Seahawks pick speedy Rutgers wide receiver Bo Melton in 7th round of NFL draft
Pete Carroll loves skill-position players who can run.
Bo Melton is a Seahawks-kind of pick, in a draft the coach has gone back to his roots.
Seattle selected Melton, from Rutgers, with the 229th-overall choice in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft Saturday.
Melton is 5 feet 11, 189 pounds. He ran a 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds before the draft. His pre-draft workouts got attention of many scouts, including obviously Seattle’s.
He knows how to adapt to new systems, as he is about to in Seattle: By 2020 at Rutgers Melton had had four offensive coordinators in four years.
He was a punt returner and mainstay on Rutgers’ special-team units, playing for the school his mother and father attended. He scored on a trick-play, throwback-lateral punt return for a touchdown at Ohio State in 2020.
“In offense, I was used all over. I was in the slot and as an outside receiver, as well,” Melton said.
He was the eighth of nine picks for the Seahawks in this draft.
The ninth and final one four picks later in round seven was another wide receiver: physical Dareke Young from Division-II Lenoir-Rhyne.
Melton said he can’t wait to get to Seattle’s minicamp that begins next weekend at the team’s headquarters in Renton — and to begin working this spring with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
“I’m very excited,” Melton said. “DK is a great player. So is Tyler Lockett...
“I will be ready to compete, ready to go to work.”
Seattle took an offensive tackle, edge rusher, running back, offensive tackle, cornerback, cornerback and edge rusher.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 2:47 PM.
