Seahawks don’t trade down, select speedy WR D’Wayne Eskridge in 2nd round of NFL draft
Trader John Schneider didn’t trade, for a change.
The general manager tried. But a deal he and the Seahawks thought they had to gain more picks in this NFL draft fell through minutes before Seattle’s time was up to select in round two Friday night.
The Seahawks didn’t get Russell Wilson an offensive lineman, either—particularly the center and left tackle the franchise quarterback who said in February he was “frustrated with getting hit too much” needs for beyond 2021.
They got Wilson a third wide receiver, though. A supersonic one.
Instead of dealing down to add to their meager three picks this year, the Seahawks used their first choice of 2021 to select game-breaking wide receiver D’Wayne Eskridge from Western Michigan.
As the Seahawks’ first pick in the draft over other pressing needs, Eskridge immediately becomes a candidate to replace departed David Moore as the team’s third wide receiver behind Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.
Quarterback Russell Wilson welcomed Eskridge to Seattle with a post on Twitter Friday night.
“Yes, I know about Russell Wilson, Tyler Lockett and then DK (Metcalf),” Eskridge said on a Zoom call Friday night from Battle Creek, Michigan. “So I just come in and bring some more explosiveness to it.
“Those are all dawgs that I mentioned.
“I’m also a dawg. So I feel like I’ll be able to fit in pretty good, and take it to another level. Do what I’m paid to do now.”
He gets a first NFL contract of $5.95 million over four years—with $1.69 million straight into his bank account as a signing bonus. That’s the league’s collective-bargained slot salary for the 56th-overall choice in this draft.
Eskridge is 5 feet 9, 190 pounds. He’s run the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds.
“He looks physical, plays strong,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
“He’s got a uniqueness to him in that regard that hopefully we can use in many ways.”
Of Eskridge’s track background, Carroll said: “That is an attraction.”
That makes him a candidate to be an inside, slot receiver plus as a deep-ball receiver outside for Seattle’s new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to utilize on his Rams-style, quicker passing game with crossing routes mismatching faster receivers on slower defenders.
Carroll said Waldron seeks to employ at least three, varied receiving options as distinct threats, as Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Josh Reynolds and Gerald Everett were with the Rams under Waldron last season.
Everett signed this offseason for one year and $6 million in free agency to be Seattle’s new starting tight end.
“He’s just a unique athlete,” Schneider said of Eskridge.
Eskridge, 24, averaged 20.4, 24.3 and 23.3 yards per catch in each of his final three seasons with Western Michigan. Often, he simply zoomed past sputtering defenders like a Mustang does Yugos. He had eight touchdown receptions in six games last season, his redshirt-senior one. He was first-team All-Mid-American Conference as a wide receiver and as a kick returner. He was the MAC special teams player of the year.
He led the Football Bowl Subdivision with a whopping 213 all-purpose yards per game last season. That was 17 yards more per game than any other major-college player in 2020.
And that was coming off a broken clavicle.
Eskridge sustained that season-ending injury four games into his true senior season of 2019. That’s why he redshirted and returned to WMU for 2020.
“It’s crazy. I wouldn’t want it any other way, the things that I had to face and not be able to run from,” Eskridge said. “It’s definitely a blessing that I made it through all the obstacles that I did.
“So I’m just thanking the Man above for all that he’s provided me with.”
A physical 5-9
Eskridge started two games in 2019 before his injury as a cornerback. Schneider said Eskridge started at cornerback against Michigan State and was “flying up” crunching Big Ten players in that game.
That showed the Seahawks this is no normal, 5-9 water bug. Carroll said Eskridge’s physicality makes him a great fit for Seattle’s wide receivers he requires to block outside, particularly this coming season in the head coach’s increased emphasis on running the ball.
“We want guys that are versatile,” Carroll said. “We can hand him the football. We can flip it to him. We can do things with him behind the line of scrimmage. He’s run very effectively on reverses and stuff like that. And the returns show that, as well.”
Eskridge credits the broken clavicle with renewing his football life.
