By Jared Stanger

Welcome to the unofficial start of Draft Season! Time for a little post-season/pre-combine Seahawk 7-round mock draft. Speed-round edition.

I think the right number of picks for Seattle to try to hit this draft is eight. Assuming the addition of two compensatory picks, they only really need one trade-back, but for sake of some spacing issues I’m speculating two trades, 9 picks.

I liked the look of the Panthers’ draft positions, so I ran the math through the Jimmy Johnson trade chart and came up with: Seattle’s #26 + #90 for Carolina’s #40 + #72 + #99 (Seattle technically loses the trade by 6pts. Whatev.). That would put Seattle drafting #40, #58, #72, #99, and #105 all on the second day of the draft.

I like having five picks on day 2, but I don’t really like the drop from the end of the 3rd round until Seattle’s first pick on day three (#185…at the END of the 5th round). I’d like to swap back #72 to the Colts’ slot at #79, and add their 4th round comp pick #143. A VERY even trade per the chart (230 pts to 229.5 pts).

Positioning Seattle at: 40, 58, 79, 99, 105, 143, 185, 211, 247.

#40 – Kevin King, CB, Washington

Realistically, the OL you need won’t be there. I had talked on Twitter recently about targeting Haason Reddick in the 1st as SAM could be a pretty big need, but I’m already starting to see Reddick gone before #26. I think the WR near #40 would fit value-wise, but I’m not sure they fit need-wise. If you’re into splitting hairs, you can get a different corner that you have higher on your board at #26, but with Seattle’s preference for looking for value at CB, a 2nd round Corner is already breaking from tradition on the aggressive side. This feels more plausible to me, I guess.

There are a lot of places that have King available at Seattle’s native 2nd round pick at #58, but I just have a feeling that will change after his combine. So let’s get out ahead of the buzz and lock down a player capable of playing boundary CB, slot CB, AND safety…all positions with health and/or talent question marks heading into 2017 season.

King is terrific in run support, can shut down the red line like all the best Seahawk corners, and will be a fantastic student under Sherm.

#58 – Ethan Pocic, OL, LSU

This is sort of my cynical take on free agency (non) moves response of a pick. I think the BEST move is to be a little aggressive in FA for OL, but I’m cynical that Pete and John will do it. Or maybe it’s the OL themselves that don’t want to come here. With Russell’s ties to Ricky Wagner at Wisconsin, my fingers are crossed that I will be wrong about this.

Pocic represents a lot of things, but the big one is that he’s kind of Justin Britt in a lot of ways (including probably being the best OL you can get in the 2nd round before a steep dropoff). Position-wise; Pocic is Britt in reverse. Britt started at RT, then LG, then OC. Pocic is a college OC, who played LG at the Senior Bowl, but that might be a pro RT (if his reported arm length improves at the combine).

Seattle will often draft a player a year ahead of when the current guy will be hitting free agency (Glow for Sweezy, Vannett for Willson, etc). We THINK Britt will get an extension, but there’s really no precedent for it yet. With all of these things in mind…Pocic.

Pencil him in at RT with Garry getting the shot at LT, while slowing down the development of Fant.

#79 – John Johnson, DB, Boston College

Probably a pretty big surprise. I think Seattle has been a little passive in the secondary, but it needs bold moves to reload the LOB. This is a great year to do it. KK and JJ mark the beginning of a new reLegion.

Johnson is a guy that is most recently a Safety, spent a few games at CB in 2015, and should be a special teams starter from day one. He’ll be a lot like a smaller version of Shead. I think his combine will be nice so I’m, again, trying to get ahead of that buzz with this aggressive positioning.

King represents the player I think we missed on in Justin Simmons last year, while Johnson represents an Eric Rowe or Sean Davis.

#99 – Joe Mathis, DE, Washington

Mathis is a very tough guy to place. He put out some of the best DE tape in the country…for like six games. Then the injury and surgeries…which make his ability to compete at the combine a HUGE question mark. PFF love him, many on draft twitter love him, but he’s still only pulling a #223 overall from draftscout and I don’t think the big, national writers are caught on yet. (I dread when that tweet crosses my TL.)

I’m putting Mathis here as a late-3rd, but I could see him anywhere from 2nd to 6th. With his recent injuries, I’m projecting Joe to have a rookie year path similar to Odhiambo: 53-man redshirt with mostly inactives, and then he’ll step up into most of Cassius’ reps in 2nd year.

#105 – Cole Hikutini, TE, Louisville

If I’m being honest, this spot should probably go to a RB. Probably the best-remaining from a group of something like: Wayne Gallman, Kareem Hunt, D’Onta Foreman. But in my own little world of hypothetical, I will go with a TE.

If the team carries four TE again, this pick can be a receiving TE like Jordan Leggett (with Vannett and a re-upped Brandon Williams to block). If Williams isn’t back, they could go with someone like Mike Roberts. Or they could go with Cole Hikutini, who I think is pretty solid at both.

I’ll feel more comfortable with which direction to point this pick after the combine, but in the meantime, let’s split the difference with Hikutini.

#143 – Jimmie Gilbert, OLB, Colorado

Jimmie is sort of the fulcrum upon which this draft pivots. If he doesn’t get to the combine at at least 230 lbs, and you don’t think he can eventually carry 235-240, you probably need to find a different guy earlier on.

I’m picking him because I believe in his traits, and I’ll trust in a pro nutritionist and strength coach to make me look brilliant. He already does things at 223 that don’t really make sense.

#185 – Aaron Jones, RB, UTEP

With a trio of RB’s from the last two draft classes under club control for another 2-3 years, RB isn’t a terribly high “need”. But with such a deep class, it makes sense to at least take a flyer somewhere.

Jones is a guy that I think gets undervalued due to LOC, but whose tape I think is everything I look for in a RB. He’s tough, he’s fast, he can catch, and he runs with a sort of hungry desperation that tells me he will fit in the Seattle RB room and the tradition of Marshawn and Thomas.

Look for Jones to come in at 5’10″/210 lbs at the combine, and run under a 4.50 forty. Good specs to go with his impressive national production: 2nd in explosive runs, 1st in runs over 40 yards, 3rd in rushing yards per game.

#211 – Xavier Woods, SS, LaTech

We haven’t touched on WR, but it’s my sense of this class that if you haven’t found one in the top 100 picks, you might as well wait for UDFA.

Instead I will look to fill the potential void that will be left by unrestricted free agents Kelcie McCray, Jeron Johnson, and RFA Dewey McDonald.

Xavier can play either safety spot, runs well, hits hard, and can play special teams.

#247 – Algernon Brown, FB, BYU

Marcel Reece and Will Tukuafu are both over 31 years old and UFA, while Brandon Cottom is coming off an achilles injury. We’ve seen Seattle take a chance on a 7th round fullback before, so this isn’t unrealistic.

Algie is my favorite FB this year. 6’1″/250 lbs with good hands and experience as a lead back. Really fluid mover for that size.

By Jared Stanger

I was born, and spent the first decade of my life, in Southern California. My family moved around quite a bit back then, but the first house that we lived in that I still retain quite a bit of memory of was the house we had when I was about 4 to 6 years old.

It was the house with the olive tree that never seemed to grow olives in the front yard. It was the house where I learned to stay away from bees. It was the house where I learned to ride a bike. It was the house where a guy living around the corner owned a Delorean. It was the house where I nearly died from a ruptured appendix. It was the house where I found my first best friend.

This is that house.

More accurately, this is the street where that house was. We lived in the #2 house from the right corner. I’ve marked three other houses on the street that were really important to me.

The first house on the block belonged to my friend Alex. I don’t know if Alex was wealthy, or just wealthy relative to the rest of us, but I remember Alex’s dad drove a Porsche, Alex always had the newest, coolest Transformer toys, and, although my 5 year old brain didn’t recognize it at the time, Alex and his sister would come home from school in the uniforms of a private, Catholic School.

The seventh house on the block belonged to my friends Kim and Lee. Kim and Lee were brothers; Kim the older, and Lee the younger (and my age), if I’m remembering correctly. I don’t know for sure which Asian country Kim and Lee’s parents came from, but my adult self approximates that they were Korean. What I do remember is their house is where I was first introduced to the custom of taking my shoes off inside the home. But, most importantly, Kim and Lee had the coolest tree house in their back yard. The tree house enabled us, in our short little 5 year old bodies, to reach the fruit from the nearby apricot tree.

The third house on the block belonged to my friend Bobby. My best friend. Bobby had an older sister and an older brother, and his family was Mexican-American. From Bobby I remember my first experience with a pinata at a birthday party, but also learning about guilt when I refused to share some candy I had, and Bobby pointed out that the boy who lived in the house before me would have shared. Which was also a lesson about sharing.

I loved those years in that house with those friends.

Korean, Mexican, Agnostic Caucasian, Roman Catholic. We were different enough that my kindergarten brain recognized it. But we were the same enough that we didn’t care. I didn’t care.

I still don’t care.

In 4th grade, my first big crush, was this girl named Alicia Garcia. Though her name clearly indicates she was some kind of Latin American, my only concern was that she was really lovely. I totally did the little boy thing of being outwardly mean to her. I don’t remember specifically pulling her hair, but that was essentially the sentiment of the things I did.

In 5th grade, after moving to Washington, I met a girl who had been born in Guam and fell pretty hard for her. She was exotic-looking…not quite Latin, not quite Asian, not quite Pac Islander. At the time I really didn’t have a clue where Guam was. Years later, when I was working in radio promotions, I would run into her at a bikini contest my station was involved in. Still stunningly beautiful.

In 6th grade my best friend was a Korean guy named Cheol that used to let me steal bags full of gummy bears from his parents’ pantry. That was also, basically, my first introduction to Costco.

In junior high, my best friend became a guy named Alan who I met in my Honors English/Social Studies block. Alan’s dad was African-American and his mom was Japanese. Alan was a really great guy. I wish I hadn’t lost contact with him over the years.

Somewhere in the transition between junior high and high school, I became really close with a guy named Aaron. Aaron was Caucasian and pretty devoutly Christian. Aaron was one of the first people I knew to get his driver’s license. I remember driving around town in the summer, Aaron forcibly making me listen to Alan Jackson songs on repeat. I don’t listen to country music.

