Auburn used Derick Hall in multiple ways, but the Seattle Seahawks had one defensive spot in mind when they chose him with the 37th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on Friday night.

“He’s an outside backer that in the nickel stuff would be an outside rusher,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on Friday night. “There’s no question for us. He and (Seahawks outside linebacker Boye) Mafe are very similar. They both run 4.5s. They’re both 250 or 60, right in there. They both are really aggressive, attacking guys, so I think you see us fitting the mold.”

Hall was an All-SEC defensive end in 2022 after receiving second-team recognition at that spot in 2021. In his senior season at Auburn, Hall recorded 60 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss and one interception.

“The last two years, I had to do a lot of different things,” Hall said. “I was on the line of scrimmage, playing outside, I played the end, I played outside backer, I dropped, I rushed, I was stacked back at the Mike position doing a whole bunch of different stunts, so I was moved around a lot.”

Carroll said Hall would join an outside-linebacker group that’s on the rise in Seattle’s 3-4 defense as the Seahawks seek to improve from last year’s defensive showing, when they finished 25th in points allowed and yards allowed, 14th in passing yards allowed and 30th in rushing yards allowed among the NFL’s 32 teams.

Seattle’s most frequent starting pair at outside linebacker last season were Uchenna Nwosu and Bruce Irvin. Nwosu started every game and tied for the team lead with 9.5 sacks. Irvin started 10 games, but he was not re-signed after the season. Mofe and Darrell Taylor played more defensive snaps than Irvin in 2022, and Taylor also had 9.5 sacks.

“We’re expecting big things from this group,” Carroll said. “It’s a good group. They were very productive last year, but I think we’re just scratching the surface. I think Darrell can have a huge year, and Chenna’s really excited about adding to what he did. He had his best season ever, and I don’t see any reason why that should fall off.

“And then having the chance to put Derick in that rotation – because we want to rotate these guys. We want these guys to play fresh and fast, and that looks like it’s taking really good shape.”

Fast was one of the operative words for the Seahawks where Hall was concerned.

“He’s really fast,” Carroll said. “Again, we added another fast guy to play on the edge. That will show up in particular if you’ve seen the highlights of his pass rush and how he digs into guys. Speed and power are really his strengths, and he pursues the ball really well. He chases it. Probably why that happens, why he gets those numbers is because of the motor that he brings. It’s really a constant. He brings it with great energy. He played a ton of plays. I think he played 80-some percent of the time last year.

“He’s a tough-minded kid as well. He’s going to really be a help for us on (special) teams because he fits right into all of the core areas. He’ll be a big guy for us in all that stuff.”

Seattle general manager John Schneider said Hall had boosted his stock during the pre-draft process.

“A really impressive pro day,” Schneider said. “Some of his deficiencies in his game during the fall, he really showed well to compensate for some of those things at his pro day.”

After choosing Hall in the second round, Seattle came back 15 picks later and added UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet to the roster.

“We drafted two grown men today,” Schneider said. “Huge competitors. Excellent human beings. Alpha-dog guys. Leaders. Derick and Charbonnet are just really impressive people.”

Hall and Charbonnet followed first-rounders Devon Witherspoon, a cornerback from Illinois, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a wide receiver from Ohio State, as the Seahawks’ draft choice through the first three rounds.

“When we finished the season last year, we said we wanted to add some toughness and some juice to this football team,” Schneider said, “and we feel like we’ve really done that.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.