Charles
Cross.
Charles
Cross.
Mississippi State· 6'5"· 307 lb· 4.95s 40
"A true-freshman starter who grew into a hundred-million-dollar blindside anchor — Cross is the quiet hit of the 2022 top ten, proof that boring, competent left tackle play is worth a premium pick."Pre-draft read
Cross was a pure pass-set specialist forged in the most pass-heavy offense in college football, a 6-5, 307-pound left tackle who protected Will Rogers' blind side in Mike Leach's Air Raid. The base trait is the pass set itself: a quick, balanced kick-slide with patient hands that lets him mirror speed rushers without panic, built on thousands of reps no other program could offer.
The secondary trait is movement skill — a 4.95 forty at the combine confirmed what the tape showed, real foot speed to reach linebackers and recover inside. The honest cap is the run game: the Air Raid barely ran it, so his drive-blocking and power at the point of attack were projection, not proof. The signature is polished pass protection with untested grit.
Zone or mixed run scheme with a passing game that asks its left tackle to win on an island — his pass set is the foundation
Year 1: starting left tackle protecting a young quarterback's blind side. Ceiling: multi-time Pro Bowl blind-side anchor on a contender.
A downhill, gap-heavy offense that lives on drive-blocking and double-teams, where his average play power would be exposed before his feet could help.
Seattle's pass-first evolution under new offensive staffs fit him perfectly; the extension reflected how hard true blind-side pass protectors are to find.
Charles Cross, OL, Mississippi State - Can't Miss Prospect
College tape reel of his pass sets against SEC edge rushers.
Charles Cross Highlights and Breakdown
Pre-draft breakdown of the pass-protection polish and run-game questions.
Film Study: Why Seahawks Charles Cross FLASHED vs Broncos
NFL all-22 look at how the Air Raid skill set translated to Seattle.
Cross entered the 2022 class as the most pro-ready pass protector available, a redshirt sophomore who took over Mississippi State's left tackle job as a redshirt freshman and never gave it back. In 2021 he started all twelve games in an offense that threw more than anyone in the country, earned first-team All-SEC and an ESPN All-America nod, then confirmed the athleticism with a 4.95 forty at the combine.
The evaluation split cleanly in two. In pass protection the case was airtight: elite volume of reps against SEC edge talent, quick feet, calm hands and almost no bad tape. In the run game there was almost no tape at all — Leach's Air Raid ran it a handful of times per game, so scouts had to project his power, grip strength and finish from drills and frames rather than Saturdays. He was also young, a true junior-age player with two seasons of starting experience.
Boards had him locked into the top half of round one, often as the second or third tackle behind Evan Neal and Ikem Ekwonu. Seattle, rebuilding its line in front of a new quarterback era, took him at No. 9 and immediately penciled him in as its starting left tackle — a bet that pass protection is the trait that pays at left tackle, and that the run blocking could be coached.
- 01
Elite pass-set volume
He pass-protected more than any tackle in the class in the Air Raid, and the tape shows a quick, balanced kick-slide with calm, independent hands.
- 02
Verified athleticism
A 4.95 forty and a 1.75 ten-yard split at 307 pounds confirmed the movement skills to mirror speed and climb to the second level.
- 03
Mirroring against speed
He stayed square against SEC edge rushers week after week, rarely getting beat around the corner despite constant one-on-one exposure.
- 04
Early starting experience
He won the left tackle job as a redshirt freshman in the SEC and held it for two full seasons, entering the league at twenty-one years old.
- 05
Frame with room to grow
At 6-5 and 307 he carries his weight well and has the length teams want on the blind side without sacrificing foot quickness.
- 01
Unproven run blocking
The Air Raid barely ran the ball, so his drive-blocking, power at the point and finish in the run game are projection rather than evidence.
- 02
Anchor against power
At 307 he can get walked back by bull rushers who get into his chest, and adding functional strength was a pre-draft must.
- 03
Hand timing under duress
When rushers win first contact he can get grabby, and his punch timing needs to be more consistent against NFL counters.
- 04
Scheme translation risk
Two years in a pass-only college system means nearly every run-game and huddle rep in the NFL will be a new experience.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.95sp50
- Vertical
- 26inp50
- Broad jump
- 112inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.88sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.61sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Mississippi State | 3 |
| 2020 | Mississippi State | 10 |
| 2021 | Mississippi State | 12 |
| Career | — | 25 |
2019 redshirt season with three appearances verified via Wikipedia/The Commercial Dispatch. 2020 games (10) verified via cfbstats.com player page; he was the named starting left tackle that season. 2021: started all 12 games per Mississippi State athletics. No official pancake or pressure splits published.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Smooth, natural pass protector who became a franchise left tackle and earned top-of-market money without ever being a road-grader in the run game.
The dream outcome: an elite athlete at left tackle whose pass protection and second-level range define an offense for a decade.
Athletic top-ten tackle whose college scheme hid flaws that NFL pass rushers exposed before his rookie contract ended.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Cross has been a starting left tackle for the Seattle Seahawks for two seasons. He has been a reliable pass protector, anchoring the left side of their offensive line.
The bet cashed early and kept cashing. Cross stepped in as Seattle's starting left tackle from day one in 2022 and held the job through coaching and quarterback turnover, giving the Seahawks the stable blind-side presence the franchise had chased for a decade. The run-game questions faded as he added functional strength, and by 2024 he was playing at a level that had him in the conversation among the better young left tackles in football.
The ultimate validation came in January 2026, when Seattle — a day after clinching the NFC's No. 1 seed — signed him to a four-year, $104.4 million extension with $75 million guaranteed, one of the richest tackle deals in the league. A late-season injury cost him games down the stretch of the 2025 run, but he was expected back for the playoffs. The honest verdict: a clean hit at No. 9. The Air Raid projection that scared some evaluators turned out to be exactly what it looked like on tape — the most translatable pass-protection skill set in the class.
Data note: from Denver