Then, in high school, all of my memories shift from school itself, to the fast food restaurant I worked at, and specifically all the friends I had, and made, while working there. That restaurant was where I was when I fell in love for the first time. Hell, it was, for me, an honest-to-goodness case of “love at first sight”.

She was deeply religious, went to a Christian private school…I was a heathen, borderline atheist at that point…in hindsight, we had next to nothing in common. But we became best friends, nonetheless.

Again, through the second decade of my life, all the people I cared about, we had pretty significant differences, but I honestly never cared. They were always secondary to the bigger picture of: “I like being around you more than I like digging in about our differences.”

If I ran into any of these people today, I would welcome them with open arms and love finding out who they became and how they got there.

That’s how I feel about most people most of the time. I don’t know if it’s the journalist in me, or what, but I’m compulsively curious about a person’s backstory. From the notary that recently came to my house to officiate my re-fi, to my neighbor across the street that I think might be Muslim…I can’t help but want to know their stories.

And there’s something beautiful about when you’re willing to ask and they’re willing to answer.

The people I’ve always struggled to relate to in life are those that seem aggressively close-minded and/or arrogantly ignorant.

This is why I don’t understand much of what is going on in our country these days. I don’t understand the levels of fear and hate and intolerance pointed at people because of the superficialities of race and religion and orientation. I. DON’T. GET. IT.

Not only do I not get it from a humanitarian viewpoint…I don’t get it from a practical application. Like, if you’re for measures being taken against Mexico/Mexicans; are you philosophically able to go to a Mexican restaurant? If you can’t empathize with BLM, do you HAVE to also take a hard pass on hip hop music and pretty much all professional sports?? If you’re Islamaphobic, do you make sure the gas station you fill up at isn’t supplied by, and financially supporting, Muslim-based countries? How does a racist ever travel anywhere, or do they?

If you’ve built up intolerances to any of these groups, if you believe the stereotypes, how do you then function day-to-day in a world where these other cultures are routinely contributing and improving it? How do you function when/where it isn’t really by/for/about and revolving around YOU? It really becomes a question, to me, that if you’ve decided you hate the players…aren’t you also forced to hate the game? And eventually you’ll hate all games. How does that ever leave you enjoying life??

I think of this sketch from Key n Peele that has one specific route to point out a larger “type” of mentality (NSFW):

This growing faction of white Americans that act so persecuted, with no self awareness to realize that any real persecution they’re suffering is not the action, but the reaction to them being assholes.

So what do we do? I don’t know. The character in the sketch became self aware. He calls himself the asshole. I don’t know how to communicate with people lacking this truly important basic self awareness. My first hope is for a miraculous movement en masse of them to be willing to be willing. But it’s like waiting for a junkie to hit rock bottom before they can admit that they have a problem.

My younger brother, probably the most worldly person in my family, is a total foodie, and in his attempt to share various foods and international cuisines with myself or our mom (both she and I tend to be new-food apprehensive); came up with this term: the “no thank you bite”. Which is to say, try at least one bite of it before deciding, “no, thank you…not for me”.

It’s sort of profound in its simplicity. And positives come from it. Eventually one of those “no thank you bites” turns into actually enjoying a new food, a new culture. I can remember with distinct clarity finding Vietnamese food for the first time as a result of my brother’s gentle prompting. But I was willing to be willing to try.

Having the self awareness that I’m apprehensive to trying new cuisine led me to deciding whether or not I liked that about myself. Recognizing that I didn’t gave me motivation to change. Motivation to change allows you to look for new doors you can open…and, trust me, from personal experience opening a door feels so much better than building up a wall.

By Jared Stanger

Sitting at work Thursday afternoon I found myself making this mental list of which player in the 2017 draft class I like for Seattle at each spot along the offensive line. It was instantly like, “I have to write this for the entire starting 22 positions.” So that’s what this is. I’m going to give my list of the best (plausible) names at every position.

Left Tackle – Antonio Garcia, 6’7″/302 lbs, Troy University

There really aren’t many LT’s I like in this entire draft. The top name won’t be available past #20 overall. But Garcia should be there.

He’s got the right build. It looks like he has enough athleticism. He definitely has a little bit of edge to him. Run-blocking will be the biggest question mark, but at LT you probably want your best pass-protector.

Garcia is a guy that shows an ability to learn the opposing DE’s moves/habits in-game. So what he misses on early, he is able to correct before the end of the game. He also has some pretty decent recovery ability during individual plays. So even when he’s out of position during a play, he has the strength and athleticism to keep a minus play from being a double-minus.

Draftscout has Garcia at #85 overall.

Left Guard – Forrest Lamp, 6’4″/300 lbs, WKU

I really wish Lamp could stick at LT, where he’s played the majority of his career at Western Kentucky. Such a rock-solid, technical lineman. Sneaky athletic, too. All he’s missing is the prototypical length.

Instead, he’ll likely move inside to guard, and he’ll end up being that Zack Martin stud All-pro guy.

Draftscout has Lamp at #84 overall.

Center – Ethan Pocic, 6’7″/302 lbs, LSU

I had Pocic in one of my earliest 2017 mock drafts…way back before Britt became actually good at Center. I haven’t been watching many Centers since that, but if I had to go back to one, I still think Pocic would be good value.

PFF had a stat this week that Pocic only allowed 11 pressures, with zero sacks and zero hits on QB allowed all year. I’d like to see him be a little stouter though, get his weight up to maybe 317-ish to improve his anchor going forward.

Here is Pocic vs NFL rookie stud Chris Jones from their meeting in 2015.

Draftscout has Pocic as #46 overall.

Right Guard – Dan Feeney, 6’4″/305 lbs, Indiana

I actually haven’t watched much of Feeney this year. He missed some time with a concussion, I believe, as well as playing some games at RT. But he’s one of the rare true-college-guard that can play there at the next level.

The biggest question is: would Seattle spend a 1st round pick on another RG in consecutive years?

Draftscout has Feeney as #28 overall.

Right Tackle – Dan Skipper, 6’10″/319 lbs, Arkansas

Not a misprint. He’s 6’1o”. But he really doesn’t move like it on the field. Skipper is actually Arkansas’ LT for the last couple years…I’ve only started watching him recently, but so far I’m not finding much to complain about in his tape. Good balance between pass-pro and run game. Pad level doesn’t seem to be a problem. He moves like a nicely-athletic, 6’7″ tackle.

Here is Skipper vs LSU, including some snaps vs ultra-productive LSU edge Arden Key:

Draftscout has Skipper as the #126 overall.

Tight End – Cole Hikutini, 6’5″/248 lbs, Louisville

Tight end is such an interesting class this year. The top end is really interesting. The depth is really interesting. You’ve got body types ranging from Jordan Reed to Jordan Cameron to Cameron Jordan. (Well, maybe not that big. But Michael Roberts is pushing 270 lbs.)

My tendency is to go with someone that matches as closely as possible to what I think Seattle could lose in the offseason: Luke Willson.

Luke came out of Rice at 6’5″/251 lbs, and Hikutini is listed 6’5″/248 lbs. Luke had 4.51 speed, and Hikutini looks very quick.

Draftscout has Hikutini as the #144 overall.

Wide Receiver – Cooper Kupp, 6’2″/205 lbs, EWU

(I forgot to mention that I’m using 11-personnel as my base formation. So we’ll look at three WR total.)

I’ve been writing about Kupp for three years. I still like him. He’s got good size, underrated speed, good route-running, decent hands, and he’s pretty damn gritty. EWU uses him a lot as a slot guy, but he’s shown enough ability to play the X.

Draftscout has Kupp as the #67 overall.

Wide Receiver – Carlos Henderson, 5’11″/191 lbs, LaTech

Trying to touch on a few different types of receivers. Carlos is one that will give you some high-end kickoff return ability (3rd in the country at 32.2 YPR plus 2 TD’s). He’s a good deep threat averaging 18.72 ypc, but also scored 19 TD’s through the air (1st in the country), and 2 more “rushing TD’s” on sweeps.

His hands are maybe a 7 of 10, but his run-after-catch is probably the best I’ve seen this year. Carlos was 2nd in the country in explosive catches.

Draftscout has Henderson as the #122 overall.

Wide Receiver – Chris Godwin, 6’1″/205 lbs, Penn State

For this spot, I was primarily thinking of the next Jermaine Kearse. It’s mostly a body type, but then with primary/best usage as a redline target. There were three guys that came to mind for this, and they’re listed between 6’1″-6’2″ and 202-205 lbs.

Amba Etta-Tawo 6’2″/202
Chris Godwin 6’1″/205
Deangelo Yancey 6’2″/20

Etta-Tawo had a huge year with 94 catches and 1400 yards, but I’m not seeing great speed. He did place 8th in explosive receptions.

Yancey I haven’t seen enough tape on yet, but his 19.41 YPC is 13th in the country. Also, 3rd in the country in catches of 60-yards+. He would look better on the explosive receptions list, but he just didn’t have as much volume in targets.

I’m going with Godwin cause he’s the guy I’ve been following the longest, and he just had the biggest game of his college career in that incredible Rose Bowl game on Monday.

Draftscout has Godwin as the #117 overall.

Running Back – Kareem Hunt, 6’0″/225 lbs, Toledo

Kareem is another player that I’ve been following for a long time, and he really justified my early interest this year; rushing for 1475 yards, 10 TD’s, plus 41 catches for 403 yards.

Every tape I put on from Kareem this year, he was breaking off impressive runs. A lot of self-help work; breaking tackles, falling forward, getting that extra 2 yards really regularly. Great balance and enough burst.

Also, the 41 catches is a very good number for a RB.

Draftscout has Hunt as the #131 overall.

Quarterback – Jerod Evans, 6’3″/238 lbs, Virginia Tech

Okay, I’m not terribly concerned about QB this draft. But if we were to look for a backup QB, Evans showed good efficiency (153.10 rating), minimal turnovers (1.9% INT), and enough of a running threat (846 yards and 12 rushing TD’s).

Draftscout has Evans as the #186 overall.

Left Cornerback – Ahkello Witherspoon, 6’3″/195 lbs, Colorado

If roster-mirroring is a thing, and if Seattle does it, Kello is the mirror for Sherm. Literally the same size as Sherm when he was measured at the combine. Witherspoon is one of the most technical corners in this really loaded CB class. And he finished the year with the 2nd-most passes defended in the country.

The downside on Kello is his tackling (which was also a knock on Sherm his rookie year…not always a deal-breaker).

