chance Easton Gibbs actually wins that second starting gig at inside linebacker and unless they love what one of those other guys provides on teams, he’s at least LB4 for this group.