RENTON — This past spring, Byron Murphy was like the rest of the NFL: Waiting for a defensive player to get drafted.
The first round began April 25 with a half-dozen offensive players selected consecutively. Then 10 in a row. Then 12.
Murphy, the top-rated defensive lineman in this year’s draft after years wrecking offenses for the University of Texas, waited. And waited. So did the 300 people he was hosting at his draft party in a hotel in downtown Dallas, near where he grew up.
He’d heard rumors the pass rush-needy Atlanta Falcons would select him with their eighth-overall choice. He fancied being a top-10 pick.
The Falcons surprised everyone by picking University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
All spring, Minnesota had been meeting with him. The Vikings had the 10th-overall selection.
They chose Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy instead. That was a month after former Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins signed with the Falcons.
Murphy thought New Orleans might pick him at 14. Instead, the Saints drafted Taliese Fuaga, the Oregon State offensive lineman from Tacoma and Mount Tahoma High School.
Ultimately, teams selected an NFL-record 14 consecutive offensive players to begin this year’s draft.
Murphy’s wait ended at pick number 16. That’s when Seahawks general manager John Schneider called him to bring the Texan to Seattle.
For the first time in his life.
“I’ve heard it rains a lot,” Murphy said, the night Seattle drafted him.
In August, Murphy dominated training-camp practices from the middle of the Seahawks’ defensive line. He dominated opposing offenses — double-teams, even — during preseason games.
In September, he was eating up double-team blocks again in the first real games of his NFL career.
Then, in the second quarter of the Seahawks’ week-three win over Miami Sept. 22, Murphy injured his hamstring.
Seattle won all three games he played to begin the season.
He missed the next three games. They were the first games the 22-year-old linemen had missed because of injury in his football life.
The Seahawks lost all three games.
Now, the prized rookie defensive tackle is back. Murphy will play Sunday for the first time in nearly a month, in the middle of Seattle’s needy defense.
His opponent? The Falcons (4-2), in Atlanta (10 a.m., channel 13).
That reminds him of his long draft wait.
“Oh yeah. I did hear that Atlanta was supposed to draft me. I heard rumors about that,” Murphy said, “but they passed up on me.
“That’s their fault. That’s a big loss for them.
“They will feel me Sunday.”
Seattle needs Byron Murphy
The Seahawks’ defense needed Murphy yesterday. Last week.
Last three weeks, in fact.
Without the quick, powerful Murphy slicing past opposing centers plus into the guard-center and guard-tackle gaps, Seattle allowed 116 yards rushing at Detroit, 175 to the New York Giants and, last week, 228 to San Francisco.
Sunday, the Falcons will send a rushing tandem to further test the Seahawks’ defensive front. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta’s top-10 draft pick last year, gets the attention as the lead back. Plus, he’s catching on average three passes per game. But number-two back Tyler Algeier is averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Enter Roy Robinson-Harris
Seattle’s 27th-ranked run defense is adding Murphy and Roy Robertson-Harris Sunday. The 31-year-old veteran practiced with the Seahawks for the first time Wednesday following his trade from Jacksonville Monday.
Coach Mike Macdonald said Robertson-Harris will be a two-gap tackle inside and outside the offense’s guard. His and Murphy’s first job will be to keep the offensive linemen who have been getting to the second level to block Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson out of running plays off Seattle’s inside linebackers.
Robertson-Harris also played end for Chicago, and at the University of Texas-El Paso. Seattle inherited the three-year, $21.6 million contract Jacksonville gave him before the 2023 season to be a tackle and end for them.
“I feel like I bring a lot of violence, just get-off to this defensive line,” Robertson-Harris said.
“(I’m) pretty solid in the run game. The pass rush is pretty solid, bringing a lot of energy on the field, (in) practice and Sundays.
“I’m super excited to be here.”
He, Murphy, Leonard Williams and Jarran Reed are poised to play multiple gaps from center out to the offensive tackles in Macdonald’s tricky, changing defensive schemes.
“I don’t think of it as an easy fix,” Macdonald, the defense’s architect and play caller said.
“The good news is there’s a lot of good stuff. The bad news is there’s a chunk of plays that are really bad, and the ball is getting out, and there’s just way too many explosives (plays that gain 15 or more yards). You can’t play the ‘if-you-take-those-plays-out’ game. That’s not reality. But, it does it kind of sober you up because it’s not every play.
“So it’s ‘Hey, this is what’s happening on these select group of plays, and let’s go to work at it. Let’s get it. Let’s make it right.’”
Byron Murphy’s patience
A few months into his NFL career, a first-round pick returning from injury to play the team he feels snubbed him this spring, Murphy could be anxious to play the Falcons Sunday.
But he says no.
Asked what he learned while he was out almost a full month, Murphy said “That I’m strong-minded. I’m all about the team.
“Also what I learned when I was out, just staying patient, taking it day by day, and being positive. Trying to keep my teammates up and everything.
“I feel I can help out a lot. Me, that’s what I do. I’m a force in the run game. Also, the pass (rush) too.
“But me being there in the run game, I’m going to help out a lot.”
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