Draftscout has Witherspoon as the #188 overall.

Free Safety – Tedric Thompson, 6’1″/205 lbs, Colorado

We stay right there in Boulder and focus on Safety Tedric Thompson…the only guy with MORE passes defended than Ahkello this year.

Some places list Tedric as a strong safety (he’s certainly big enough), but I just think of him coming from centerfield to snatch this INT against Utah. He would probably need to hit a 4.3 forty to light Coach Pete’s fire for a FS, but based just on tape…

Strong Safety – Xavier Woods, 5’11″/219 lbs, LaTech

It seems weird to look at a strong safety that’s under 6’0″ when we’re so used to Kam Chancellor now, but Xavier is probably top 5 at the position in terms of weight. He’s a stout dude.

Woods really knows how to fill up a boxscore: 89 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 5 INT, 6 PBU, 1 FF. Awesome in run support, a good team leader, plenty of instincts and hustle. And he can hit.

Draftscout has Woods listed as the #220 overall.

Right Cornerback – Kevin King, 6’4″/192 lbs, UW

When there’s a Seahawk corner playing right in your back yard, you notice early and you cross your fingers.

Two full seasons later King is now pushing 6’4″, he finished top 16 in the country in pass defenses, helped UW to the college playoff, and in that playoff game he showcased a brand of tough, physical football that included 9 tackles (mostly in run-support).

We had previously witnessed a sneak-peek of King’s future combine performance, and it was exceptional.

From here, you just need to want him more than everyone else does.

Draftscout has King as the #91 overall.

SAM LB – Jimmie Gilbert, 6’5″/230 lbs, Colorado

I was pretty late to find Gilbert (which, for me, means October), but I immediately noticed traits that I liked, and that Seattle has previously gone after in guys like Mike Morgan and Obum Gwacham.

Playing mostly as a rush OLB for Colorado, Gilbert was completely out of his weightclass against most OT, but he proved surprisingly strong for his lean upper body. He also shows some pretty developed passrush techniques. My assumption is Jimmie will move off the ball more in the NFL, which should be a smooth transition, while still revisiting his passrush on some 3rd downs and certainly in blitz packages.

Draftscout has Gilbert as the #268 overall.

MIKE LB – Blair Brown, 6’0″/240 lbs, Ohio

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t watched Brown at all. Or any MLB, for that matter. Wagz is amazing and this is purely for the exercise.

But Brown did post 128 tackles, 15.0 TFL, and 4.5 sacks. If he does anything at the Combine I will dig into him.

WILL LB – Steven Taylor, 6’1″/225 lbs, Houston

KJ Wright is the current starting WILL in Seattle, which is an impossible body type to mirror in most drafts. So I’m going in more of a Kevin Pierre Louis direction with the smaller, faster Taylor.

Another guy that REALLY fills up a boxscore: 74 tackles, 12.0 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 1 INT, 3 PBU, 2 FF. If the price is right, he’d be a really nice rookie-year special teams player, with upside to develop into more.

Draftscout has Taylor as the #184 overall.

Right Defensive End – Joe Mathis, 6’2″/260 lbs, UW

I’m listing Mathis at 260 lbs cause that’s where he told me he’s aiming to play at in 2017 (after being listed at 255 lbs in 2016).

I was really tempted to put Demarcus Walker at this spot as he would give that RDE look, but also be able to play some 3T. Plus, this story could actually use some more first round options. It’s been fairly conservative so far.

I went with Mathis because he’s a better pure edge rusher. He has good get-off (and is working to make it better), he has amazing hand technique, good ability to dip, knows his angle to the QB, but most importantly he has really good all-around, fundamental game (run and pass defense).

Draftscout has Mathis as the #260 overall.

Defensive Tackle – Jarron Jones, 6’5″/315 lbs, Notre Dame

Sometimes when I’m internet scouting I’m starting with tape and then looking for traits. But sometimes I’m starting with traits and then looking for tape. In the case of Jarron Jones; it was the latter. In part because there isn’t much edited tape for him from 2016. I’m stealing from this Brad Kaaya tape. But it’s kind of really a Jones tape.

Jones is #94:

Draftscout has Jones as the #83 overall.

Defensive Tackle – Dalvin Tomlinson, 6’3″/305 lbs, Alabama

After seeing Tomlinson destroy UW in the semifinal, I’m pretty interested in reuniting him with Jarran Reed.

Draftscout has Tomlinson as the #151 overall.

Left Defensive End – Dawaune Smoot, 6’3″/255 lbs, Illinois

I was on the Smoot train as far back as May, and thanks to a pretty “unproductive” year, I’ve been able to watch Smoot drop in projection. At one point he was getting first round buzz. At this point he’s looking like a 3rd round pick. That could be a steal for someone.

So I put unproductive in quotes because Dawaune still put up 15.0 TFL and 5.0 sacks (plus another 10 QB hurries). But there’s this weird thing where unless you’re Myles Garrett (15.0 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 10 QB hurries) this year, Joey Bosa in 2015 (16.0 TFL, 5.0 sacks, 14 QB hurries), or Jadeveon Clowney in 2013 (11.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks, 9 QB hurries) people have trouble looking past the production.

I don’t know that that is fair for Dawaune. I still like him. Cliff Avril was a 6’3″/253 lb edge drafted at #92 overall in 2008, and Smoot has similar traits this year.

Draftscout has Smoot as the #107 overall.

There ya go. That’s my All-22. Now, it’s your opportunity to piece together your own mock draft from these 22 players. Pick 7 of them without overlapping anyone within 32 picks of the prior and next pick. Let’s see what you come up with!

 

By Jared Stanger

Whenever the Seahawks of the present start to show some cracks in the foundation, I like to take a look at ways they could be shored up in the future. So here is the latest 7-round Sea-Mock.

With the loss on Saturday, Seattle has actually dropped about six spots in overall draft position. They now sit at #23 overall (could move to #24 with a Detroit loss on MNF). That sucks from a pride standpoint, but it could make a massive positive difference from a draft standpoint.

Seattle, in theory, is currently drafting at #23, #55, #87, 4th round comp, 5th round comp, 6th round, and a 7th rounder from the Kevin Norwood trade.

For whatever reason, my two primary targets in the first round are still being undervalued nationally, and are not only available at #23, but also as late as #30. So I’m trading back. I’d like to move back five spots. #28 is owned by Kansas City (John Dorsey from the Green Bay family tree). To make the trade points work, I think it goes Seattle’s #23 overall plus Seattle 5th round comp pick in exchange for KC’s #28 and #93 overall.

At #28 the options are OT Ryan Ramczyk (draftscout’s #30 overall) and DL Solomon Thomas (#40 overall), with Ramczyk being a higher need. But, if you read the entire draft, if you draft Ramczyk there, you will miss out on the two best DE/DT hybrid players in this class. If you take Thomas here, I think the dropoff from Ramczyk to the next OT down is less severe.

#28- DL Solomon Thomas

It’s looking more and more lately like Seattle needs some more interior pass rush. That Jordan Hill/Quinton Jefferson dude is honestly being missed on 3rd downs. I don’t think there is a lot of THAT guy available in this draft. But I think Solomon Thomas and Demarcus Walker present interesting options as hybrid DL.

Walker, at 6’4″/280 lbs/15.0 sacks, is more of a DE in usage at FSU that can play some DT:

Thomas, at 6’3″/273 lbs/7.0 sacks, is more often a DT for Stanford that can play some DE:

I’m going with Thomas because of his athleticism, attack, and hustle.

Now, to make a 1st round defense pick work, you have to have a plan to address the OL later. This mock ONLY works if my guy holds projection within +/- fifteen picks (or if you trade up in the 2nd round, like you did for Jarran in 2016).

#55- OL Forrest Lamp

Forrest Lamp is one of the highest floor players in this draft, for me. And his ceiling will be set pretty much by simply how long his arms measure at the combine. He’s listed by WKU as 6’4″/300 lbs. This is already a problem for him to stick at OT in the league. You rarely ever see a LT under 6’5″. I’d give him reps at LT in rookie/mini camp just to see him there, but if he works best somewhere else, so be it.

As a LG, Lamp is this year’s Zack Martin. Dallas spent a #16 overall pick on Martin when he came out of ND, so a 2nd rounder to get Lamp is actually a bargain. If you want to start building an offensive line like the Cowboys have, you make this pick and find a place for Lamp to start. Don’t be beholden to ANYONE on the current Seattle OL (outside of Britt, whom has earned a job for 2017).

Draftscout has Lamp at #71 overall, currently.

Then, because you probably still need to hedge for OT, we’ll double-down on OL later.

As we move into the 3rd round, I’m thinking about replicating the 2015 draft, and for the same reason. This is a trade UP spot to go get a WR. This is to hedge for Tyler Lockett’s health, and to give options allowing the team to go away from Kearse.

After my 1st round trade, Seattle holds 3rd round pick #87 and #93. The logical move is to to use #87 and the 4th round comp pick to get up into the 70’s.

#79- WR Cooper Kupp

I think Zay Jones is another plausible name here, but I go with Kupp a) because his projection is lower, b) he has better special teams ability. And c) is probably: Kupp is the bigger body guy with better speed.

Both Zay and Coop had record-setting years in 2016 where they compiled over 1700 yards receiving. Both are over 6’1″ and 197 lbs. Both can play inside and outside.

Kupp, however, averaged 17.0 YPR on punts in his career, with an average of 22.9 YPR in 2016. If Lock can’t go, you need someone on both punts and kickoffs.

With the remaining 3rd round pick, there has to be a trade back (or two) to recoup some of the picks lost in other trades. I would recommend a couple of trades of 7-10 spots back each, eventually settling in around pick #110. The added picks would be approximately one late-5th, and one mid-6th.

#110- RB Kareem Hunt

I’d like to wait a little longer to draft a RB, but really, Seattle’s current RB corps keeps dropping like flies with injuries, and the 2017 draft keeps losing RB’s who are returning to school. Hunt is the best value at RB in this class. He comes from a small school, many people wrote him off after his rough 2015 season, so there are signs that he could be available this late (Draftscout puts him at #158).

Hunt, at 6’0″/220 lbs, is a good mix of the RB’s we currently have on the roster. He’s thickly-built, has good make-em-miss ability plus power to run over guys, and then he added 41 pass-catches this year. So he can play on 1st-2nd or 3rd down.

