Seahawks' NFL draft final round: A self-proclaimed ‘Beast Mode 2.0' RB, WR, guard (again)
Damien Martinez breaks tackles. And tackles legacies.
It wasn't 30 seconds into his comments to reporters on a speaker call just after the Seahawks drafted him in the seventh round Saturday. Yet the rugged former lead rusher for Oregon State and University of Miami described himself in the legacy of Seattle immortal Marshawn Lynch.
'Physical runner...Got another 'Beast Mode 2.0' coming up here,' Martinez said. 'Get ready to see it.'
'I was definitely a big fan of 'Beast Mode' growing up, just being always being a bigger back,' he said.
'I'm ready.'
With the first of their three picks in the final round, the Seahawks selected the 6-foot, 217-pound back that was fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season in yards after contact.
He was first-team All-Pac-12 with Oregon State in 2023. He rushed for 1,185 yards, 6.1 yards per carry and nine touchdowns rushing. He romped through the Washington Huskies with 100-yard games in consecutive seasons.
'I know I definitely that I did them bad a couple times,' Martinez said.
'They did end up beating us, though.'
At Miami in 2024 he rushed for 1,002 yards with an even-better average of 6.3 yards per rush and 10 TDs.
Seattle's lead running back Kenneth Walker is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Walker has yet to play a full season in the NFL because of multiple injuries at the sport's most banged-up position in each of the last three Seahawks years. Backup Zach Charbonnet, the team's second-round pick in 2023, has yet to prove he can be the Seahawks' lead back.
Martinez got picked in the same round Seattle drafted running back Kenny McIntosh two years ago. McIntosh is third on the Seahawks' depth chart.
New Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak runs an outside, wide-zone running game that Martinez likened to the system he romped in at Oregon State.
'It just means a lot, really, to be drafted in general by the Seahawks.
'Just grateful to have this opportunity.'
With their second pick in the seventh round, at 234th overall, Seattle selected another college tackle they are moving to guard: Mason Richman, 6-5, 307 pounds, from Iowa.
He is the third college tackle to the Seahawks are making a guard in this draft.
Yes, they attacked their biggest need this weekend.
Richman said on the phone from his family home in Leawood, Kansas, Saturday afternoon he was a left guard entire freshman season at Iowa. He was a defensive end and tight end in high school. He said he had 'thousands' of snaps at tackle his final years at Iowa.
The Seahawks had first-round pick Grey Zabel call Richman to tell him he was in the NFL, a handful of picks before the draft ended. Zabel was in the Seahawks' facility for the first time Saturday, with his parents. He's another college tackle who is going to be Seattle's new starting left guard.
Richman said he thought it was a crank call.
'I'm not going to lie, it was getting down to end,' Richman said.
'I just had to believe it was true.'
Seattle's third and final pick of the seventh round was their second wide receiver the team drafted Saturday: All-Mountain West wide receiver Ricky White III from UNLV.
He's 6-1, 181 pounds. A slower-than-NFL-norm 40-yard dash time of 4.61 seconds dropped him to the final round, at 238th overall.
White then went through intense training and improved technique with a speed coach. In a few weeks, at his pro day, he ran a 4.44 40.
In his freshman season at Michigan State back in 2020, White set an MSU freshman record with 196 yards on eight catches and a touchdown in a win over Michigan. He redshirted in 2021 at Michigan State, then transferred to UNLV for the 2022 through '24 seasons.
He had 79 receptions, 1,041 receiving yards,and 13.2 yards per catch last season for the Rebels. He led the Football Bowl Subdivision with four blocked punts.
'Want-to,' White said Saturday.
He said Seahawks wide receiver coach Frisman Jackson told him he loves his game.
But White also said he knows he will need to play well on special teams to contribute as a rookie in Seattle.
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