The NFL Draft has come and gone. The time for pure hope has given way to the harsh light of day, and we now know exactly what college players will be added to all 32 NFL teams. Looking at who was picked, it is time to start grading the 2021 NFL Draft.
For the Seattle Seahawks, the 2021 NFL draft was rather uneventful. With most of their picks gone due to trades, the team only made three selections. They did make it as interesting as possible, though, as GM John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll traded down, then back up again to end up with the same overall number of picks.
Here is how we grade those picks:
Round 2 – 56 overall – D’Wayne Eskridge – Wide receiver – Western Michigan University
With their highest pick of the draft, the Seahawks were able to fill one of their biggest needs by taking a WR to replace David Moore. Eskridge was the eighth-ranked WR on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board, and getting him here is a solid pickup by Schneider and Carroll.
The knock on Eskridge is that he’s small at 5’9” but, with the monster that is DK Metcalf on one side, you need speed, not size, on the other, and Eskridge provides just that. His 4.39 40 time should help open up space for Tyler Lockett to operate.
GRADE: B+
Round 4 – 137 overall – Tre Brown – Cornerback – University of Oklahoma
Aside from WR, CB was the team’s other biggest need. Schneider and Carroll addressed this need well, too, with Brown. Kiper Jr.’s 17th overall CB, Brown represented good value at the time as the only CBs ahead of him still available were UFC’s Tay Gowan and the controversial Shaun Wade from Ohio State.
This is a solid if uninspiring pick at the position but Schneider and Carroll should benefit from the doubt when drafting defensive backs (Legion of Boom!). Overall, another good pick for what they had to work with.
GRADE: B-
Round 6 – 208 overall – Stone Forsythe, Offensive Tackle – University of Florida
Forsythe provides nice young depth on the offensive line and, again, is a good value for where he was picked as the 30th tackle on the Kiper Jr. Board. He is a mountain of a man who has raw potential but hasn’t yet shown all he can do in games. As a developmental sixth-rounder, it’s a nice pick.
The fact that the Seattle brain trust traded up this late in the draft to select him, though, gets them docked a grade or two here. While he does have potential, they could have drafted two tackles or another WR or CB to give themselves more shots at success.
GRADE: C-
Final Grade
The 2021 NFL Draft for the Seahawks is not the big, juicy, franchise-changing draft that fans and front offices love. When it was all is said and done, though, the Seahawks did about as well as they could have. I don’t love the trading up, but they got real value with every pick, which is enough to bring their grade to slightly above average.
GRADE: C+