5th round- OT Antonio Garcia

Wherever Seattle ends up landing with their trade-backs, I’m spending the first of the two picks on Troy’s LT Antonio Garcia. Listed at 6’7″/302 lbs, Garcia has the prototypical size to play Tackle. I’d slot him at LT by skillset and higher need for Seattle, but my tracking tells me Seattle is looking more for a bullying RT. I think they missed an opportunity to get that guy when they passed on Shon Coleman last year, and this year I think the guys that fit the bill of the “nasty, run-blocker” just aren’t very good.

I think Garcia is good currently with upside to be even better. I’ve already seen improvement in him from his 2015 tape into his early-2016 tape vs #2 team in the country; Clemson.

Draftscout has Garcia as #214 overall, but I’ve seen others who like Garcia on day two. I’m hoping this middle-ground spot (roughly #150-165) is early enough to get him.

Many people think that CB is a ‘need’ for Seattle, and while I agree to a point, I don’t have as much urgency to draft one as many others. In part because that is the Seattle way (never a CB before the 4th round), and in part because I think this draft class allows you to push CB until later.

Just to highlight a few CB available after the 4th:

#103- Kevin King
#116- Brandon Facyson
#136- Rasul Douglas
#175- Channing Stribling
#184- Ahkello Witherspoon

That may be low for King, high for Facyson, about right for Douglas, high for Stribling, low for Witherspoon.

All of those guys have talent and look more-or-less like a Seattle corner…it’s just a question of hitting the best value for the position, AND for the rest of your draft board.

On my draft board, this is the best spot to get a CB and Kello is the one that is the most under-valued.

6th round- CB Ahkello Witherspoon

Listed at 6’3″/195 (incidentally, the exact measurements Sherm had at the combine in 2011), Kello leads the country in PBU’s with 20. While most of the world has been hyping his teammate Chidobe Awuzie all year, I’ve gradually been noting that Colorado has been using Witherspoon on their opponents’ WR1 each week. Whether it was Darren Carrington of Oregon, Juju vs USC, or most-recently John Ross in the Pac12 Championship vs UW.

My biggest problem with Kello is his tackling. It’s inconsistent at best, and at times it is BAD. But…if you go back to the early days of Sherm…that was kind of his biggest problem too. If you believe in the Hawk-tackle system, that might be one of the easiest things to coach up.

In the meantime, Witherspoon has impeccable footwork with really loose hips, nice instincts, and he is probably the best I’ve seen this year reading the WR’s  eyes and then locating the ball late. Hence the 20 PBU.

Now, as we enter the 7th round, we should be acquiring another pick (or should have already acquired one), but I have a leftover turkey sandwich calling my name, so I’m not going to do the math on trade values here.

If you have one pick in the 7th, I’ll take a Mike Morgan/SAM type. If you have two picks, take the SAM and a TE.

The TE would be Wyoming’s Jacob Hollister…who is listed 6’4″/239 lbs, from Bend, Oregon, and averaged 16.09 YPC this year with 7 TD’s in a run-first offense.

7th round- OLB Jimmie Gilbert

I’m going back-to-back Colorado picks. Kind of like when Seattle went Ryan Murphy and Obum Gwacham in the same draft a couple years ago. Similar players/positions too.

I like the Colorado defense. I like that they came from 2-10 in 2014 and refined themselves to a point of ending up ranked and playing for the Pac12 Championship. I like that Gilbert is 6’5″/230 lbs, posted 9.5 sacks and finished 2nd in the country in forced fumbles. I like that he’s stronger than he looks but runs like a dear.

Final tally:

DL Solomon Thomas
OL Forrest Lamp
WR Cooper Kupp
RB Kareem Hunt
OT Antonio Garcia
CB Ahkello Witherspoon
OLB Jimmie Gilbert

I mean, in all honesty, we need two more picks (at least), but the league took one away for players fighting in training camp, and we didn’t get enough comp picks after losing Okung and Mebane.

I took a more agressive strategy to get the day 1-2 guys I really wanted. John Schneider may be more insistent on getting the volume of picks up.

By Jared Stanger

It hasn’t been that long since my last 7-round Seahawk mock draft, but I’ve just been feeling a little different about where the draft is right now. And I also feel a little bit different about individual players. This is a mock where I’ve REALLY dug into each of these guys, and I have a more comprehensive opinion of each.

To find these types of players, I’ve had to make concessions. The primary concession you may notice: I’ve gone away from players that come with the Zach Whitman coined term “SEC tax”, which means in many cases going after smaller school players. This is an abrupt turn from what John Schneider and staff did in 2016…drafting 3 SEC, 1 Pac12, 1 Big10, 1 ACC, etc. And they were from the most successful programs within those conferences, to boot. The smallest school a player was chosen from in 2016 was Rees Odhiambo out of Boise State.

So this could mean my projection will stray from where the Seahawks will actually wind up. Then again, the best draft class of the PCJS’ regime was 2012 when the picks included players from Utah State, Idaho, and Northwestern State. And two of those small school guys have already gotten paid in Seattle, and the third is balling out in San Diego.

Regardless, this is my mock and in my mock I’m ignoring what fucking school a guy is coming from. “What are my eyes seeing? What are my ears hearing?” That’s it. And then, “How late can I wait to pull the trigger and still get them?” The first two questions answer where I value them, and the third question answers (or attempts to) where the league values them.

Let’s begin.

We’re opening with seven picks, I believe (1, 2, 3, 4c, 5c, 6, 7t). I need ten. Sorry folks, we’re trading out of the 1st round. We drop from #29 overall by trading with Chicago for their #2.35 and #4.110. Chicago might be a good trade partner here if they don’t like QB value at #3 overall, but want to move back up into the 1st to still get the 5th year option on a QB later. (The only reason for Seattle to NOT trade back here is if Ryan Ramczyk is still alive when Seattle is on the clock.) At #35 we’re taking the player that Draftscout currently lists as the #300 player overall. I don’t know how they came to that number, but it is fucking clown shoes.

#35- OT Western Kentucky, Forrest Lamp

Lamp is listed at 6’4″/300lbs and he may show up with arms shorter than the generally accepted 34″ that are usually required for a left tackle; prompting most to project him at Guard. Here’s the thing: stop it. Taylor Decker had 33 3/4″ arms last year and he’s been one of the top two rookie OL this year. I also feel like I remember reading one of the elite OT in the league for many years had pretty short arms…I want to say Joe Thomas.

Regardless…isn’t one of the recurring cliche’s of good draft rooms about wanting to focus not on what players can’t do, but what they can do? Aren’t there enough Russell Wilson’s and Aaron Donald’s and Steve Smith’s in the league for us to stop being so conventional about evaluations based on size?

Lamp is one of only two draft-eligible OT right now that I can turn on and watch for an entire game (Ramczyk the other). He is so fundamentally sound. He doesn’t seem to lean heavily-favored to either run-blocking or pass-blocking…he’s good in both. He also doesn’t lean literally…he has that good upright posture in pass sets. Lamp has the best cut-block I’ve seen on tape all year…which no one seems to be able to do any more. There’s enough sprinkling of nasty in there…I think in one game I saw him jawing at a ref, which is good to see. And Forrest has one of the best games any OL has put up against the Bama defense in the last 3-ish years.

The only thing I’m not confident about in this guy is whether or not you can get him later. Cause if you could get him later, even at the native-2nd round pick, that allows the first pick to be a passrusher of degree or two improvement. Like a Solomon Thomas at 35 with Forrest Lamp chaser at 61 would be amazing. Then again, Thomas projecting at #45 overall by Draftscout is well under my grade for him. I think he’s top-25.

From the native-2nd round pick, I again look to trade back. Tennessee, after drafting like 14 times in 2016, may choose to be more aggressive this year with some moves up. It’s a steeper drop than you’d like, but we’ll drop from #61 in the 2nd to #71 in the 3rd, and add #109 in the 4th. Seattle would now hold #109, #110, and a comp pick at the end of the 4th (for Bruce Irvin).

#71- DE Kansas State, Jordan Willis

There are actually a couple names available here (per Draftscout) that I’d be happy with: Willis and Dawaune Smoot. Smoot is currently dropping in projection due to his lack of production, but I still think he’s one of the best pure pass-rushers in the class. But Willis is more in line with what I think the theme of this mock is: S-T-R.

Willis is a 6’5″/258 lb, yoked up, SPARQ’d up specimen of a dude that I’ve been tracking for two years. He’s a little bit of a deceptive player because he is as pinpoint, assignment-sound as you can find at DE. Which isn’t always the sexy tape to watch. But then, just when you’ve been lulled into a false sense of security, Willis JUST. MAKES. PLAYS.

Willis currently has the 8th-most sacks in all of college football with 10.5, along with 45 tackles, 15.0 TFL, 3 QB hurries, 3 PBU, and 2 FF. So there is production to go with athleticism and FBIQ.

#93- RB Pittsburgh, James Conner

Ever since it was pointed out to me, I can’t stop thinking about Pete Carroll telling Brock n Salk that his ideal RB was Thomas Rawls’ attitude in a 6’2″/230-240lb body (paraphrasing). James Conner is listed 6’2″/235.

Conner is also a wonderful pass-catcher and one of the toughest S.O.B’s in the game today. Did you know that he was maintaining a pretty rigorous practice/training schedule with Pittsburgh while he was doing chemo therapy?? He wasn’t allowed contact because of the chemo intubation port in his chest, and he had to wear a surgical mask to protect himself while his immune system was reduced, but otherwise he was practicing.

If this isn’t Rawls beefed up, I don’t know what is.

#109- CB Virginia Tech, Brandon Facyson

I’ll be honest…in this really good class of CB, they are corners with better tape. Or at least more consistently good tape. A Facyson pick is about a) he’s a 6’2″/197lb corner with 11 PBU, 4.0 TFL, and 2 FF on the year, and b) he’s the smartest corner in this draft.

If you give those core traits to the Seattle coaching staff, the rest can be coached up. This is sort of the polar opposite of our faith in drafting/developing OL.

After trading themselves into holding back-to-back picks at #109-110, Seattle trades back the latter to add a 10th pick. Minnesota holds picks #115-116, so we’ll take the front end of that and add the Vikings’ 7th rounder (#210).

