Gaining momentum: Could Colin Kaepernick be a Seahawk next week?
I wanted to offer some information I received today from a proven source. Regular visitors to the blog will be aware of the success rate of this source in the past. There have been occasions when the information hasn’t been 100% accurate as well, but never illogical. This is speculation and not fact, but as I say it comes from a guy I trust.
– Ryan Mallett is not on the Seahawks draft board. No reasons were given.
– The Seahawks like Mike Pouncey (OG, Florida) but the belief is he’ll be off the board before the 25th overall pick. He is seemingly receiving consensus approval.
– Trading down is very much part of their plans. The desire is to drop down into the first 5-7 picks of the second round. Regaining a third round pick is considered the target. If a deal isn’t there the likelihood is they’ll remain at #25 although depending on how the board falls, they may consider dropping back for as little as an extra 4th or 5th rounder.
– I understand the other player that is gaining approval across the board is Colin Kaepernick (QB, Nevada). It’s believed they can get him in the early second round, but could be willing to take him at #25.
– The third player I’m told they really like is Stephen Paea (DT, Oregon State). The Seahawks were incredibly impressed with him. Nevertheless, it’s suggested he won’t likely be an option based on where he is projected to go.
One final note, it’s believed the team came close to completing a deal with Matt Hasselbeck just before the CBA expired with guaranteed cash the stumbling block. This is something the Seahawks expected more flexibility with, but it didn’t happen.
Don’t forget to check the latest Seahawks Draft Blog mock draft.
interesting. Thanks for the info Rob!
Can you provide a link to the post? Know it’s accurate I just like reading it over and over again before the draft.
I like Kaepernick, but not at the 25th pick. It bothers me how much QB value is being driven up by the lockout.
Not surprised that Mallett is off the board. Disappointing but not shocking. Not sure what to think about Kaepernick. Seems like a great kid with intriguing skills. His throwing motion scares me as well as his lack of NFL type offense experience. Really disappointed with Paea. Just seems like a terrible scheme fit.
From what I’ve been told, Paea is unlikely to be an option for Seattle based on where he’ll leave the board. But they like his character, they like the way he plays.
Paea is Brandon Mebane as far as I can tell.
Your source, is it the same one who called our first round picks last year on .net? Because if it is, he is generally pretty reliable. Except for the Matt isn’t going to play against the Saints thing.
If they had Mallett in for an official visit, and then took him off their board, you can’t say they didn’t kick the tires on him.
I’ve been following the blog for the last couple years but I don’t really recall the source. What good/bad info has he/she/it given in the past?
I hope this is another clever diversion or smokescreen, i am not exactly enamored with any of the aformentioned players. I think a first round pick on a guard is too highfor a guard, Paea is not a scheme fit and hes undersized/combine inflated, and Kaepernick worked out of the pistol for most of his career. Not exactly the transitional skill set the hawks need.
Paea may not be a scheme fit, but I’ll tell you what, he isn’t combine inflated. He put up great bench press numbers there, but the guy was a flat-out beast at Oregon State; unblockable one-on-one.
Better than hearing the like Dalton. That would be a crushing blow
*they
Amen to that one.
yes indeed. 0 interest in dalton for me. Kaep however, i am intrigued with. It seems like his ceiling is just so amazingly high, but clearly it will take time.
If the Hawks trade back into a high second round pick (and hopefully a third rounder) and Kaepernick is gone, maybe they would go for Rodney Hudson. Then go get Gallery and resign Chris Spencer to potentially have 4/5’s of an elite O line in the making. And while great O-lines aren’t necessarily a super bowl ticket, they are fairly handy.
Why does everyone focus on what type of program they played in college. If the kid has talent and is a hardworker then why couldn’t he turn out to be good. Maybe not as a rookie, but with the right coaching he could be good. I only watched the game against Boise and he played pretty good in that game. Granted I am not a scout or some kind of draft expert. I just think that if Carrol is going to put his career on it then I will trust him until he proves to be inadiquate for the job.
