With OTAs now opening across the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks will open training camp at the VMAC in a little over two months, officially ushering in the first season under new coach Mike Macdonald.

In preparation for the new incoming season, we’ll be detailing every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, diving into scheme fits, exploring best and worst case scenarios, and predicting what to expect from each player entering the 2024 campaign.

Reuniting with former high school teammate Byron Murphy II in Seattle, can Devere Levelston make an impact in a crowded defensive line room?

Levelston started at Tyler Junior College after graduating from DeSoto High School in Texas, where he starred alongside Murphy. He accrued 12.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks before transferring to SMU. While at SMU, Levelston started in 26 games but despite playing in 13 games, only three of his 26 starts came in 2023. In his four seasons at the FBS level, Levelston made 90 tackles, including 16.0 for loss and 11 sacks. His highest season of production came in 2021 when Sonny Dykes was the head coach, as made 38 tackles with 10.5 for loss and 6.5 sacks and his production fell off once new coach Rhett Lashlee took over. After a quiet final season with the Mustangs, he signed with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent.

During his time at SMU, Levelston played all across the defensive line. In 2021, he played 355 snaps at right defensive end and 179 in the interior but still on the right side. However, by 2023, Levelston was mostly on the inside with 324 snaps at 3-tech defensive tackle and only 37 at defensive end. In Mike Macdonald’s defense, he looks to be a defensive end, but will likely need to add some weight to make that happen. He is currently listed at 281 pounds, which is a bit light to play in the trenches in a 3-4 defense. That could be an issue though since he isn’t a great athlete and doesn’t have a great get-off on the ball, attributes that could be even worse with extra mass.

Levelston’s experience playing all across the defensive line and as a stand up rusher could give him a leg up on the competition vying for reps. If he’s able to play at multiple spots and make some plays in preseason games, he could be a practice squad candidate to develop and potentially compete for a roster spot down the road.

Due to Levelston not being the ideal size for the position and lacking preferred athletic traits, it could be a struggle for him to get on the field and show what he can do in a deep depth chart. A textbook tweener, he receives a pink slip early in training camp without getting any preseason snaps in Seattle.

Previously finding success at SMU hunting down quarterbacks, Levelston is an intriguing player with his versatility and size. However, versatility likely won’t help him that much when you consider that he doesn’t have the ideal size to play defensive tackle, where he is currently projected to play for the Seahawks, and tested poorly athletically in most drills at his pro day.

If he can use his length and his 91st percentile broad jump can help him get off the ball and penetrate, Levelston could make enough of an impact in the preseason to warrant a practice squad spot, and it’s possible he could benefit from playing alongside Murphy again to bring out his best on the practice field. However, he first will have to carve out consistent reps in a crowded defensive line group and that will be a tough lineup to crack for an undrafted rookie of his talent level.

Previous 90-Man Roundups

Buddha Jones | Devin Richardson | TaMerik Williams | Rason Williams II | Ro Torrence | Nathan Pickering | Dee Williams

The Seattle Mariners left Yankee Stadium with a split from their four-game series against the team with the best record in the American League, but the two losses that came back to back in the final two games of the set were not encouraging on the offensive side.

What should we make of three struggling Mariners additions?

What stands out after that series as the AL West-leading M’s now head to Washington, D.C., for three games against the lowly Nationals?

Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob is back for another edition of Bob’s Baseball Breakdown. This week, he discusses:

• His biggest takeaways from the first two series of the road trip
• What he would do to ignite Julio Rodríguez’s power
• Who is the best arm on the staff right now
• What he wants to see over the next week of games

Tune in to Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• M’s add another potential bullpen arm off waivers
• Rojas says he picked up Yanks’ pitch tipping on Moore HR
• M’s make three-player trade with Orioles for bullpen help
• What stands out about AL West-leading Seattle Mariners to Blowers
• Hot start by Seattle Mariners’ Bryan Woo isn’t all about him that’s ‘absurd’

The offseason program is in full swing for the Seattle Seahawks, with players taking to the field for organized team activities in Phase III before the news cycles hits the slow summer doldrums of late June and early July. With that in mind, the Seahawks have their entire draft class under contract, a departure from the tendency of seasons past to wait until the eve of training camp to sign the drafted players that the Hawks had developed in the wake of the Malik McDowell debacle.

All that said, here’s a quick look at the contracts for the members of the 2024 Seattle draft class, along with the guarantees they received and their 2024 cap hits:

• Byron Murphy (1.16): $16.08M, $16.08M fully guaranteed, $2.924M 2024 cap hit
• Christian Haynes (3.81): $5.8M, $1.04M fully guaranteed, $1.055M 2024 cap hit
• Tyrice Knight (4.118): $4.79M, $773k fully guaranteed, $988k 2024 cap hit
• A.J. Barner (4.121): $4.78M, $755k fully guaranteed, $984k 2024 cap hit
• Nehemiah Pritchett (5.136): $4.399M, $379k fully guaranteed, $890k 2024 cap hit
• Sataoa Laumea (6.179): $4.237M, $217k fully guaranteed, $849k 2024 cap hit
• D.J. James (6.192): $4.204M, $184k fully guaranteed, $841k 2024 cap hit
• Mike Jerrell (6.207): $4.18M, $160k fully guaranteed, $835k 2024 cap hit

The first point worth noticing is obviously that the rookie wage scale obviously favors early round picks when it comes to fully guaranteed money at signing. The amount of fully guaranteed money in Murphy’s rookie contract is several multiples of all the other fully guaranteed money combined. This should come as no surprise, as first round picks are so heavily coveted, however, it is the large guarantees given to first round picks that exposes teams to cap risk.

Certainly no team wants the players their squad selects to bust, as the hope and optimism that comes with the draft is that players will reach their ceilings and sky-high potential. However, things don’t always work out that way, with injuries, work ethics and sometimes even ATV accidents stopping high ceiling prospects from reaching their ceiling, and that is the risk that comes with the right to make early selections in the draft.

Bringing things back to the discussion of fully guaranteed money at signing for draft picks, the Seahawks 2024 draft class is a perfect example of why it can be better for players to go undrafted, rather than hear their name called late on Day 3. The last two players selected by Seattle this year, D.J. James and Mike Jerrell, received $184k and $160k fully guaranteed at signing. That is less fully guaranteed money at signing than the Hawks gave to undrafted free agent offensive lineman Garret Greenfield, whose contract includes $195k in fully guaranteed money between signing bonus and salary guarantees.

The fact that an undrafted free agent received more guarantees than two of the late round draft picks of the Seahawks is just one of the quirks of the rookie wage scale that consistently raises eyebrows, and is something that could be up for discussion when the collective bargaining agreement comes up for renegotiation at the end of the decade.