#115- WR Mississippi State, Fred Ross

I have a handful of WR that I’m favoring in this draft. I think they all have recent, if not current, special teams return duties. They each also have good route-running and RAC ability. Ross is probably 4th or 5th of my five, but the top three are also off the board before this point. Ross ends up being the best fit of talent and value relative to draft needs.

Fred is listed 6’2″/205lbs (probably smaller when he’s officially measured), and he’s recorded 68 catches for 873 yards and 12 TD’s this year. Decent numbers, but slightly down from his Junior of 88×1007 when Dak Prescott was leading the Bulldog offense.

In the MissSt offense, Ross gets used a lot in screen game, but when allowed to he shows good downfield abilities. Here is a clip of him running a ‘go’ down the redline. Note how he gets open late. Subtle quality.

4th round comp- DT Minnesota, Steven Richardson

This is a bit of a guess in terms of national value because Richardson is a Junior that no one is really paying much attention to. But he’s a 6’0″/300 lb inside pass rusher who has posted 11.0 TFL and 7.0 sacks this year. Either paired with Jarran Reed on early downs or Michael Bennett on 3rd, Richardson would bring a different skillset inside.

5th round comp- TE Louisville, Cole Hikutini

Another player set to climb. Hikutini is listed 6’5″/248 lbs, but he moves more like a 23o lb received like Tanner McEvoy. Cole has 49 catches for 656 yards and 8 TD’s this year. He’s also one of the most impressive run-blocking TE’s I’ve ever seen (haven’t seen him used in pass-blocking much).

Hikutini is a pick I make if I’m planning on not re-signing UFA Luke Willson this offseason. Could be a pretty seamless transition.

#187- SS Michigan State, Montae Nicholson

This is my least certain pick. I don’t know where the club will stand on keeping Kam Chancellor and/or Kelcie McCray. If both of those are back, and Tyvis is in the mix another 3 years, I’d try to move a SAM linebacker into this spot. Could also double-dip on RB here.

But if told safety were a need before next spring, Nicholson and LaTech’s Xavier Woods are two well-rounded DB’s I would look to steal away in the 6th. Draftscout has Woods at #191 overall and Nicholson at #196.

Nicholson is one of quite a few big safeties this year (something Seattle might want to take advantage of), listed at 6’2″/219 lbs. Also one of the most prolific tacklers at safety this year, with 86 total on the year.

#210- OL Kutztown, Jordan Morgan

This is a player I hadn’t even heard of until he was announced as an accepted invite to this year’s Senior Bowl. I dug up some tape on him, and I fell in love. Listed at 6’4″/320 lbs, Morgan’s tape is some of the nastiest OL tape I’ve seen this year. No, it is THEE nastiest. This guy has more pancakes than IHOP. A total finisher, Jordan is doing stuff to whatever level of competition Kutztown faces that looks borderline abusive.

Senior Bowl lists him at Guard, which is kind of standard when a tackle isn’t 6’5″+ or if expectation is that his arm length won’t measure up. But just on the eye test, his arms don’t look that short, and his footwork and movement is all Tackle-esque.

Wherever he ends up, Morgan would be another solid player to add competition to the struggling Seattle OL depth chart.

//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/1831509/582b85a2dfd8b803b065f290

#219- OLB Colorado, Jimmie Gilbert

Jimmie is a personal favorite of mine, and with Draftscout projection of #268 overall I’d be thrilled to take him in a similar spot to former Seahawk Obum Gwacham (drafted #209 in 2015). Similar players too.

Jimmie is listed 6’5″/230 lbs, and he must hold most of that in his legs because his upper body is pretty slender. Colorado uses him almost exclusively at the LOS, as a passrusher, but I’m projecting him to back up to SAM with some pass-rush duties on 3rd down. Kind of the Bruce Irvin role, but in a Mike Morgan build.

Gilbert is 19th in the country in sacks with 9.0, and he’s 2nd in the country in forced fumbles. And, despite his visually slighter build, on tape Jimmie shows surprising strength; tossing good-sized OL to the side to make tackles.

Final tally:

OT Forrest Lamp
DE Jordan Willis
RB James Conner
CB Brandon Facyson
WR Fred Ross
DT Steven Richardson
TE Cole Hikutini
SS Montae Nicholson
OT Jordan Morgan
OLB Jimmie Gilbert

I think I’m missing a second RB, and perhaps a second CB, but otherwise I really like the balance of this draft. And it certainly is full of guys I see doing well in the ultra-competitive Seattle locker room.

By Jared Stanger

The bad news is: the top running back Seattle drafted in the 2016 draft is out (again) with a probably broken scapula, the fan-favorite running back making his NFL debut fresh off the practice squad took an ankle sprain, the second-highest drafted running back in 2016 was inactive (and no one seemed to mind), and Christine Michael is now a Packer.

The good news is: Thomas Rawls came back and showed much of the same decision-making and tough running that we all fell in love with in 2015, AND the 2017 RB draft class is pretty rich.

So while the questions for the immediate future may seem bleak, the answers for the long-term may be very hopeful. Let’s take a pretty comprehensive look at “RB: 2017”.

Most draft outlets have Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook the 1-2 backs off the board. We won’t worry about where or which order as their price’s are a little too rich for my blood. The next tier is Christian McCaffrey and Royce Freeman. I’m not wholly convinced that McCaffrey declares early.

Freeman opened the year looking very similar to what he looked like in 2015: 37 carries for 325 yards (8.78ypc), and 4 TD. Then, five carries into his third game (vs Nebraska), Royce suffered a slight injury causing him to miss the Colorado game. After looking fine in game #5, Freeman seemed to get hurt again when he played Washington. In the three games following UW; Royce averaged: 0.67 ypc, 2.24 ypc, 3.80 ypc. Each of those marks were lower than the lowest Freeman had recorded since the 2014-2015 National Championship game against Ohio State.

In his two most recent games, Freeman has seemed to be rounding back into early season form; rushing for 240 yards on 40 carries.

Freeman is a big, sturdy back with good but not great speed. He does most of his damage with power and intelligent cut choices. I tend to think of Freeman as similar to 2015 draftpick, and current Miami Dolphin, Jay Ajayi.

This is Freeman from his very impressive second game of 2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOu0MiMTSMM

Draftscout lists Royce at #35 overall. Not worth taking in the 1st, but too valued to get late in the 2nd when Seattle picks again. Probably not a fit.

Up next is Texas BIG back D’Onta Foreman. This is the RB currently leading the country in rushing while rapidly approaching a 2000-yard season. At 6’1″/249 lbs, Foreman is built like a tank. And as a tank, he’s been one of the healthiest backs in the country all year. Foreman missed week #2 with a groin injury, but has otherwise posted at least 17 carries in every game, with an average of 29.20 carries/game. And Foreman has run for at least 100 yards in every game in which he has appeared this year (low of 124, high of 341).

Foreman (a Junior) has said as recently as November 2nd that he intends to return for his senior season, but perhaps a Heisman finalist and/or the loss of coach Charlie Strong could sway him towards declaring.

Foreman is predominantly an upright stance runner, but that is to be expected at 250lbs. He does his damage breaking tackles with power, but has a good amount of speed and balance as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnyr4yT9nZs

Draftscout puts Foreman at #49 overall…middle of 2nd round. Still pricey.

Draftscout lists Samaje Perine at #72 and Jeremy McNichols at #75…this is a good range for Seattle to really start considering RB (actually in the 60’s), but I have trouble seeing either of Perine/McNichols as Seahawks. The more interesting talent is actually Perine’s teammate Joe Mixon, but his baggage concerns me. Mixon is essentially RB Frank Clark.

If you think the team culture has settled Clark, and could do it again…Mixon is the right size (6’1″/226), the right talent (157 carries, 1080 yards, 6.90 ypc, plus 30 catches, and top 20 in kickoff returns), at the right price. But that’s a big ‘if’. Also a big ‘if’: will Mixon declare as a redshirt sophomore.

Another guy that currently checks off the right size and the right price: Nick Chubb. Draftscout has him at #79 overall. A year and a half ago you would absolutely take Chubb at that value, if he even got out of the 1st round. These days, after a gruesome knee injury and it’s resulting rehab, Chubb hasn’t been quite the same player.

While his 900 yards in 2016 seem pretty good in the context of his recovery; the 4.86 ypc this year is a massive dropoff from the 8.12 ypc pre-injury 2015 and 7.06 ypc as a true freshman.

Whereas Chubb used to have a great mix of power and cutting, now he’s far more “one-cut and get downhill”. The top speed still looks good, but the acceleration isn’t as special.

With Seattle currently dealing with so many RB injuries, I’m less inclined to take this high of a pick on a player with this injury history. If Chubb falls a couple rounds…then you reconsider.

Now we start to come to a pretty interesting tier of backs. By projection these are guys pushing late 3rd round to late 4th round, currently. We’re looking at Wayne Gallman (#89), Elijah Hood (#110), Brian Hill (#127), and I’m making editorial decision to bump Kareem Hunt up (from #153).

Wayne Gallman is 6’0″/210 lbs from Clemson, and has rushed 160×830, 5.19 ypc, and 13 TD’s this year. His only injury this year, to my recollection, was a concussion suffered against NC State. Gallman has the blessing/curse of being the feature back on a team where the QB has 107 carries this year. This means his production looks less impressive, but hopefully his wear and tear is less worrisome.

This tape of Gallman vs Louisville is one of my favorite of any RB this year. The cuts are dope, the pass-blocking is some of the best I’ve seen, and it’s just good all-around play.

This run, specifically, is a lot of what I’m looking for:

That’s the good. The bad are the games I’ve seen where Gallman will go long stretches of game running really timidly, really passively. We can’t have that. That’s part of what got CMike run out of town the second time.

Elijah Hood is 6’0″/220 from North Carolina and should be a pretty profound tester at the combine after posting a 133.47 SPARQ out of high school. In 2016 Hood is at 134×802 yards, 5.99 ypc, 8 TD’s, and 24 catches.

Hood has been strangely inconsistent this year. He had 3 consecutive games averaging over 5.87 ypc to start the year, then 3 consecutive games averaging under 3.62 ypc in the second quarter, and is currently riding 4 consecutive games averaging over 5.77 ypc.

The thing about Elijah is that the tape of him fully healthy has some of the same problems I see with Nick Chubb coming back from knee surgery. There’s a lack of fluidity.