Proof. That’s all it is. Mallett has done it, learned it, executed it, succeeded within a pro style offense. There’s no way to know how Kaepernick will transition to that style so there is more projection there and less tangible evidence.
I think it’s just a concept that fans echo because a pundit mentioned it.
The fact is, the NFL itself has been steadily moving away from a “pro style” offense. New England and Indy are prime examples of teams that have abandoned it. Ditto GB and Philly. A lot of teams have adopted a shotgun dominant offensive set in the pros.
There is more than one way to win. You can tailor your scheme to talent. Or you can be rigid and dogmatic and only take guys to fit your system. Shula’s genius was his ability to mold his philosophy around the talent he had. Holmgren’s genius was to single out and develop QBs under a rigid system. Both had success in different ways.
I don’t know that Carroll ‘has’ a system offensively. Bevell is a coach that has already shown he is an adaptive coach, willing to bend the system to fit talent. Not surprising, as he comes from the Andy Reid strain of Holmgren’s WCO tree. Reid is another coach more willing to adapt system to talent fit.
I wouldn’t discount prospects because of scheme mismatch as far as the seahawks go.
Yeah, but there’s more to it than just taking snaps from under center. There’s reading a defense and making the right calls at the line and making multiple reads with regularity. A lot of guys haven’t done that much. Cam Newton demonstrated in his Gruden class thing that all he did was take a number call from his coach and run a scripted play. If that throw wasn’t there he was running. That’s not gonna cut it in the NFL, not even close.
Agreed. I wonder if the converstation Newton had on Gruden’s Class was echoed during private workouts and meetings. I was not impressed. I really question how he is going to transfer to the NFL. I left impressed with Mallet and Locker on that show. I still like Mallet more than locker so it is a bummer to hear the Hawks are up on Kaepernick.
I like Kaepernick as a QB but there would be no chance for him to start in the first year, which is OK. That means that we would most likely bring in a veteran (maybe bring back Hasselback) to compete with Whitehurst. I have not completely given up on Whitehurst either. I think he could be a capable starter next year.
The one issue I have with Kaepernick, besides writing or pronouncing his name, is where we would have to draft him. We most likely would have to draft him much higher than he deserves to get him. Unlike trading up to get Mallett (which I think is completely worth it considering his talent) trading back into the top of round 2 and getting him there I think is a reach, when in any other year, he most likely would fall to us at #57 where he should deserve to be drafted, if not later.
In two to three years though I think Kaepernick could be a great player, so if that means taking him at #25 then I guess it will be worth it. We just wont get any use out of our first round pick for a year or two which is unsettling but if thats what it takes to have a franchise QB in a couple years then go for it.
Rob, great intel. I’ve been thinking they might like Kaepernick as he’s the closest thing to Whitehurst in the draft, and obviously they liked him enough to trade quite a bit to get him. By similar, I mean 6’5″, lean, athletic and big arm.
I also like Paea, although the knee surgery spooks me a bit. I see him rotating with and ultimately replacing Cole at 1-tech vs. 3-tech though, and I think we need a 3-tech in addition. I won’t be surprised to see several DT’s when it’s all said and done. What do you think of Adrian Taylor-Oklahoma as a late round selection? He suffered at torn achilles in his right leg after he had come back from a gruesome-looking left ankle dislocation suffered in the Sun Bowl in December 2009. He played in each of the first 10 games of 201 season and reclaimed a starting role after fellow defensive tackle Casey Walker was injured in Week 4. Stoops called Taylor “an amazing, great leader.” If his rehab is goiing well and the prognosis is that the achilles should heal completely, I’m thinking he could be another Walter Thurmond value selection on Day 3.
Clearly an injury history, but it’s not like his knees are deteriorated (that we know of).
