Charles Cross

The Seahawks acquired the ninth overall pick in the 2022 draft when they traded Russell Wilson to Denver earlier this offseason in a move that signaled the ...

Cross fills a huge need for the Seahawks with last year’s left tackle Duane Brown unsigned and no obvious choice to fill the position on the roster. They kicked off the next era by selecting Mississippi State tackle Charles Cross with the ninth overall pick in Las Vegas on Thursday night. He was a two-year starter at the SEC school and was frequently a mock draft choice for the Seahawks given their need at the position.

With the ninth pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Mississippi State OT Charles Cross. GRADE: A+. It's a bit bittersweet that the ...

But the reason I choose Cross is pretty simple — the NFL is a passing league with very few team exceptions, and Cross has the best and most complete attributes to pass-block at the NFL level in everything from quick game to seven-step drops. If you’re a defensive opponent, Cross doesn’t want to embarrass you; he wants to make you invisible (which is even more embarrassing, in a way). He will get rocked back at times by more powerful defenders, but again, the recovery ability is generally elite. Cross moves with quickness and control through the arc, and even if a faster edge-rusher beats him through to the pocket, Cross can recover quickly enough to at least mitigate the damage. If Cross wasn’t a good pass-blocker at all, his ability to manage open space to the detriment of the defender would make him a second-round developmental prospect. And when he gets to the second level, where a lot of tackles get lost in space (we’re going to talk about this extensively when we get to Trevor Penning), Cross targets efficiently and effectively. Then, Cross had 720 snaps, struggling at times, but he cleaned things up in time for the 2021 season, when he became one of the NCAA’s best overall blockers, showing consistent good work against the best defenses the SEC had to offer.

Meet Charles Cross, who the Seahawks selected selected at No. 9 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.

His change in direction creates a foundation of a potential Pro Bowler if everything comes together. Cross is hoping to debunk that myth. There’s a knock that, in Mike Leach’s Air Raid pass-happy attack, offensive linemen do not develop enough at the college level to make their transition to the pros a smooth one.

Who drafted Charles Cross in the 2022 NFL Draft? Here's what the Seahawks should expect after taking the Mississippi State football offensive lineman.

He is a good fit in virtually any offense and has potential to go down as the best offensive lineman in MSU history. Dillard, an offensive tackle for the Eagles, was taken with the No. 22 pick in 2019. His name has come up time and time again as NFL analysts have voiced their concerns about Cross as a top selection. He has fielded questions about the run blocking concerns including at the NFL Combine where he kept his response short. Cross was selected Thursday as the ninth pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He is the first Bulldog selected in the first round since Johnathan Abram, Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat in 2019 and the first taken in the top 10 since Michael Haddix in 1983. Few of Cross’ counterparts display the athleticism the 6-foot-5-inch, 307-pound left tackle put on display for the Bulldogs. He posted a sub-five 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine and his footwork earned him the nickname “Sweet Feet” at Mississippi State.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider discuss the selection of Mississippi State tackle Charles Cross with the ninth overall pick.

"When he was still there (at No. 9), it was a big deal." In that first draft, the Seahawks drafted Russell Okung with the No. 6 pick, and he went on to become a Pro-Bowler and Seattle's starting left tackle for six seasons, and now, 12 years later, the Seahawks again added what they hope will be a building block for their offensive line going forward. And as excited as Carroll and Schneider were to land Cross, they were equally concerned a couple hours earlier that he might not be around by the ninth pick. "I thought, 'I'm going to go look at that one more time,'" Carroll said. Really, he's just an excellent prospect to be a left tackle, and he's played great competition and held up well." Said Carroll, "There's just nothing that we didn't like. Fortunately it turned and we got a shot to get Charles, and that's a big deal. "There's a little irony there, yeah," Carroll said. He's a very, very good athlete, an unusually good athlete, so we're fired up about it." Great job against top, top competition playing in the SEC. He had a really nice game against Alabama. We're just really excited that we have a pillar at left tackle." He runs really well, he's a fast kid for a tackle. "It was really kind of a scheme deal that they had there with Coach Leach where they threw the ball like crazy, and he did a phenomenal job.