Brian Hill is 6’1″/219 lb runner from Wyoming. He’s currently #4 in the country running for 281×1548 yards, 5.51 ypc, 18 TD’s, and 5 catches. Hill is more of that Latavius Murray/Melvin Gordon/CJ Prosise long-legged strider type of runner. These guys often can be brought down with an ankle tackle like a Star Wars AT-ST, they sometimes need a runway, but the long runs are generally majestic.

Kareem Hunt is listed 6’0″/225 lbs (he was 5’11″/215 as a sophomore) from Toledo. He’s posted 220×1155 yards, 5.25 ypc, 7 TD’s, and 36 catches this year.

Kareem is a guy that I was salivating for after 2014, and especially his end of year bowl game performance of 32 carries for 271 yards and 5 TD’s. Then, in 2015, Hunt opened the year in some combination of hurt and out-of-shape, and really never regained 2014 form. I had kind of written him off.

But, lo and behold, it appears he is turning things around in 2016. I’ve only seen him in a couple games, including one that was mostly fogged over by Mother Nature, but Kareem is most definitely back in the Hunt. (Sorry.)

Click through this hyperlink for a full thread of gifs on Kareem:

For whatever reason, that is the size and style of running back that I am most drawn to. It just looks…right. The current projection has him somewhere around the late 5th round, which would (potentially) make him a guy to target as a SECOND running back draft pick this year, AFTER already drafting someone earlier. (I do have a theory that Seattle will draft 2 RB’s this year that I addressed in an earlier post.)

If Kareem isn’t a fit value-wise for either the early RB pick or the secondary RB pick, here are some other thoughts for the secondary option:

James Conner, 6’2″/235lbs, Pittsburgh. 189×945 yards, 5.00 ypc, 14 TD’s, and 18 catches. His cancer-survivor backstory is also all kinds of Seahawky/gritty. #198 overall.

Joe Williams, 5’11″/205lbs, Utah. 158×1088 yards, 6.89 ypc, 9 TD’s, and 8 catches. His draft stock took a hit after he left the Utes’ team midway through this year. #420 overall.

Aaron Jones, generously listed at 5’10″/215lbs, UTEP. Top 10 in the country at 205×1472 yards, 7.18 ypc, 13 TD’s, and 26 catches. A very well-rounded back, Jones is a personal favorite for how hard he runs. If Jones is as big as he’s currently being listed, he’s totally in Seahawks’ prototypical RB size range. If he’s smaller, there has still been some new precedent set by Troymaine Pope making it to the 53-man this week.

Jones is listed as a 4th-year Junior after taking a medical hardship redshirt after playing only 2 games in 2015.

This is 2016 tape vs Texas:

And the run at 2:06 of this edit from 2014 game is one of my favorite college runs of all time:

Jones is not ranked by Draftscout for 2017 draft.

And, finally, perhaps the longest shot of this story…

Jarred Craft, 6’0″/213lbs, LaTech. Craft is a Junior with basically zero buzz that I don’t think will declare early. This is his first year as lead back after the departure of Kenneth Dixon to the NFL. In 2016: 160×980 yards, 6.13 ypc, 7 TD’s, and 34 catches.

Again, another very well-rounded performer in run game and as a receiver, with a very well-proportioned build. Craft reminds me a little of Zac Brooks in his build, but of course Jarred is seeing far more touches.

Craft also not ranked for 2017.

Now, as for which 1-2 on this playlist to truly target…that’s going to be tougher. A lot of the high-end guys have at least one redflag right now. The mid-to-late round guys don’t have much chatter. The combine will help sort out some of that.

It could also help sorting out who/when to target RB by projecting other team priorities and where to take those. Like, if at all possible, you take an OT in the 1st, then look to pull from the depth of the DE class in the 2nd, then you start to think about RB and CB in the 3rd round. I’d totally splash on a 3rd round CB if I knew, say, Kareem Hunt would still be around in the 4th. And then you double-dip with Aaron Jones in the 6th or 7th. As un-sexy as that might read for many of you, I kinda like it.

Two more horses for the stable. And that is how you keep your running backs running forward.

By Jared Stanger

I’ve traditionally done an October Seahawks mock draft for the last few years, but usually I wait until the half-way point of the NFL season. I’m writing one a couple weeks early this year cause I was just getting that itch.

Since the last mock I did, I believe Seattle traded a 7th round pick to the Raiders for LB/S Dewey McDonald, and then they were docked a 5th round pick for the training camp fight. This is after trading away their 4th rounder to New England as part of the 2016 draft. But they are still due a 7th round conditional pick for sending Kevin Norwood to Carolina, and currently project to receive two compensation picks for the loss of Bruce Irvin and JR Sweezy.

At one point, based purely on the contracts they signed, Seattle was looking at 4th round comps for both Bruce/Sweez, but with JR dealing with injury for Tampa, the league can, and likely will, reduce that down to a 5th or 6th. I’ll call it a 5th for now. Overthecap also points out that Seattle could still regain a 6th round comp if Webb or Sowell is cut before week 10 of the season.

So, currently, the Seattle 2017 draft looks like: 1, 2, 3, 4c, 5c, 6, 7t. And Seattle is currently slated to draft approximately 26th overall (this will update after Monday Night Football wraps up this week’s games).

1st Round

I know everyone wants Seattle to address that OL, and specifically OT, but I don’t think it’s going to happen early in this draft. The three top OT on pretty much every draft board are all underclassmen, and one of them (Mike McGlinchey) has already said he’s staying in school for his Senior year. That leaves potential first rounders at Cam Robinson (likely gone before Seattle picks), and Roderick Johnson (who I really think is not good, at all).

My favorite 2017 draft-eligible OT is Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramczyk (also a Junior). Follow the tweet hyper-link for a thread of gifs on Ramczyk vs Michigan State:

Ramczyk is listed 6’6″/314 by UW…which is a GREAT size for a Tackle. Reports are he’s pretty well SPARQ’d up, too. If he declares this year, his combine testing, and the shallow depth of OT in the class, might put him out of Seattle’s reach. Pretty likely, actually.

If Ramczyk stays in school, and we get some of the 2018 underclassmen to declare early, 2018 will end up a great time to try and get a quality LT even late in the 1st round.

So, if the 1st round isn’t OT; what might it be? As I theorized recently (niche drafting), Seattle should look to play to the strengths of this draft class. This year, the three strongest positions are RB, DE, and CB. I don’t think a 1st round RB is good value. I don’t think Seattle values CB that early. So…get yourself an edge guy, and get yourself ahead of the curve for 2018 unrestricted free agent Cassius Marsh.

Current Draftscout projections have Dawaune Smoot (#29) and Charles Harris (#30) available late in the 1st. These are two guys that I’ve been targeting since, at least, May. Smoot is listed 6’3″/255 and Harris is at 6’3″/260. I haven’t watched much of Harris’ 2016 tape as, for most of the year, he’s been projected to come off the board before Seattle picks.

I have watched a couple games from Smoot and, after starting off the year really slowly, Dawaune has started coming alive in the last 2-3 weeks. His overall production still isn’t spectacular (30 tackles, 8.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 5 QB hurries, 2 forced fumbles), but over the last 3 games Smoot has averaged 6 tackles and 2 TFL per game.

Here are some gifs from his game vs Nebraska three weeks ago (follow link):

Charles Harris has also had a slow-ish start: 24 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 1 PBU, 4 QB hurries, 1 FF. Interesting thing about Harris is that he’s sitting at 260 lbs, has been used some as an inside rusher; so if he could get to 270-275, you might have someone closer to Mike Bennett.

If Seattle can pull either of these guys in the 1st round, I think you HAVE to do it. There is currently a dropoff of almost a full round to the next tier of edge guys.

For purposes of this mock, and for higher plausability, I’m giving Seattle:

1st- DE Dawaune Smoot, Illinois

2nd Round

My 2nd round thought might surprise people. After drafting three RB in 2016 many, or even most, might think this is too early for another RB, but…..

Christine Michael is an impending UFA…Rawls is dealing with his second time breaking a leg bone…Prosise has seen two regular season touches so far in his inaugural PHMHDPOTY campaign…Collins has looked out of shape…and Brooks was cut and phantom-rostered for weeks before re-appearing on the PS. Spiller is also an UFA, and after Sunday’s drop, may not even last the year (depending on Prosise).

And the draft class is just TOO flush with potential bell-cow backs. Draftscout has Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey gone in the 1st…Royce Freeman, Samaje Perine, Nick Chubb in the 2nd. This does not even account for a potential rise from the likes of D’onta Foreman, Jamaal Williams, Jarvion Franklin, Corey Clement, Brandon Radcliff, Alvin Kamara, etc.

Right now, after coming back from the major knee injury, and not really having a great production year, I’m seeing a slide in the ranking of Nick Chubb, and I would take advantage of such a thing. Draftscout has Nick at #64 today.

2nd- RB Nick Chubb, Georgia

3rd Round

I’m not going to spend too much exposition on this one. I think this is an AWESOME draft for CB’s. For Seahawks’ purposes and “types”, this draft might be deepest for their own board at CB. That might be an argument to push this pick back a round. But with Seattle’s current draftpick allotment…no 4th round pick until the comp pick group (assuming they actually get a 4th for Bruce)…I just don’t want to risk missing on my 1A at Corner.

I think the CB that best fits the profile of a Seattle CB this draft is Brandon Facyson. I mean, this guy is SUCH a Seahawk. 6’2″/195lbs, 19 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 7 PBU, 1 FF in 2016. Draftscout has him at #109 (mid-4th round), but I’d run to the podium for him in the 3rd.

The other player I really like at this spot is Temple OLB/DE Haason Reddick. I’ve been on Reddick since the beginning of the year, and his stock will only continue to skyrocket as his production continues to get people to watch him. Reddick currently leads FBS in TFL with 14.0 in 7 games played. Draftscout has him at #107 overall, but I think his production and combine testing could elevate him into the 2nd round.

3rd- CB Brandon Facyson, Virginia Tech

4th Round Comp

Seattle really needs to add like 3 more picks to this draft. I’m not mocking enough trades to get them there, but I will mock one here. 2017 will be the first year comp picks may be traded, and I’ll project Seattle swapping 4c for a 5th and a 7th.

Ever since Seattle drafted Nick Vannett last year, I’ve had this growing suspicion Luke Willson might leave in free agency. Luke getting hurt this week probably furthers that thought. And this is a good class of TE. It adds up.