He’s not someone I’ve concentrated on, diehard82, but I have Oklahoma tape so I’ll have a look and see if he’s involved.
Neither Kaepernick nor Paea thrill me. I’m a fan of both, but Paea doesn’t seem like a scheme fit, and Kaep at 25 would be a Tebow-like reach.
Wow, very interesting. I really like Kaepernick and I think of all the QBs he has the most value for where he will go. The only thing that scares me is his frame, hopefully he can put on some weight for the NFL.
Though I’m not a huge fan of moving back in this draft, it seems like they’re pretty confident they can pull some gems out of the later rounds. If this is how they get it to go down, it will be interesting to see who they are targeting in the third. Ideas?
What do people mean when they say a player is off a teams board? First round board? Entire draft board? I find it hard to believe the Hawks wouldn’t look at Mallett at any point in the draft (or any of the players that you sometime hear “aren’t even on some teams draft board”).
Teams don’t have a huge list as their draft board, generally they split it up and there are several guys they’d take in R1, several in R2, etc etc. Even if Mallett falls, he won’t make it to #57 IMO. And perhaps they just don’t see him as a fit for what they want to do. If they do like Kaepernick, it’s clear that athletic mobility is what they want at quarterback long term.
I know that Mebane is far from definite to stick around, but don’t Paea and Mebane sound redundant? Same build, strengths, and limitations.
It’d be a sideways move probably, but then as I said I don’t think the team expects to draft Paea, they just like him.
Have the Seahawks even worked out Kaepernick? I don’t recall hearing about any visits or workouts he did with the hawks. Did they go to his pro day? According to PFT he has not visited with the hawks:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/04/15/2011-draft-visits-and-workouts-tracker/
Not saying this is dispositive of any interest, but it certainly doesn’t make me think they are in fact interested either.
Working guys out isn’t essential. Jay Cutler admitted after he was drafted by Denver that the first time he spoke to Mike Shanahan was the day the phone rang to say he was a Bronco. Seattle worked out many QB’s over the years… Josh Freeman, Chad Henne, Brian Brohm. They passed on the lot. Sometimes these trips can be used as an elaborate smoke screen and sometimes they can be used almost like scouting trips for the future.
If both Mallert and Kaepernick still there at #25 can we pass on Mallet and take Kaepernick so early? I am not sure. Mallet is so much NFL ready.I hope they will think twice.
If the information is true, that is seemingly what they’d be prepared to do.
I would be perturbed if Mallet was passed over to grab Kaepernick. To me there is no decision there, Mallet the obvious choice..
Kap has sounded like a great pick for the Hawks all along. Unfortunately his stock has taken a big rise. A few months back it seemed likely we could get him at #57. No longer the case and i would fear even if we got that trade back to the high 2nd he would get taken right before us!
I would not cringe at all if they got him at #25……
The idea of drafting Kaepernick surprisingly feels very comfortable to me. I mean other than the fact that he will need some development time, there really isn’t much about him that scares you. His athleticism and arm strength gives you a somewhat high floor, his excellent Wonderlic score makes you believe in his ability to learn a more complicated offense, the four year starting experience says a lot, there’s really no type or style of offense that he would be limited physically from, there’s nothing but sparkling clean reports on his character and leadership.
Should not being ready to contribute right away be that important of a factor for a team in such a state of transition personnel-wise and with so many holes yet unfilled on the roster? I don’t think so. Kaepernick at 25 would give the team a direction that the fans can get behind.
By the way, Kaepernick passes the smell test with flying colors. Strong arm? Check. Able to move. Check. Able to contribute to the ground game? Check. A reason why it would make sense to pursue bringing Matt back for another year or maybe two with less guaranteed money? Check. Persona worthy of sticking on the front page of your franchise’s new era? Check. Excuse for low expectations at least in the immediate short term? Check. Compatibility with Pete Carroll’s ridiculously upbeat and energetic personality? Check.
