A look at the Seattle Seahawks 2017 Draft Class
In my recap of the first round that I wrote up on Saturday I didn't get a chance to write about any Seahawks picks, this was because Seattle's GM John Schneider's aim for round one was to acquire some more draft picks. Coming into the Draft the Seahawks were only due to make 7 selections, by the end of the Draft they'd made 11. They moved out of pick 26 back to 29, then moved back again out of the first round entirely to pick 34.
When they moved back to from 29 many believe the Seahawks had 3 or 4 players with a round one grade, they were confident they could still get their guy. At pick 32 the Saints took Wisconsin OT, Ryan Ramczyk, I believe this was the first of their potential target players to go, then at pick 33 at the start of the second round the Green Bay Packers took Washington CB, Kevin King, a local college standout who looks the perfect Seahawks DB on paper. The Seahawks were now on the clock with two round one graded players sat there, Alabama OT, Cam Robinson and Michigan State DT, Malik McDowell. They decided to swap picks with the Jaguars one pick behind them for extra draft capital. The Jags took Robinson which left the Seahawks with McDowell.
Head Coach, Pete Carroll and GM Schneider seemed really happy that they got the guy they were targeting all along and an extra 4 picks. Malik McDowell will immediately enter the Seahawks defensive line rotation as a three technique. He may either pair with last year's second round pick, NT Jarran Reed in the starting 4 or feature only in pass rush situations alongside Michael Bennett with Frank Clark and Cliff Avril book-ending the line. He'll add an immediate boost to the interior pass rush which has been a relative weakness for the Seahawks fearsome front as of late. He doesn't have to be a stud against the run straight away as Rubin and Reed excelled here for the 'Hawks last year ad they're both returning. Later on Friday they added further support along the defensive line with UNC DT, Nazair Jones. Unlike McDowell who projects as an impressive athlete (94th percentile for the position in the 40 yd dash, 73rd in the 3-cone and 87th in the broad) Nazair is a less than impressive athlete but a mammoth human being. Carroll talked about him playing both 3 and 5 technique, he should add some depth to the position but at this moment it's hard to see him cracking the starting rotation straight away.
DL depth was a noted position of need heading into the draft and the front office showed that they agreed with this analysis with these additions. With their second pick they targeted anothe rposition of need, the awful O-line. They added LSU lineman Ethan Pocic, who finished his time in Baton Rouge playing Center but played all across the line. In the post draft press conference they talked up how his versatility appealed to them. O-line is notoriously hard to evaluate as an outsider, and seemingly for the Seahawks to, but O-line scout Duke Mayweather talked up Pocic's abilities as a Center. He is an above average athlete for Center but I don't see him starting there for the 'Hawks, my best guess is he'll start at RG on a starting line of Joeckel, Glowinski, Britt, Pocic, Ifedi, but it's April so we'll have to see how this shakes out over camp and preseason. They added one more piece to the line late on in the draft with Justin Senior out of Mississippi State. He's a terrible athlete for the position and I imagine he'll be fighting Fant and Odihambo to back up either tackle spot if he wants to make the final roster.
With their third pick they addressed the next largest area of need, the Cornerback position. They selected Shaquill Griffin out of UCF. Griffin is an explosive athlete, he ran 4.38 40 yard dash and broad jumped 132", that puts him the 92nd and 96th percentile for the position respectively. He has the length to play outside opposite Sherman at the start of the season whilst DeShawn Shead recovers from his ACL injury and should be a competitor for the Nickel job if they want to put Shead back outside. Competition for the Nickel job could be tough though as the Hawks added several other DBs who look set to compete for the job alongside the veteran DBs on the roster. Through the draft they brought in Delano Hill, a safety out of Michigan, Tedric Thompson out of Colarado who is also a Strong Safety, and Mike Tyson out of Cincinnati (a Free Safety in College but projected to be a Corner in Seattle), Hill and Thompson could add depth to the Safety position alongside Bradley McDougald, who they added in Free Agency. Although Hill's skill sets could see him compete for the starting SAM job which would get him more regular snaps early on in his career than just backing up the Hawks' increasingly fragile Safeties. All 4 DBs should also contribute to Special Teams which is valued by Coach Carroll.
They also added two WRs to compete for a role in the Seahawks receiving corps. Amra Darboh out of Michigan is a big, strong receiver who is also quick enough for the league. His mockdraftable pro comparison is Devante Parker (89.9%). He could possibly push Jermaine Kearse for his job in two WR sets as he has the size to be an accomplished run blocker, which is the one attribute that keeps Kearse on the field. They also added David Moore out of East Central Oklahoma, Carroll praised his speed and physicality in the post draft presser, so he should be competing for the same job as Darboh. This could be an interesting camp battle but I see a role for both on Special Teams which is the same route that served Doug Baldwin so well in his early years with the Hawks.
Finally, they added RB Chris Carson out of Oklahoma State. Carroll said that he was a player that he really wanted at the end of the draft after falling in love with him during the process. The Seahawks already have three RBs that will share the brunt of the carries/touches in Eddie Lacy, Thomas Rawls, and CJ Prosise and now have 11 RBs on the roster so it will be interesting to see if Carson impresses enough to be kept on as much needed depth at RB with all three of the aforementioned players having injury history.
That completes the run through the class, it is a large one for the Hawks that has some promise I believe. I like that they targeted youth at key positions as the biggest challenge for Carroll and Schneider now, having built a great roster, is to keep it evolving and doing all they can to utilise the fact that the Seahawks have a franchise QB in his prime, a great defence and a great Head Coach who despite being the oldest in the league is still hungry.