Some of the TE that could come off in this range include: Blake Jarwin, Pharoah Brown, Cam Serigne, Josiah Price. But the guy I’m targeting is Cole Hikutini.

There are a lot of TE in this class that are more the Z tight end…the glorified wide receiver. After drafting a true Y, in-line TE last year in Vannett, Seattle could be in the market for a Z now. Those guys include pretty SPARQ’d up names like Darrell Daniels, Gerald Everett, Jonnu Smith. Everett would the one from that group I would target.

Hikutini is a pretty standard 6’5″/248lb TE that has shown me flashes as both a receiver and a blocker. I don’t have any gifs of him yet, but please enjoy some of his JUCO highlights:

http://www.hudl.com/video/3/2993248/5721be254df6124b70060796

5A- TE Cole Hikutini, Louisville

5th Round Comp

I kind of have this pick earmarked as a special teams player. I don’t know if that means replacing UFA (Mike Morgan or Kelcie McCray), or one of the many RFA (Neiko Thorpe, Brock Coyle, Dewey McDonald, Deshawn Shead, Jordan Tripp). And I really won’t have a great sense of which players will test high enough to be what I think qualifies for what Seattle likes on ST.

I’m going with Colorado DE/OLB Jimmie Gilbert Jr. Listed at 6’5″/230, he’s built similarly to Mike Morgan who came out of USC at 6’3″/226 and now weighs 235 lbs. Most of Gilbert’s tape is at pass-rushing linebacker, but he shows some adeptness to drop in coverage. I think Gilbert gives the flexibility of DE, OLB, and special teams that would check off a lot of boxes for me at this point.

Draftscout has Gilbert ranked as an UDFA at #533 overall. So I’m going aggressive taking him in the 5th. Unless I’m right about him, in which case this is appropriate value.

5c- OLB Jimmie Gilbert Jr, Colorado

6th Round

It’s somewhat tempting to take UW’s Joe Mathis here but I don’t know how much ST he can play. There are a handful of WR that are undervalued in this range, too. But I’m sticking to my theme. It’s a double-dip at CB, and this is another long, 6’2″/203lb DB who I am projecting as a corner/safety hybrid with special teams duties.

Rasul Douglas is almost the exact same size Kelcie McCray was when he came out of Arkansas State in 2012. On the year, Douglas has posted 2 INT, 4 PBU, 2 TFL, 1 sack, and 28 total tackles. That’s a pretty big number of tackles for a corner and it leads me to believe he’d be really good playing in the box safety, if needed.

Douglas is ranked #767 overall.

6th- DB Rasul Douglas, West Virginia

7th Round A

With Tony McDaniel only signed on a 1-year deal, Rubin and Reed projecting as starters next year; Seattle can look for some depth at DT in the late rounds. I like Treyvon Hester as a 3rd down 3tech. At 6’3″/300lbs, Treyvon has posted 23 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks, and 3 hurries in six games this year.

This is one of the better big-man pass rushers I’ve seen this year that doesn’t come with the SEC tax.

Hester is Draftscout’s #256 overall. Which is technically the Mr. Irrelevant slot.

7a- DT Treyvon Hester, Toledo

7th Round B

I stumbled upon tape of this RT from William and Mary one night. He’s listed 6’8″/305 and looks like an athletic project, but that’s often what Seattle likes in the 7th. At this point, his run-blocking is ahead of his pass-pro. He likely ends up having to go through the practice squad.

Ugokwe has to test exceptionally well for this to be a realistic pick. He certainly isn’t ready on tape. Ugokwe is Draftscout’s #717 overall.

7b- OT Jerry Ugokwe, William and Mary

 

Recap

1st- DE Dawaune Smoot, Illinois

2nd- RB Nick Chubb, Georgia

3rd- CB Brandon Facyson, Virginia Tech

5A- TE Cole Hikutini, Louisville

5c- OLB Jimmie Gilbert Jr, Colorado

6th- DB Rasul Douglas, West Virginia

7a- DT Treyvon Hester, Toledo

7b- OT Jerry Ugokwe, William and Mary

By Jared Stanger

I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last week looking deeper into this really good cornerback class. The high end is pretty special, with names: Marlon Humphrey, Teez Tabor, Cordrea Tankersley, Sidney Jones already well-known. Draftscout has all four of those players ranked in their current top-45 prospects. Those guys are all listed 6’0″ and 181 lbs and up. I think Quincy Wilson will soon be joining them. But those aren’t the names I’m going to talk about.

The next tier of names come from the slightly smaller of stature. The 5’10”-5’11” guys like Adoree Jackson, Cameron Sutton, Tre’davious White, and Jourdan Lewis ranked in the 2nd- 3rd round range. But those aren’t the names I’m going to talk about.

No, I’m only going to talk about the guys that fall after pick number 96 overall, and in the 4th round down. Names like Brandon Facyson and Kevin King that you’ve heard from me before, but I’ve also dug up a plethora of new names That I think deserve further examination.

Brandon Facyson – 6’2″/197, ranked #109

Facyson burst onto the scene of a notoriously quality Virginia Tech secondary in 2013 when he posted 5 INT, and 8 PBU as a freshman. After dealing with injury off-and-on the last couple years, Facyson currently sits at 16 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 5 PBU, and 1 FF in 2016.

Kevin King – 6’3″/192, ranked #169

Playing at UW, I’ve been aware of King for a while, but it was when I saw him last spring at the UW “combine” when I really started to get a sense that he has all of the qualities Seattle looks for in a corner.

Obviously, the size is great, but he also brings pretty elite athleticism with 4.4 speed, almost 40″ vertical, and pretty ridiculous agility testing. Most of the CB in this story I will highlight their cover technique…I think King has great cover skills, too…but I think an important distinguishing characteristic for him, is his tackling ability.

I’ve often wondered why King isn’t used outside more often, but the answer might be simply that Coach Petersen likes having him closer to the box because he’s so useful in the run game. King currently has 18 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1 INT, and 4 PBU.

Des Lawrence – 6’1″/185, ranked #230 overall

I’m still forming my opinion on Des. I was hoping his matchup vs Isaiah Ford would be enlightening, but due to the hurricane the weather limited the passing game. 18 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 5 PBU.

Ahkello Witherspoon – 6’3″/195, ranked #235

Colorado is starting to get some buzz on their other CB Chidobe Awuzie, but I’m keeping my eye on Witherspoon. Speaking of keeping eyes on things…watch how ‘Kello reads Darren Carrington’s eyes, then turns to locate the ball, and gets the pick.

Witherspoon: 8 tackles, 1 INT, 8 PBU.

David Rivers III – 6’1″/185, ranked #709

Just a guy that I stumbled upon while messing around on youtube, but there is something to this guy that made me keep digging. This week I found a copy of Youngstown State playing West Virginia, and in it Rivers has snaps vs the talented Shelton Gibson and Kevin White’s younger brother Ka’raun White. I really like his technique and continue to wonder if Bo Pelini teaches the step-kick.

Rasul Douglas – 6’1″/208, ranked #767

I first spotted Rasul while watching Tyler Orlosky (WVU’s center) vs BYU. Suddenly, there’s this play while WVU’s on defense that bore striking resemblance to a pretty famous Seattle CB play.

I think Rasul has a bit of work to do in his technique, but he’s showing enough in instincts, athleticism, toughness, and intelligence to merit close watch the rest of the year. Douglas so far: 25 tackles (a pretty big number for a CB), 1.0 TFL, 2 INT, 4 PBU.

Tyree Robinson – 6’4″/205, ranked the #8 FS for 2018

Robinson is a Junior and he’s played a bit of both CB and FS, but this week vs UW I primarily noted him at CB. And he was pretty solid against very good WR.

I like his technique, and seeing that big CB frame along the right redline totally brought to mind Deshawn Shead. I’d really like to see him play at 210-212 pounds. 32 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 3 PBU.

I mean, this is a very cool list of players with upside that are all currently fitting the Seahawks’ usual size and draft value requirements. And I haven’t even studied all of the names I plan to cover. I certainly don’t know who I’d favor Seattle drafting. But, then again, I kind of think Seattle will draft two CB in 2017.

By Jared Stanger

Over the last 4-5 years that I’ve been studying the Seahawks and their draft practices, I’ve sort of had this subconscious sense that they tend to draft towards the positional strengths, or niches, of each draft season. Today I thought I would try to lay that out as a more fully-formed presentation. We will go year by year since the Pete Carroll and John Schneider regime have been in town, and we’ll look at how the draft classes look in hindsight nationally, and how Seattle played along with those classes. The theory is that Seattle will draft from each year’s position(s) of greatest talent/depth in the top 2 rounds.

2010

37 Pro Bowlers – 1 OC, 3 CB’s, 4 DE’s, 3 DT’s, 1 OG, 3 LB’s, 3 OT’s, 0 QB, 3 RB’s, 6 Safety, 4 TE’s, 6 WR’s.

So hindsight tells us 2010 had greatest volume of high-end talent at Safety and Wide Receiver. Seattle’s 1st and 2nd round picks that year: OT, FS, WR. Seattle actually double-dipped at Safety that year, drafting both Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.This may also be a thing.

And, though 2010 didn’t produce the top number of pro bowl talent at Tackle, the three named-Pro Bowlers (Trent Williams, Russell Okung, Zane Beadles) were also joined by the likes of Anthony Davis, Bryan Bulaga, Jared Veldheer, and J’Marcus Webb.

2011

26 Pro Bowlers – 2 OC’s, 2 CB’s, 8 DE’s, 2 DT’s, 0 LB’s, 0 OG, 1 OT, 3 QB’s, 2 RB’s, 0 Safety, 3 TE’s, 3 WR’s.

This is the lone outlier year where Seattle seemed to not follow strategy, and instead drafted hard for NEED. They didn’t make a 2nd round pick, so the only player that fell within 1st-2nd was James Carpenter. Had Seattle followed strategy, the pick at #25 should have been DE Muhammad Wilkerson.

2012

20 Pro Bowlers – 0 OC, 1 CB, 1 DE, 2 DT’s, 1 OG, 3 LB’s, 1 OT, 4 QB’s, 2 RB’s, 2 Safeties, 0 TE, 2 WR’s.

Obviously, this was the best QB year of the last decade, probably, and Seattle considered taking Russell Wilson in the 2nd round, but instead played long-game, took their LB (from the second-strongest position group), and then came around and got QB in the 3rd.