I’m noticing a lot of reasons why Colin Kaepernick would make a lot of sense for the Seahawks and not really any why he wouldn’t, apart from maybe a little bit of a funky delivery.
I need to see more Kaepernick tape to make a judgement. My initial impression was that he was really, really raw as a passer. The game may have changed, but you watch Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Matt Stafford etc throw a football – and you can picture it at the next level. That’s not an exact science of course, it’s just the ‘eye test’. You see it in Gabbert, Mallett and Locker, which is why they are suitably rated highly in some quarters. You don’t see it as much with the other guys, Kaepernick included. Newton is obviously insanely talented and mechanically he’s better than CK, but there’s a similar issue there.
The Seahawks need to do something at QB though. If their choice is Kaepernick, it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out. He’s got the arm, he can move, he seems fairly grounded.
Yeah, I know what you mean. When Mallett throws a football your jaw drops and it jumps off the screen. Same thing with Bradford the year before. You just know he’s got a special arm, it looks different than every other quarterback.
I think we can safely infer that Mallett will very likely throw for a ton more yards than Kaepernick over the course of his career, but whether that translates into more wins is the question. Kap may just as easily run for thousands more yards than Mallett.
Pete Carroll has been clear that he came to Seattle to build a team his way from top to bottom, he reiterated that in his end of the season press conference. Carroll seems to have certain criteria for each position on his roster as demonstrated by the description he gave of his defense years ago that I’m sure most of us have read and supported again by his belief in the zone blocking system which is built the same way. I believe Carroll has a very specific formula in mind, and it could be that immobility under center just flat out doesn’t fit the plan. It’s beginning to seem that way to me if this “source” is right.
Running yards in college never translate to the pros. NFL linebackers are death to running QB’s.
Are you kidding me? They may have to take him at #25. More upside than any QB in this class! Elite poise. I can see the Hawk staff getting giddy over being able to work with this kid.
I don’t dislike Kaepernick, but the hype machine is out of control. Bunting rates him as 4th round material. Rang says late 2nd to 3rd round. Just because a team brings him in for a visit and publicly says they like him doesn’t mean they’re thinking of spending a 1st round pick on him, or even an early 2nd rounder. I like the idea of taking him at 57 if necessary, but 25 would nuts. If we’re taking the 7th QB at 25, we’ll be passing on some real talent that has necessarily fallen down the board. Nuts.
I agree that taking him at 25 is too high. I like the idea of trading back to the high second, which would probably mean getting a high 3rd as well (or maybe a second for 2012) and picking him up. If Mallet is still around and we don’t want him, I could see a bunch of teams trying to get ahead of other teams that need quarterbacks.
Rob, generally speaking, if trades involve a pick for the following year, are they valued the same as the present year or given at a discount based on the unknown of where they will fall?
Generally speaking, a pick loses one round of value for being a future pick. If Seattle traded a 2012 second round pick, it would be issued with the value of the #25 pick in round three in 2011.
This is the case for picks outside of round one. Obviously teams see R1 picks as gold dust. You lose some value for having to wait a year to spend the pick, but it’s perhaps not a full rounds value.
Dave Razzano has said some good things about Kaepernick’s upside and i have read the same thing from other websites. Dan Kelly had a good piece Dave Razzano everyone should read.
http://www.fieldgulls.com/2011/4/11/2099152/best-nfl-draft-value-picks-after-round-one
I think that’s a huge mistake to take Mallett off our draft board if that rumor is true. I hope they’ve done there research, cause my research say’s Mallett has a shot to be a Manning, Rivers, Marino, Brady type of QB. The accuracy and arm is there. The football knowledge & production shows up. I Love the hard count with Gruden. All the stats are there with a pro style offense. The DEEP BALL is there. Something lacking in our QB’s overall on any given play. Somebody mentioned “shotgun offense”. I agree. The successfull NFL teams run a great shotgun offense and Mallett can be good in this type system. Play fakes, Hard counts, Deep ball, – This all fits Mallett.
