TNT’s Seahawks mock draft: Trade down in round 1, a QB, pass rushers, 2 O-linemen
Usually, Pete Carroll’s and John Schneider’s Seahawks drafts have consistently followed their precedent.
Especially at the top.
Annually picking later in the first round, into the 20s out of 32 selections because of winning and playoff seasons, Seattle has almost always traded down to acquire more picks. Schneider has made 80 trades of selections in the 12 drafts he and Carroll have led the Seahawks. Seattle has traded their original first-round choice in nine of the last 10 drafts.
The exception: Jordyn Brooks at 27th overall in 2020. Brooks came after another draft trade down Schneider thought he had done fell through. So Seattle instead drafted the linebacker that set the franchise record for tackles last season.
You’ve also been able to count on these Seahawks not drafting quarterbacks. They’ve taken just two in the 12 drafts run by Carroll and Schneider: Russell Wilson in 2012 and Alex McGough in 2018.
So much for precedents and trends this year.
For this NFL draft that begins Thursday, the Seahawks aren’t coming off a winning and playoff season. They lost 10 games in 2021, their most in 12 years. They missed the playoffs for only the second time in 10 seasons.
Instead of the 27th, 29th or 32nd pick, Seattle has the ninth-overall choice in this draft. It’s the Seahawks’ highest selection since 2001.
It’s because they don’t have Wilson anymore.
The Seahawks traded their franchise cornerstone of the last 10 years to Denver last month. They got the Broncos’ first-round pick, at number nine, plus four other selections and three players in the stunning deal.
The three quarterbacks the Seahawks have on their roster — veteran Geno Smith, Drew Lock and Jacob Eason — are not under contract beyond 2022. Smith agreed to re-sign Thursday for one year. Lock just arrived from the Broncos in the Wilson trade. Eason, the former University of Washington starter from Lake Stevens, has yet to start an NFL game.
So Carroll and Schneider are more likely to buck another of their Seahawks trends this year. They are more likely to draft a quarterback than they’ve been since 2012, when they selected the supposedly too-short Wilson in the third round out of Wisconsin.
The Seahawks reportedly had Desmond Ridder in for one of the 30 pre-draft visits by prospects the NFL allows each team. The 6-foot-3 Ridder, from the University of Cincinnati, won last season at Notre Dame. He then led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff.
Pre-draft visits used to be a Carroll-Schneider smoke screen. Earlier in their Seattle tenure their draft choices often remarked they hadn’t met with or heard anything from the Seahawks prior to their selection.
That has changed in recent years. Picks such as Frank Clark, L.J. Collier, Malik McDowell, Paul Richardson and others had a pre-draft visit with the Seahawks before they selected them.
Ridder’s draft stock is rising because of physical skills of throwing and running, his UC records of 87 touchdown passes and 12,418 yards of total offense — and because of all his winning. Yet he’s considered likely to be selected after Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett and Liberty’s Malik Willis in this draft.
The Seahawks could do what they usually do in the first round, trade down (this time from a far-more-attractive nine than 20-something) to later in round one, acquire more than the eight picks they own in this draft — and still perhaps take Ridder. Or to select another quarterback later in this draft.
Need or best available? It’s the older-than-film draft question. But more so than in any draft of the Carroll-Schneider era, the Seahawks selecting the guy who is on the top of their 2022 draft board at the time they choose — their “best available player” — is also going to fill a pressing need. That’s because the Seahawks have so many pressing needs.
Of the 25 positions on offense and defense plus three specialty spots of kicker, punter and long snapper, 22 are true needs for Seattle. The only positions that aren’t:
- Safety. They’ve given Jamal Adams and newly re-signed Quandre Diggs $110 million combined over the last nine months
- Punter. Michael Dickson is a stud re-signed for four more seasons
- And long-snapper. Tyler Ott is an effective and inexpensive mainstay there.
Set at just three spots, out of 25. That’s how much the Seahawks are rebuilding — no matter how much Carroll and Schneider have refused to acknowledge this is a rebuild.
It’s what teams without franchise quarterbacks do, build again.
“Yeah, we are faced with challenges,” Carroll said. “But all we see is what is going to go the right way and what’s going to happen for us. Just like every year, we are trying to build a championship football team, right now. There is no future where we will do it somewhere down the road. We don’t think like that. We have never thought like that, and we aren’t going to think like that now. ...
“I hope that there is no misunderstanding at all and it’s clear to you.”
Here is The News Tribune’s annual seven-round mock draft for the Seahawks:
Round 1, ninth overall: Trade down (again), with New Orleans.
Seattle gets the Saints’ 16th-overall pick, plus #49 in round two and #161 in round four.
The Saints, even more needy than the Seahawks for a quarterback, get Seattle’s ninth-overall pick plus #109 in round four.
The trade gives the Seahawks nine picks in the draft, three in the second round, four in the first 49 selections.