As for Seattle’s first round pick…it was DE Bruce Irvin, and though the DE’s from 2012 haven’t contributed at Pro Bowl level in numbers, the class did yield five 1st-rounders, and names like: Irvin, Chandler Jones, Whitney Mercilus, Vinny Curry, Olivier Vernon, Malik Jackson.

Even though outcome hasn’t been what was expected of the DE class, it was still a class at the time that was believed to be very good.

2012 also marked two more instances of Seattle double-dipping in the deep position groups: 2 DE in Irvin and Scruggs, and 2 LB in Wagner and Toomer.

2013

16 Pro Bowlers – 1 OC, 2 CB’s, 1 DE, 2 DT’s, 1 OG, 1 LB, 0 OT, 0 QB, 3 RB’s, 1 Safety, 2 TE’s, 2 WR’s.

Let us first acknowledge that 2013 was the worst draft we’ve seen in 10 years. Across the board.

This was a year that Seattle traded away their 1st round pick. We now can safely assume to know why: Why bother with this dreck?

So what did Seattle do with their 2nd rounder? RB Christine Michael. AND…Seattle double-dipped at RB, picking Spencer Ware in the 6th round. Fourth instance of double-dipping in four years.

2014

13 Pro Bowlers – 1 CB, 2 DE’s, 1 DT, 2 OG’s, 1 LB, 2 QB’s, 1 RB, 3 WR’s.

Many believe that it takes three years as pro’s to really have a sense of a draft class, so this is the point where the data is probably too thin to rely on. We’re kind of basing the next few years on pre-draft reputation.

Again, no 1st rounder for Seattle. But the earlier 2nd rounder went to WR Paul Richardson. And the double-dip went to Kevin Norwood (5th time).

I’m not sure how to interpret the data for the other 2014 2nd rounder; Justin Britt. He’s now on his 3rd position. If we consider him among the OT (his rookie position), it wasn’t a deep group. If we consider him at OG, he’d be with Zack Martin and Trai Turner. If we consider him at OC, he’d be with Weston Richburg, Travis Swanson, Bryan Stork, Russell Bodine.

If we consider Britt at OT, then we find another double-dip (Garrett Scott in the 6th).

2015

We can really only go on reputation for this year, but it was supposed to be a very good year for DE’s: Dante Fowler, Arik Armstead, Shane Ray, Preston Smith, Danielle Hunter, Vic Beasley, Bud Dupree, Hau’oli Kikaha, Randy Gregory, etc.

A third consecutive year for Seattle to pass on drafting in the 1st round, but they take DE Frank Clark with their 2nd round choice. And they double-dipped with DE Obum Gwacham in the 6th round.

2016

The biggest buzz all of the 2015 college season was how good and crazy-deep the 2016 class of Defensive Tackles would be. It’s entirely too early, and many of the 2016 DT have been hurt, but Seattle did draft Jarran Reed in the 2nd round, and then double-dipped with Quinton Jefferson in the 5th.

As for the 2016 Seattle 1st rounder…I’m, again, not sure how to classify him. Drafted as an OT, installed as the immediate starter at RG, but consistently mentioned as a future RT; what do we consider him for this exercise?

I tend to lean toward calling him a Tackle a) because that is the reported plan for him, b) it would help Seattle’s 2017 draft to move Ifedi to RT, c) it furthers my theory for this article (wink).

If Ifedi is an OT, he joins the ranks of Ronnie Stanley, Jack Conklin, Laremy Tunsil, and Taylor Decker…all of whom have seemed to show well so far as rookies. (I don’t think, however, I can get away with claiming an OT double-dip for Rees Odhiambo. I expect he will primarily play OG as a pro.)

2017

So what does this mean moving forward? If the theory holds, and if my sense of the 2017 draft class is tracking correctly, I would guess the first 2 rounds would go: DE then RB.

RB will probably be the deeper of the two groups, but I think it’s the position less prioritized in drafts league-wide; so you can push it to the 2nd (much like in 2016 when OL was prioritized over the more-fungible DT).

The wildcard this year, however, is that I’m starting to sense the 2017 CB class might be pretty special, too. That would raise a question: which of Seattle’s demonstrated draft patterns (not drafting a CB before the 4th round, or drafting along with positional depth in the top two rounds) would win out in that case?

We’ll find out in April.

By Jared Stanger

Welcome to a new feature on SeaMocks…”Stanger Things” where I will just be compiling miscellaneous thoughts about the draft and the Seahawks. It’s simply just the THINGS that I’m currently thinking about.

1. What a great win. Winning in all 3 phases. Winning against a division opponent. Winning at home. Winning on the ground. Winning in the air. And really glad to get that first takeaway. Hope that opens the floodgates a little more.
2. I think Christine Michael has earned the starting RB job. He really hadn’t done anything wrong in preseason not to get the gig, but the team seemed to want to go back to Rawls out of, I don’t know, loyalty? In the first two games of the year, Rawls carried 19 times for 25 yards (1.3ypc). Even without including Sunday’s blowout performance with the best OL game we’ve yet seen, CMike had been 25×126 (5.04ypc) versus the same two opponents that Rawls went for 1.3ypc. Maybe Rawls has been better in practices that we haven’t seen, or maybe the team has just been optimistic that Rawls will be 2015 Rawls again, but the fact is: he hasn’t been. And until he is 2015 Rawls, let’s just ride a different train. We still have a ticket on the T-Train when we need it.
3. I really loved having the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and Huskies all winning this weekend. After losing my step-grandmother early last week, and hearing all of what is going on with my ailing grandfather down in Texas and what will need to be done next, I really wanted to just escape into sports, and fortunately sports were predominantly uplifting for me this week.
4. 2018 Draft. I spent a lot of time recently digging in on OL for the draft. Unfortunately, this won’t be a great OL draft. Especially at OT. But, with underclass declares, the 2018 OT class could be epic.
   a. As I mentioned on twitter, Saturday was basically the event horizon for Wisconsin LT Ryan Ramczyk. His was a name that I first saw pop up from PFF a week or two ago, and then I watched what chunks of his tape I could find. Draftbreakdown hasn’t cut him specifically yet, but I borrowed from some guys he played with/against (multiple gifs in tweet thread…click through):

   Ryan Ramczyk, rJr. 6'6"/314. Prototypical size. Moves really well. pic.twitter.com/NGd03ghzFr

   — Jared Stanger (@JaredStanger) September 23, 2016

   Ramczyk is a redshirt Junior and could return for his r-Sr year (Draftscout has him as their 21st-ranked OT for 2018), but at this rate I think he declares and he will become the second-hottest OT commodity behind Cam Robinson of Bama in 2017. Probably off the board before Seattle can even sniff a shot at him.
   b. Texas’ Connor Williams is a pretty terrific-looking sophomore LT. Slightly undersized which helps him movement-wise, but he’s also pretty strong. He’ll have 1.5-2.5 years to fill out.

   Connor Williams. Soph. 6'6"/288. He's underweight, obviously, but moves great. Seems strong. Nice catch on inside counter. pic.twitter.com/11bgQ6Oaua

   — Jared Stanger (@JaredStanger) September 23, 2016

   c. UW’s Trey Adams. A bigger-bodied guy, but that moves plenty well. Keeps his butt low in his stance, and holds solid pad-level. (Also make sure to check out the pass set in the second tweet.)

   Trey Adams, Soph. 6'8"/309. pic.twitter.com/3IMkzpZGEr

   — Jared Stanger (@JaredStanger) September 23, 2016

   d. Pittsburgh’s Brian O’Neill. Actually a redshirt-Sophomore, so he COULD declare this year. But my assumption is that he will return next year, after Pitt Senior LT Adam Bisnowaty has moved on to the NFL, and O’Neill will become the incumbent to play LT in 2017 for the Panthers.

   Brian Oneill, Soph, 6'6"/300, #70 at RT: pic.twitter.com/uMrTN0O0QA

   — Jared Stanger (@JaredStanger) September 24, 2016

   Might also be worth checking out this Pitt OL Draftbreakdown video to watch their LG Dorian Johnson, too. Some good stuff from him, as well (#63 overall).
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ18C8_Ha9c

5. 2017 Draft. There are still some OL talents I’m pretty interested in for 2017. They mostly just seem to either be playing inside, or project best to playing inside.
   a. Pat Elflein. Pat is currently playing Center for the Buckeyes, but he could easily move back to RG for a year or two if that is the primary need of his drafting team. I think is my 1a draft wish right now for Seattle.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQuNaKT1N6A
   Draftscout has Elflein as their #1 Center, but not until #50 overall. Umm…sign me up at #32. Done deal. (It will never happen.)
   b. Forrest Lamp. Currently playing LT, but I’d project him at RT  or LG in the league. His performance versus the extremely talented Alabama DL was very encouraging. Draftscout has him as the #300 overall (which is UDFA, and which is pretty negligent on their part).

   c. Dan Feeney. Feeney is Draftscout’s #1 ranked OG for 2017, and a pretty fairly-ranked overall #29. I don’t have any clever scouting language on him, or cool SPARQ anecdotes. I just think he puts out really good tape.

   d. Tyler Orlosky. I watched WVU for about a quarter of their game against BYU and I came away more impressed with Orlosky. He is incredibly stout at the LOS. I’ve recently been seeing other draft writers noting Ethan Pocic’s trouble anchoring…Orlosky is the photo-negative of that. Here he is in 2015:

   I don’t know yet if Britt is the long-term answer at Center…certainly I feel better about him today than three months ago…but if Orlosky holds current projection of #115 overall (mid-4th round), you could get him late enough that you can afford to either redshirt him until Britt walks in free agency, or try one of them at RG.
   e. And lastly, because I’m intent on finding SOMETHING in the cupboard at LT for 2017, and my previous target Tyrell Crosby just went down for the year injured…this is Avery Gennesy from A&M. 6’5″/310 lbs and he played LT well enough that the Aggies were okay keeping Ifedi at RT. There are some quirks in his game that I also saw in Ifedi’s tape (late hands, etc); which tells me they were both probably coached into those techniques (and, presumably, can be coached out of them). I will watch him again as soon as 2016 tape becomes available, but for now here is a 2015 tape where Gennesy looks really solid, to me.

   Draftscout has Avery at #107 overall. Very good value.

That’s it for now. I’ll see you out on those mean tweets of Seattle.