The west coast dink and dunk I don’t need anymore. Roll out QB’s are so overblown. Keep Hass then! He is our west coast QB.
I’m not sold on Kaepernick at all. I have lots of issues. Especially, not for our 1st round pick. Same with Dalton and Ponder.
Mallett is my Fav pick for us if he drops. If not, we should look Oline (Gabe, Constonza, Pouncey) If gone, then look at CB and trade down.
Agreed.
Also, you need a film guy. Somebody that studies tape (Like Manning does)
I don’t see Locker putting in that work and rather just take off running or throw it away or trying to rely on his athleticness, which by the way will fade over time.
I see Mallett as a film guy. He’s says it allot too. He seems like a guy that puts allot of work into watching film and learning. And watching him with Gruden, he seems really smart with football knowledge and gets it. (See opposite with Newton)
Kaep seems like the type of guy that can be a leader of men – I like that quality about him.
Rob, would like to pick your brain on thoughts about; Ricky Stanzi, Stanley Havili,Jamie Harper and Marion Fannin as possible conversions to FB, Kealoha Pilares, Ryan Whalen, Cliff Matthews,Markus White,Ugo Chinesa, Ced Thornton, Colby Whitlock, Brian Rolle, Chris Culliver,Byron Maxwell.
Sorry, a lot of names popped to mind. Thanks.
Even though his throwing motion totally scares me, I have liked what I have seen from Kaepernick this year. I also like the fact that his Wunderlic was quite high (37, compared to Mallet’s 26 and Jake’s 20). From interviews I have seen or read, I think he himself is very confident of his ability to learn an offense, and actually thinks he could play next year.
Is Manning Mobile? Rivers? Brady? Roeth? Brees? Flacco? K. Warner? Marino?
I could go on and on really.
Some of the best arms in the NFL are not mobile QB’s. Mallett had 4 rushing TD’s last year. He can do a bootleg every once in awhile. How often does a Seahawk QB ever run anyway? Then you risk injury if they did. Hass has been a good QB for us and he doesn’t run.
Mallett shows enough elusivness in the pocket from what I see on tape to escape preasure or perform some roll out bootleg. Get you’re Oline in order and it all doesn’t matter anyway. Half the time they will be in shotgun anyway now days.
You’re QB needs to be accurate and throw a deep ball. Who cares if they can run for 12 TD’s in College. They won’t be doing that in the NFL.
I think ruling out Mallett because he’s “not mobile” seems like a huge mistake. He also pulled up lame on his 40 time I believe, so the timed 40 might be a bit over blown also. (Rivers was in the same range)
I agree the character concerns should not be an issue either with Mallett.
Does Mallett have a fast delivery? That is what’s important to evaluate when you’re talking a slower QB. Can he read a Def? I think he does all these things.
Anyway, good reads. Hope they know what they are doing when evaluating. OR maybe it’s all false info too.
You know what people in the middle of running an awful 40 do all the time? Pull up lame.
He actually pulled up on his first try and then re-did it over. Seemed like he
still might have been hurt when he re-ran. He also got off REALLY slow.
Horiable start!
But, I see what you’re saying and it’s possible I guess. And by no means is he
ever going to have a 40 time even worth talking about. But, he could have
done a little better time I think when you add up allot of factors. And, if he did
he probably wouldn’t even drop to our pick in the first place.
I really don’t think he cares that much though. Maybe that’s a concern?
But, he’s the old school QB I think. I pass – I don’t run. I make the plays.
A guy like that (think Big Ben) find ways to escape the pressure and make
the throw. There game speed or “elusiveness” that I’ve mentioned pick up
in real action.
At least that’s how I see it. I like Mallett
I have bigger issues with Newton’s smarts or Lockers injury history and
both of there accuracy problems vs Malletts slow 40 time.