Dave Boling: After directing breakout season with Seahawks, former WSU OT Lucas ready to strike back in sequel

RENTON, Wash. – The Seahawks’ rookie class of 2022 played with such precocity that it helped the team exceed all expectations with nine wins and a wild-card playoff berth.

Most visibly, running back Kenneth Walker III and cornerback Riq Woolen made the league’s all-rookie team.

With less fanfare, Abe Lucas equally surprised the NFL. The third-round pick out of Washington State played so well that one national reporter, in a retrospective redrafting of ’22 selections, had the Seahawks taking Lucas with the ninth pick overall.

“Lucas massively outperformed his draft slot,” wrote Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic.

Asked during training camp if he’d seen that assessment and appreciated the complimentary words, Lucas shrugged his shoulders and made a noise that sounded like ‘fffttttt.”

It indicated that external praise wasn’t particularly meaningful to him. And it also showed that a shoulder that was surgically repaired in the offseason was healthy enough to be shrugged without damage.

“That doesn’t really matter,” Lucas said of media flattery.

From Everett and Archbishop Murphy High, Lucas seems to embrace the rich tradition of humility among the Seahawks’ best blockers. It’s doubtful anyone ever heard a single word of boasting out of tackle Walter Jones during his 13-year Hall of Fame career in Seattle.

This quiet confidence and deep focus on the process is part of the reason Lucas looked so comfortable in his first season in the NFL.

He played with patience and balance and solid positioning, rarely getting suckered by the misdirections and stunt choreography that so often fools overeager rookies. He was beaten on occasion, but he also played nearly 1,000 snaps against some of the league’s best pass rushers.

And along with last year’s actual first-round pick, left tackle Charles Cross out of Mississippi State, Lucas has become a cornerstone of a young line with considerable promise.

“I think I expected most of what I saw, in terms of the level of competition and speed,” he said of his rookie season. “I knew the biggest challenge would be adjusting to that, and I think I’ve done that fairly well. It was long and it was an experience, but it was OK, and there’s a lot of things I need to continue to get better on.”

And now?

“The game has slowed down a lot; I have a lot more knowledge of what I’m doing, so I’m excited to see where it goes.”

His steep trajectory as a college player suggests the potential for increasing success in the NFL.

Lucas weighed 259 pounds when he showed up at Pullman. He was a lean 320 when he got to the Seahawks last season.

“Eating and lifting constantly,” he answered when asked of the transformation.

But that, too, is downplaying his dedication.

In an interview with Cougfan.com in 2019, WSU strength coach Tyson Brown told how most mornings when he got to the weight room at 5:30 a.m., Lucas was already there waiting for the doors to be unlocked so he could get to work.

Liam Ryan, his teammate and roommate at WSU, is now back with the Seahawks after spending last year on the practice squad and this spring in the XFL. He expected Lucas to have a good career; he just didn’t know he was going to adapt so quickly.

“I didn’t know he’d start off so well, but I knew the kind of person he was,” Ryan said. “He’s always studying and working to get better.”

Lucas and Ryan are still roommates, sharing an apartment 10 minutes from the Hawks’ Virginia Mason headquarters.

“He’s a good roommate – for the most part,” Ryan said. “He gets up at 5 a.m. every day, wide awake, banging around pots and pans. That’s probably part of coming from such a big family (four sisters and three brothers). Sometimes he’s playing the guitar late at night or in the morning.”

Guitar?

“He’s a big metal-head and rock ’n’ roll guy, and I’m pretty similar,” Ryan said. “He’s getting there (with the guitar). He knows a lot of songs and riffs, and he picks up on it pretty quickly.”

Ryan pinpointed one Lucas oddity: “He’s kind of a deer magnet … I think he’s hit two deer.” To be clear, he hit them with his car, not with a chop block or crack-back, which would draw a penalty.

Lucas said his lifestyle hasn’t changed significantly as a pro, with improved finances creating a safety net and the capacity to help his family when needed. Ryan testifies to that.

“We still kind of live a college lifestyle,” Ryan said. “We’re not eating out that much, trying to save money. It’s not as bad as college, but we’re still pretty frugal people.”

Lucas and Ryan credit WSU coach Mike Leach with their ideas toward a lot of things, particularly the importance of looking ahead rather than back, and trying to always improve.

“He gave me the opportunity to play in college … without him, I wouldn’t be here today,” Lucas said of Leach, who died in December. “I’m very grateful to him. It’s unfortunate he had such an untimely death. It hit me because it was so unexpected; it was a tough thing to deal with.”

Lucas faced a series of disruptions: Leach’s leaving WSU for Mississippi State, coach Nick Rolovich being fired over a vaccination mandate, and then Leach’s death.

“Of course it all had an effect, some of it was pretty traumatic,” Lucas said. “But such is the way of life.”

The focus now is training and studying and “continuing to work and keep trying to do the best job I can.”

Such is the way of football.