By Jared Stanger
We’ve turned the calendar to December, and with it comes an update my Seahawks seven round mock draft. A lot of this is carryover from the previous edition, because if you believe in something, you don’t change simply for the sake of content, or not repeating yourself. But, also, there’s quite a bit new in here.
As I’m writing this, the Seahawks are on their opening drive of their game versus the Jets. They currently hold the lead in the NFC West, and with it a draftpick at #20 overall. Picking in the twenties is historically no-man’s-land. This year, in particular, that could be especially true. So I’m trading down the #20. The first trade will be with Detroit for their picks at #32 and #64.
John Schneider is recently, openly of the mind that he won’t draft interior offensive line in the first round. A) we’re barely in the first round at pick #32, and B) there have been instances in the past when John drafted a college offensive tackle in the first round, who would go on to play the majority of their pro careers at guard. So this will be like that.
#1.32 – Offensive Line, West Virginia, Wyatt Milum
I had some consideration to take one of the better true guards in this class in a Donovan Jackson, Tate Ratledge, or Tyler Booker with this pick, but as I mentioned, that feels like something Schneider won’t do. Milum is the starting left tackle for WVU with very high marks in everything but arm length. As a result, most in the draft community believe Milum gets moved to guard. I’d be happy to be the team that gets to do that. Milum is 6’6″/317lbs with enough nastiness to send a message to the opposing team, and enough smarts to keep it within the rulebook.
#2.51 – Edge Rusher, Boston College, Donovan Ezeiruaku
It’s going to be interesting to see how the league handles how good this year’s class at rush linebacker is expected to be. I’m contending that we will see very strong players at the position lasting, basically, until the end of the second round. Seattle could have it’s choice between some combination of Mike Green, Kyle Kennard, Bradyn Swinson, Princely Umanmielen, Josaiah Stewart, Antwuan Powell-Ryland, and Ezeiruaku last until their native pick at #51.
I’m going with Donovan for a few reasons, one of which is his projectability metric that puts him top three amongst this class, and the #1 still on the board. Ezeiruaku is listed 6’2″/247lbs, and is expected to have arms well over 34″ at the combine weigh-in. He has a great combination of speed, power, and football IQ.
This is a draft that falls in a time when Seattle is still young into a new head coaching regime, and we need to draft volume to get Mike Macdonald more shots at his type of players. With that said, my second trade of this mock comes when I send pick #2.64 to the Raiders for picks #3.69 and #5.140.
#3.69 – Linebacker, Ole Miss, Chris Paul Jr
The linebacker spot is going to be crucial to nailing this draft, which in turn will make the Macdonald defense work. We’ve seen so much turnover at LB already under the former linebackers’ coach, and there is no guarantee that Ernest Jones will be back in 2025. We need to invest for the longterm in the position. This isn’t a great draft to find off the ball linebackers, and as such, this may not be early enough to target one. It may be a better strategy to take a stand-up LB before drafting an Edge-rush LB (which has way more depth).
For now, Paul is underrated nationally, and so I’m taking advantage of that to get him in the third round. Paul is listed 6’1″/235lbs, averages 7.33 tackles per game, and has 11.0 TFL, 9 QB hurries, 1 INT, and 4 PBU on the year for the very underrated Ole Miss defense.
Here, again, I’m looking to add volume picks to my draft board, and I trade #3.84 to Jacksonville for their picks at #3.92 and #4.129.
#3.92 – Quarterback, Louisville, Tyler Shough
In the biggest change from my previous mocks, I’ve abandoned taking Jaxson Dart in the second, and am now pivoting to the unexpected pick of Shough in the late third.
Shough is listed at 6’5″/225lbs and in 2024 he has posted 3195 yards, 23 TD, 6 INT, 62.7% completion, 8.2 ypa, and a 148.15 rating in his sixth-year senior season. Yes, Shough is an old prospect. He was originally the backup to Justin Herbert at Oregon in 2019. He was the primary starter for the Ducks in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. In 2021, he transferred to Texas Tech where he suffered through three injury-shortened seasons where he played a combined 15 games. In 2024, finally healthy, Shough has made every start after transferring again to Louisville.
In a year where Seattle projects to pick well outside the top 10 overall, and the QB landscape seems incredibly uncertain, I think you mitigate some of the risk by hunting value in a later round. Shough will fall in the draft because of his age, but perhaps, counter-intuitively, his age will also mean maturity and a faster development time in the pro’s. It’s worth discussing why recent career “comeback” success stories like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold (and to lesser extent Geno Smith) happened because those QB’s had __ number of reps as pro’s, or if they simply matured as men as they’ve aged. If it’s the latter; we may be cutting to the point by drafting a guy that is already 25.
Darnold was famously young (20 years old) when he was drafted in 2018, and he’s only found success this year at age 27. Mayfield didn’t start to cut down on his INT, and play smarter ball until his third year in Cleveland at the age of 25. Years earlier, Aaron Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for multiple seasons. When he did finally get the chance to start, Rodgers was immediately very good. He was also 25 when that happened. Tom Brady’s first year starting came at 24 y/o. Drew Brees’ two worst years as a starter came when he was 23 and 24, then he turns 25 and makes his first Pro Bowl. Kurt Warner didn’t break through until he was 28. Tony Romo didn’t take the reins for Dallas until he was 26. Russell Wilson won his Super Bowl with Seattle when he was 25.
Right after acquiring Sam Howell last offseason, Schneider lauded how young Howell was, with specific reference to him being younger than multiple of the 2024 QB draft class. Howell is, in fact, only barely 24 years old, but by most reports Howell has been kind of terrible when given the reps in training camp and preseason.