Round 1, 16th overall: Boye Mafe, edge rusher, Minnesota
The Seahawks’ biggest need is to pressure QBs into more mistakes. Seattle’s 18 takeaways last season were the fewest in team history. Carroll has said improving the pass rush is Job One this offseason. To do that, he’s changed defensive coordinators (Clint Hurtt replacing Ken Norton Jr.) and systems (to more of a speedy, varied 3-4 from his old 4-3).
The 6-foot-3 Mafe has speed, length and strength. He’s one of the raw wild cards in a draft loaded with top pass rushers seemingly ready to play in the NFL immediately.
Round 2, 40th overall:. Desmond Ridder, quarterback, Cincinnati
The pre-draft visit to Seattle pays off for Ridder. And for the Seahawks.
Carroll likes Lock. He really likes Smith. But both have failed as full-time starters for other teams. Again, neither is signed beyond 2022. Tall, athletic as a runner yet a pocket passer, Ridder can learn and grow this year, for Seattle’s 2023.
It’s time they draft a quarterback in the early rounds. They made it this way.
Round 2, 41st overall: David Ojabo, edge rusher, Michicagn
Six-five with speed, the native of Nigeria who grew up in Scotland before going to high school in New Jersey had 11 sacks with a school-record five forced fumbles last season. That was while he played opposite Wolverines’ sack sensation Aidan Hutchinson, who might be a top-three pick in this draft.
Ojabo likely would be a first-round pick, but he tore his Achilles tendon at Michigan’s Pro Day March 18. The Seahawks are so needy in pass rushers they go one-two on them in this draft, and are willing to wait for Ojabo’s recovery. Some hopeful estimates say he could return by November, though Achilles tears are no sure things to get past.
Round 2, 49th overall: Abraham Lucas, offensive tackle, Washington State
A pick to thrill many Seahawks fans. The 6-7, four-year starter from Everett showed elite pass protection for the Cougars’ offense. Wilson will tell you — has told you — elite pass protection is what’s what Seattle’s lacked in its offense for years.
Some criticize Lucas’ run blocking. New Seahawks offensive line coach Andy Dickerson would likely take less of a road grader, and more of stopper of edge rushers steaming at quarterbacks.
Lucas’ athleticism includes having been a basketball player at Archbishop Murphy High School.
The question on Lucas: Can he play left tackle in the NFL?
Round 3, 72nd overall: Jalen Tolbert, wide receiver, South Alabama
At 6-1, 195 pounds, scouts like how Tolbert was bullish getting through press coverage, and excelled against the best competition such as Southeastern Conference foes. He set South Alabama records in career receptions and receiving yards, plus season records of 82 catches and eight touchdowns in 2021.
Carroll has said Seattle is planning to re-sign DK Metcalf for top-of-the-market money this summer. The team has Tyler Lockett with him.
After that at wide receiver for the Seahawks it’s 2021 draft choice Dee Eskridge, who was hurt for much of his rookie season, and a lot of questions.
Round 5, 152nd overall: Rasheed Walker, offensive tackle, Penn State
The strong, 6-6, three-year starter at left tackle in the Big Ten could perhaps replace free-agent Brandon Shell as Seattle’s right tackle. He perhaps could replace still unsigned Duane Brown, the Seahawks’ best offensive linemen for years, at left tackle. (Did we mention this team has needs?) The Seahawks reportedly met with Walker before this draft.
Walker had problems against Ohio State’s edge rushers in an uneven 2021 season. That and what some see as a lack of athleticism could be why he’s still available here at another position of premium need in the league. He could be an NFL guard. That isn’t now one of the more pressing needs on Seattle’s line.
Round 5, 153rd overall: Thomas Booker, defensive tackle, Stanford
A three-year starter and Stanford captain. Some around the NFL see the 6-4, 309-pound Booker as a better fit for defenses using varied and multiple fronts.
That’s what Carroll and Hurtt are employing in Seattle in 2022.
Round 5, 161st overall: Joshua Williams, cornerback, Fayetteville State
A typically unconventional Seattle pick, compared to what the NFL may think. Williams is 6-3, with 32.9-inch arms. He’s a throwback to the long, Richard Sherman-like prototype Carroll drafted at cornerback for a decade for Seattle, until sub-6-foot D.J. Reed and 2021 rookie pick Tre Brown changed Carroll’s mind recently.
The Seahawks have had far better success drafting and developing their own cornerbacks in Carroll’s step-kick technique than signing free agents from other systems who have to learn Carroll’s ways. Williams, who got a Senior Bowl invite from Division-II Fayetteville State in North Carolina, would get the chance to develop Carroll’s technique.
Round 7, 230th overall: Tyler Allgeier, running back, Brigham Young
He’s 5-11, 220. He runs and looks the part, with four games of at least 190 yards rushing in 2021. He needs to improve his pass protection and receiving to be more than a special-teams contributor early in his NFL career.
But the Seahawks don’t know when or whether lead back Chris Carson will return from neck surgery. And they only re-signed late 2021 breakout rushing star Rashaad Penny for one season.
This story was originally published April 16, 2022 at 8:30 AM.
