The Seattle Seahawks are known for their drafting skills. Heck, they drafted several potential Seattle Ring of Honor players in a short time span, with some of them coming later in the draft. The draft has inspired so much hope in Seahawks fans over the past few years because of this early success. Richard Sherman was a fifth-round pick, K.J. Wright was a fourth-round pick, Russell Wilson was a third-round pick, Kam Chancellor was a fifth-round pick, the list is impressive.
But, over the past couple seasons Seattle has missed on more draft picks than the Cleveland Browns. Since 2013 the Seahawks have had five drafts and 49 picks, of those picks only 10 have had any real impact as starters. They are, working backwards: Shaquill Griffin (a lot of potential, and looks like a starter for years to come), Chris Carson (looked good in a few games, and is the best running back on the roster), Jarran Reed (is a very stout run defender and has developed a good all-round game), Alex Collins (his good starts aren’t even with Seattle, he had over 1,000 yards for the Ravens last year), Frank Clark (the best pass rusher on the roster, he has 19 sacks over the past two seasons), Tyler Lockett (a true speedster, who is a return threat and has better hands than people think), Paul Richardson (a burner, who struggled with injuries before having a revival year in 2017, he is no longer with the team), Justin Britt (was moved around the offensive line until he found the center position where he is not a liability), Christine Michael (remember how quickly we wanted to get rid of him, and he still did quite well for a short spurts) and Luke Willson (a reliable second option who has been used all over the field for Seattle, he can block and catch well for someone with his speed).
You can say that the Seahawks had nowhere to go but down after Pete Carroll and John Schneider’s first few drafts, but could you have predicted how sharply they declined. Are they coaching players differently? Are they evaluating players differently? Are they just making bad decisions? I don’t know, but I hope this year is the year they turn it around.
The Seahawks are usually quite in the free agency period and they have not made waves this year with any signings. The noise has been more about who they have let go and traded, but I covered that in last week’s article.
Seattle needs to find their groove again for this year’s draft or they are wasting another year of having a franchise quarterback. Wilson won’t be around forever and the Seahawks need to focus on the next few years with the intensity the team started with when Carroll took over. The draft is in a little more than a month and I am looking forward to seeing who the Seahawks take after their inevitable trade out of the first round.