I’m just not sure youth is something to be coveted at the quarterback position. The years of inexpensive team control is what is useful, but if you’re punting 1-2 years of that away because your guy needs to, basically, grow up…what’s the point? If you can cut to the chase by getting a guy in that 24-25 year range, and he’s ready quicker, you’ve actually sped up the clock of your rebuild/refresh. That’s my theory, anyways.
I like Shough. I like his arm-talent. I like his ability to play off-platform. He’s got a very underrated running ability (go back and look at some of his Oregon tape). And he’s got the kind of intangibles that generally seem to pay off longterm.
#4.129 – Tightend, Miami, Elijah Arroyo
This is a sneaky good class of TE. I think there will be value still to be found in the 4th round. In fact, when I was cross-checking who might still be available in the 4th round, I was shocked at how many names I found. I’m going with Arroyo because of the athleticism he puts on tape, but also because of the effort. There’s a play somewhere out there showing him chasing down an INT return backside after running like 70-80 yards…yeah, I’ll take that dude. And he’s listed 6’4″/245lbs and can burn.
#4.136 – Right Tackle, Kansas, Logan Brown
I tend to think we need to draft someone STAT that can replace Abe Lucas longterm. George Fant has barely played this year with injury. Stone Forsythe will be a free agent, and has also been injured. And neither of the 2024 draftpicks (Jerrell and Laumea) will be playing right tackle in the near future without other guys being injured.
I’ve been looking at various RT options all year and none have quite fit. I’ve looked at left tackles that we could move to RT, but that would require bigger draft capital investment. I’ve looked at many of the natural RT guys, but most had one kind of flaw or another.
I’ve only recently spent time looking at Logan Brown, and it was the kind of lightbulb moment you hope for. Listed as a 6’6″/315lb redshirt Junior, Brown began his career with Wisconsin in 2019. So he’s already spent four years as a Badger, before his last two with the Jayhawks. Why he’s listed as a rs-Junior is beyond me.
After watching many of the Kansas games from this year; I’m not sure why Brown isn’t more touted. There is, possibly, the age issue, and then I did notice his Kansas profile mentions he is a type 1 diabetic. I don’t know how that factors into his future as a pro. I just know I thought he had some of the best RT tape I’ve watched all year.
#5.140 – Defensive tackle, Ole Miss, JJ Pegues
Some of my player picks haven’t changed, we just need to tweak where we draft them. This part will continue all the way up to the draft.
JJ Pegues is one of my favorite guys in this entire draft. I just love everything about him. I love his versatility. I love his toughness. I love his personality. This would be like our new Brandon Mebane type of guy if we can add him.
Listed at 6’2″/325lbs, the Mayor has 41 tackles, 13.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 4 hurries, and a pretty ridiculous 7 rushing TD on the year.
#5.173 – Defensive tackle, Nebraska, Ty Robinson
We immediately go back to the DT class, but for a different kind of profile. Robinson is all of 6’6″/310lbs, and can play all up and down the line, and has played some fullback this year. For the season he has 11.0 TFL, 6.0 sacks, 6 hurries, 3 PBU, 1 FF, and 1 blocked kick.
#6.185 – Wide Receiver, Kansas, Quentin Skinner
I’m not gonna lie…two days ago I had Tennessee WR Dont’e Thornton in this spot. But then Saturday comes, Thornton gets a plug from Senior Bowl Director Jim Nagy pre-game, and then proceeds to catch three passes for 118 yards and two TD’s in the Vols’ game that day. I would love to get Thornton here, but I think his stock will be rising directly.
Skinner has a very similar profile, though. I found both of these guys in the last 10 days, or so, while hunting WR that would still be on the board late. There is still a possibility that DK Metcalf will be a cap casualty trade in the offseason. It feels like the Seahawks’ future cap can’t hold both DK and Geno (and maybe neither). So I’m looking for WR with some size, speed, and highpoint ability.
Skinner is listed 6’5″/195lbs. He could add a few pounds, but that’s what NFL weight training staff is for. His speed seems decent. He runs pretty good routes for his size. But mostly, I like his body control and the aggressiveness he has going after the ball. Kansas doesn’t throw the ball very much (#114 in the country before this week), and so Skinner only has 25 catches on the year, but he’s averaging 22.28 ypc and has 4 TD from those 25 grabs.
#6.210 – Center, Florida, Jake Slaughter
In our third, and final, pick to help improve the offensive line; I’m taking Florida center Jake Slaughter. Listed 6’5″/308lbs, Slaughter reminds me quite a bit of Max Unger. This is a VERY smart player. If it doesn’t work out for him as a player, he will certainly be able to coach.
#7.236 – Safety, Nebraska, Deshon Singleton
I’m a big fan of drafting to the strength(s) of a draft class, and this year is very strong at running back, which I haven’t addressed to this point. I wouldn’t mind if we drafted a RB pretty much anywhere on day three, but there’s also the points that we don’t necessarily NEED a RB, and with the depth of the class and the decreased positional value…we might get the guy we wanted late as a rookie free agent.
I’m pivoting to a pet project pick. I spotted Singleton some weeks ago, and the more I watch him, the more I appreciate him. Maybe not the highest floor player, but he’s so reliable the way he plays in run support, and the way he tackles. At minimum, he’ll be a very good special teams player. Listed at 6’3″/210lbs, I’d love to see what he could become in the Macdonald scheme.
So there we have it. An intentionally trenches-heavy draft. This is the way more of the recent Super Bowl teams have been built. And we’re also back-filling behind 2025 free agents: Jarran Reed, Johnathan Hankins, Laken Tomlinson, Stone Forsythe, Ernest Jones, Kvon Wallace, Pharaoh Brown, Trevis Gipson, Laviska Shenault, and, in a sense, Connor Williams, who left a wee bit early.
Seattle Seamocks 