Manifest EDGE AJ Green to UW
He's 6'6" 250 lbs and will be a RS-JR. He'd be perfect in the rotation with Lane, Ward / Davis (both of whom can't seem to stay healthy), and Hyde / DCB / Hernandez.
Lane, Ward, and Davis will all be gone after 2026 so the fact that Green has two years left is very helpful:
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Oh I should also mention mention JD Hill. Dude has a great burst off the LOS:
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Need to step up and pay big for edge help for sure. More so than the interior DL where a rotation of players just above JAG level can be enough, you have to find someone with a knack for getting home. Lane is solid, Hyde looks like he may be a higher motor copy of Lane and DCB and Hill are freshman so they can't be relied upon to help next season. Dirty Sanchez is a long term project, can't rely on him next year either. They absolutely can't strike out on this one.
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Getting a big time edge is a canary in a coal for me regarding UW’s NIL and desire to win.
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I found the canary and it said "you don't under the level you have to pay big time edges and the staff really likes Ward and Davis who are too small and always hurt. If you pay a big time edge then you can't pay unnamed guy on the roster. Judd wants to build through high school so you have to start a true freshman who looks good and then transfers out or holds you hostage for money. $10.99, please."
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I guess that's unintentionally funny? I agree about building through high school but it's stupid not to selectively supplement. DeBoer and Co only brought in Lane as a HS Edge in 2023 and didn't redshirt him and in the chaos of the 2024 class, Fisch and Co. weren't able to bring in a HS Edge that year. I like how Hyde looks but he'll only be a true soph and DCB, though highly regarded, will be a true frosh.
And what's the point of paying a lot to Ward and Davis if they can't stay healthy? I'm more liable to pay Ward and let Davis go since he's the smaller one and more of a pass-rush specialist. But you can't rush the passer if you're injured.
So we return to the idea of supplementing with a very good Edge who has 1 or 2 years left to fill the gap. AJ Green is perfect for this as a RS-JR in 2026 who is 6'6" 250 lbs compared to oft-injured Russell Davis II, who is 3 inches shorter and 25 lbs lighter.
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AJ Green would be great, but he’s from Atlanta and I’m sure Georgia and other schools down there will be all over him. That’s a tough get.
Part of me thinks to allocate big money for multiple, cheaper DE’s that either play at a lower level or are unhappy at big schools and want a bigger role. Throw multiple bodies at the role. It also helps the depth. Big ticket portal guys can get injured like anyone else and we know UW isn’t spending outrageous money.
This is where support staffs are of vital importance. The NFL finds guys from all sorts of small schools. Colleges have to start finding them too. Good players are out there. Go find them.
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Good call. UW has had pretty good recent success from the Big Sky and most of those kids are western footprint type guys. McLaughlan, Valdez and Lynch all are/were good players for the Huskies. Valdez would have been even better on last years team. If they could have played him on passing downs instead of ALL THE TIME, he could have really pushed the pocket. He was wasted on that 2024 DL. I think Sac St has a nice interior kid I’d be interested in kicking the tires on. There’s got to be some under appreciated edge talent as well.
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Lynch is a positive example of the staff’s ability to develop as well. He was a complete jag last year but stood out this year.
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As of now though, UW has numbers at Edge but no high end talent who is a JR with a long frame. Lane is 6'5" and will be a senior and while Ward and Davis are promising, both are more pass rush only guys and haven't shown they can play even most of a season in the B1G. Hayden Moore will be a RS-JR but he's undersized at 6'2" 230 lbs and was a 3rd string guy in 2025.
So IMHO, I'd rather focus on one rising RS-JR and put the resources there rather than spreading it over 2 or 3 guys. Then the top 4 Edges in 2027 would be Hyde, Hill, DCB, and the portal edge who would be an RS-SR then with Dirty Sanchez as the 5th who may be ready for the rotation as a RS-Soph.
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far off portal projection is hard. Seems like outside of guys who followed Fisch from Arizona UW’s portal guys tend to come out of left field and UW has never seriously been involved for prominent portal recruits.