“My injury in 2019, you know, it was probably the best and worst thing to happen to me in football,” he said. “I learned much more about myself. I learned that I was much more than a football player when it comes to what I want to do later in life.
“That helped me bring more love to the game. I just go out there and have fun, do what I do best—and keep the main thing the main thing.
“My injury helped me so much more than anything that I could have asked for. Nobody asks for an injury. But the things that came from that injury, you know, it’s priceless.”
He credits Western Michigan head football athletic trainer Sarah McBrien for being instrumental in his recovery from his true senior season ending to NFL player.
He admits he was down. But, obviously, not out.
“She kept me up, always,” he said. “She knew I was down. She knew all I wanted to do was play football. ...She always kept me up.
“My girlfriend (Arlexis Branson), she was also a critical factor, just being able to talk to her, and her picking me up when I was down through that injury.
“And my core family being there. My mom. My uncle. My aunt. My grandmother. My siblings, some of my cousins. They stayed supportive through the whole process. ...
“I’m definitely grateful for the people in my life. They keep me up.”
From ‘little ol’ Midwest town
Eskridge is one of five children who moved with his mother from his native Mississippi when he was in kindergarten to “little ol’ Bluffton, Indiana,” as he put it Friday. He grew into Indiana’s Mr. Track and Field running the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jumping at Bluffton High School. In high school football, he was a running back and a safety.
Western Michigan and Ball State were the only two top-division college programs to recruit him.
He’s absolutely capitalized on his limited opportunity.
This is just the beginning, though. I’m going to keep it going, for all the guys and girls to be inspired from little ol’ Bluffton, Indiana, and all the times in Fort Wayne (Indiana, near his hometown), to be able to do what they want to do.
“All it takes is a little hard work and dedication, and sacrifice.”
His levelheadedness and appreciation came through the online Zoom feed clearly from Michigan Friday night.
“It’s amazing that I made it to this point,” Eskridge said. “I remember dreaming when I was in second grade about being in the NFL.
“I always knew I was one of the top-tier guys. ...
“I face things head-on. I don’t shy away.”
He is the second wide receiver Seattle has drafted in round two in the last three years.
If he’s even half as successful as Metcalf, the Seahawks will have quite a wide-receiver trio.
No center
Yes, many Seahawks fans wanted a center—such as Creed Humphery from Oklahoma, drafted by Kansas City seven picks after Seattle chose Eskridge. Or a left tackle to replace Duane Brown, the 35-year-old Pro Bowl veteran who is entering the final year of his contract.
But eight top offensive linemen went off the board in the second round Friday before Seattle picked; the Seahawks did not have a first-round pick in this draft because of their trade for All-Pro safety Jamal Adams last summer.
When time came for selection 56 in the draft Friday, Schneider was finalizing a trade had a trade to turn Seattle’s three picks this weekend into four or perhaps more.
“We thought we had something,” the GM said. “Really, literally, the last couple minutes it fell apart. So, once we got there, Pete and I were trying to decide: do we take a player?; do we take a chance what the rest of the (draft) group looked like?
“But we truly had not made a decision whether we were going to move or not. And then it just fell apart.”
Plus, Seattle just drafts wide receivers. It’s what this team does.
Eskridge is the 54th wide receiver the Seahawks have selected in 46 drafts across team history. He is the fourth wide receiver Carroll and Schneider have selected in the second round in a dozen drafts.
Carroll and Schneider have now drafted 16 wide receiver in 12 drafts running Seattle.
Eskridge said he played outside (as an X and Z receiver) about 85% and inside slot about 15% of his time at Western Michigan. The Seahawks have been moving Lockett, previously a slot, and Metcalf around the offense more in recent seasons.
Eskridge’s size and speed would seem to make him ideal as slot receiver inside starting out for Seattle, against slower, inside nickel defensive backs in Waldron’s quicker passing game for 2021.
But Carroll emphasized Eskridge’s unique speed and physicality make him a candidate to interchange roles with the 6-4 Metcalf and the 5-10 Lockett as outside X and Z receivers.
“We would like that versatility from anybody that steps on the field,” Carroll said.
“Of course, you can’t replace the speed. So we started there.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 6:23 PM.