It's always worth remembering that this is all futile and it's impossible to assess a draft class instantly, but this gave me something to do for an hour on a Sunday night and if you're interested this has hopefully shed some light on who the hell the Seahawks have brought in.
Thanks for reading,
James
When they moved back to from 29 many believe the Seahawks had 3 or 4 players with a round one grade, they were confident they could still get their guy. At pick 32 the Saints took Wisconsin OT, Ryan Ramczyk, I believe this was the first of their potential target players to go, then at pick 33 at the start of the second round the Green Bay Packers took Washington CB, Kevin King, a local college standout who looks the perfect Seahawks DB on paper. The Seahawks were now on the clock with two round one graded players sat there, Alabama OT, Cam Robinson and Michigan State DT, Malik McDowell. They decided to swap picks with the Jaguars one pick behind them for extra draft capital. The Jags took Robinson which left the Seahawks with McDowell.
Head Coach, Pete Carroll and GM Schneider seemed really happy that they got the guy they were targeting all along and an extra 4 picks. Malik McDowell will immediately enter the Seahawks defensive line rotation as a three technique. He may either pair with last year's second round pick, NT Jarran Reed in the starting 4 or feature only in pass rush situations alongside Michael Bennett with Frank Clark and Cliff Avril book-ending the line. He'll add an immediate boost to the interior pass rush which has been a relative weakness for the Seahawks fearsome front as of late. He doesn't have to be a stud against the run straight away as Rubin and Reed excelled here for the 'Hawks last year ad they're both returning. Later on Friday they added further support along the defensive line with UNC DT, Nazair Jones. Unlike McDowell who projects as an impressive athlete (94th percentile for the position in the 40 yd dash, 73rd in the 3-cone and 87th in the broad) Nazair is a less than impressive athlete but a mammoth human being. Carroll talked about him playing both 3 and 5 technique, he should add some depth to the position but at this moment it's hard to see him cracking the starting rotation straight away.
DL depth was a noted position of need heading into the draft and the front office showed that they agreed with this analysis with these additions. With their second pick they targeted anothe rposition of need, the awful O-line. They added LSU lineman Ethan Pocic, who finished his time in Baton Rouge playing Center but played all across the line. In the post draft press conference they talked up how his versatility appealed to them. O-line is notoriously hard to evaluate as an outsider, and seemingly for the Seahawks to, but O-line scout Duke Mayweather talked up Pocic's abilities as a Center. He is an above average athlete for Center but I don't see him starting there for the 'Hawks, my best guess is he'll start at RG on a starting line of Joeckel, Glowinski, Britt, Pocic, Ifedi, but it's April so we'll have to see how this shakes out over camp and preseason. They added one more piece to the line late on in the draft with Justin Senior out of Mississippi State. He's a terrible athlete for the position and I imagine he'll be fighting Fant and Odihambo to back up either tackle spot if he wants to make the final roster.
With their third pick they addressed the next largest area of need, the Cornerback position. They selected Shaquill Griffin out of UCF. Griffin is an explosive athlete, he ran 4.38 40 yard dash and broad jumped 132", that puts him the 92nd and 96th percentile for the position respectively. He has the length to play outside opposite Sherman at the start of the season whilst DeShawn Shead recovers from his ACL injury and should be a competitor for the Nickel job if they want to put Shead back outside. Competition for the Nickel job could be tough though as the Hawks added several other DBs who look set to compete for the job alongside the veteran DBs on the roster. Through the draft they brought in Delano Hill, a safety out of Michigan, Tedric Thompson out of Colarado who is also a Strong Safety, and Mike Tyson out of Cincinnati (a Free Safety in College but projected to be a Corner in Seattle), Hill and Thompson could add depth to the Safety position alongside Bradley McDougald, who they added in Free Agency. Although Hill's skill sets could see him compete for the starting SAM job which would get him more regular snaps early on in his career than just backing up the Hawks' increasingly fragile Safeties. All 4 DBs should also contribute to Special Teams which is valued by Coach Carroll.
They also added two WRs to compete for a role in the Seahawks receiving corps. Amra Darboh out of Michigan is a big, strong receiver who is also quick enough for the league. His mockdraftable pro comparison is Devante Parker (89.9%). He could possibly push Jermaine Kearse for his job in two WR sets as he has the size to be an accomplished run blocker, which is the one attribute that keeps Kearse on the field. They also added David Moore out of East Central Oklahoma, Carroll praised his speed and physicality in the post draft presser, so he should be competing for the same job as Darboh. This could be an interesting camp battle but I see a role for both on Special Teams which is the same route that served Doug Baldwin so well in his early years with the Hawks.
Finally, they added RB Chris Carson out of Oklahoma State. Carroll said that he was a player that he really wanted at the end of the draft after falling in love with him during the process. The Seahawks already have three RBs that will share the brunt of the carries/touches in Eddie Lacy, Thomas Rawls, and CJ Prosise and now have 11 RBs on the roster so it will be interesting to see if Carson impresses enough to be kept on as much needed depth at RB with all three of the aforementioned players having injury history.
That completes the run through the class, it is a large one for the Hawks that has some promise I believe. I like that they targeted youth at key positions as the biggest challenge for Carroll and Schneider now, having built a great roster, is to keep it evolving and doing all they can to utilise the fact that the Seahawks have a franchise QB in his prime, a great defence and a great Head Coach who despite being the oldest in the league is still hungry.
It's always worth remembering that this is all futile and it's impossible to assess a draft class instantly, but this gave me something to do for an hour on a Sunday night and if you're interested this has hopefully shed some light on who the hell the Seahawks have brought in.
Thanks for reading,
James
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