(Welp…here goes nothing.)

Welcome to Seattle SeaMocks. I’m Stanger. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you found me through Twitter (@JaredStanger) or the writing I’ve done at Fieldgulls.com. Speaking of which…a very fond and appreciative’thank you’ to all of the contributors over at Fieldgulls, but especially Danny Kelly for giving me my first opportunity to write about the Seahawks and the draft years ago. Danny you’re a mensch and I congratulate you on The Ringer. Well deserved…kill it, man!

My first real memory of getting interested in the NFL draft was in 2011. I can remember stumbling around youtube a month or two before the draft, looking for video of players, and specifically discovering this one guy who would go out to radio stations or do press conferences, and he was a wildly entertaining personality. Turned out Seattle ended up drafting that guy. It was John Moffitt.

The next year I spent far more time before the draft trying to study up on players. I was able to find more and more actual game tape. I think this was the first year I discovered Draftbreakdown.com (a site that I still visit pretty much daily…an invaluable tool for the amateur draft hound). My big draft crush that year was this unbelievably fast edge rusher that was only getting 3rd round projection by the draft outlets. Seemed like such a sleeper/steal.

2012 was the first year I attempted to create a mock draft for Seattle. I wasn’t on Fieldgulls yet, so I simply posted it on my Facebook account. Years later (and years after I had deactivated my Facebook page) I re-opened it for one day so that I could screen-cap that first mock to share:

I remember, pretty vividly, how national media HATED that draft class directly after, but I was kicking back and LOVING it. I had a feeling they had done something special that year. That was also the year I became categorically hooked on scouting and the draft. It became a year-round passion of mine. And at the end of 2012, beginning of 2013 I posted my first mock on Fieldgulls. Everything since then has been one hell of a surreal ride.

From the time Coach Pete linked my piece on his 2014 draft clues on his twitter:

To the draft when Pete actually gave me a shoutout:

And then the Seahawks beat writers asked him about that sign in the post-draft presser, which was even more surreal.

The draft, the Seahawks, and the 12’s have contributed to same truly unbelievable moments in my life, and I look forward to those continuing and deepening as I take toward this new endeavor of managing my own site. It won’t always be right, it won’t always be pretty (especially all the technical aspects), but it will always be true.

I pledge to be true to myself, and then to give as much of that truth to you, the readers, as I can.

Now, with all this said…thanks for joining me. Let’s mock’n’roll.