Have you ever seen the back of a football, on weed?
According to Davis Hsu, Seattle met with 7 of their 10 eventual 2012 draft picks before the draft took place. Here is an unofficial list of players Seattle has brought in for visits or met with so far in 2013 (special thanks to Scott Allen and Chris F):
Matt Scott, QB, Arizona
Jeremy Wright, RB, Louisville
Russell Shepard, WR, LSU
Martel Moore, WR, Northern Illinois
Aaron Mellette, WR, Elon
Tyrone Goard, WR, Eastern Kentucky
Rufus Johnson, DE, Tarleton State
Stefan Charles, DT, Regina
Duke Williams, S, Nevada
Kevin McDermott, LS, UCLA
Luke Batton, LB, Kent State
Datone Jones, DL, UCLA
Tyrann Mathieu, DB, LSU
Brendan Melanophy, DB, Fordham
Latavius Murray, RB, Central Florida
Ryan Otten, TE, San Jose State
Quinton Patton, WR, Louisiana Tech
David Quessenberry, OL, San Jose State
Sheldon Richardson, DL, Missouri
Eric Rogers, WR, Cal Lutheran
Michael Williams, TE, Alabama
Tyler Wilson, QB, Arkansas
Dontra Peters, CB, New Hampshire
Craig Wilkins, LB, Old Dominion
Perez Ashford, WR, Northern Illinois
Kyle Juszczyk, FB, Harvard
Mike Catapano, DE, Princeton
Ryan Jensen, OL, Colorado State
BJ Daniels, QB, South Florida
Jeremy Harris, CB, New Mexico State
Quinn Sharp, K/P, Oklahoma State
Brian Watkins, CB, Oregon State
Michael Brooks, DT, East Carolina
Ryan Robertson, QB, Central Washington
Justin Veltung, WR, Idaho
Zac Dysert, QB, Miami-Ohio
Anthony Watkins, SS, Oregon State
Greg Herd, WR, Eastern Washington
Semsi Tokolahi, DT, Washington
Justin Glenn, FS, Washington
Isaac Remington, DT, Oregon
Cooper Taylor, SS, Richmond
Christine Michael, RB, Texas A&M
Additional players who were approached by a Seahawks scout (that I know of):
Brice Butler, WR (CB), San Diego State
Denard Robinson, RB/WR, Michigan
Sylvester Williams, DT, NC State
Armonty Bryant, DE, East Central
…
That’s a pretty long list of names, and I’m sure there are many other players that Seattle met with that went unreported. Overall, this list is mostly made up of players that are very likely to go undrafted, which is fairly typical as far as team visits go. Teams prioritize projected undrafted free agents with visits so that they can build relationships which hopefully give them an edge when the signing frenzy begins after the draft concludes.
Of course, there are plenty of draftable names on this list too. I won’t write a book on every one of them, but here are some quick thoughts as I rattle down the list:
Matt Scott:
I’ve been saying since last September (mostly at Seahawks.net) that Matt Scott was someone to keep an eye on. He made a very strong impression on me immediately last season with his quickness, arm talent, and improvisational ability. It’s true that in some ways he’s a little Colin Kaepernick mixed with a little Russell Wilson, but I feel a better expectation level might be something like Seneca Wallace or Aaron Brooks.
The tools are there, but he has some mental inconsistency and decision making issues. I don’t know if that’s related to inexperience or if he’s just got a low ceiling as a decision maker. Like Wallace and Brooks, Scott is a good improviser despite making dumb choices too often. To be fair, it’s not ideal to judge a prospect from his first year as a full time starter. Perhaps he can be coached into being a smarter player.
Scott doesn’t have a good frame for taking hits and was constantly injured last season. He’s one of the toughest quarterback’s you’ll ever see, gutting through an entire season banged up, even puking on the sidelines before running back out there on one occasion.
Scott has a natural point guard at quarterback skillset, he has elite quickness and good speed. He has excellent arm talent. Yet he needs time to develop as he lacks experience. He fits Seattle’s criteria about as perfectly as he can, so I’m not surprised at all to see the Seahawks bring him in for a workout. Reports were that Scott nailed that workout in Seattle which helped elevate his stock with teams across the league. Ultimately, I think Scott will leave the board before the Seahawks are comfortable drafting a backup quarterback. However, should he last longer than expected the Seahawks could become significant players for his services.
Jeremy Wright:
All I’ve seen of Wright is what there was to glean from the Khaseem Greene video that Rob linked earlier this week. Based on that, I’d say that he looks like a fringe NFL RB that could stick to the back end of a roster for a few years. He not very elusive but has a lot of length and power. He doesn’t dance behind the line of scrimmage- he just hits the hole and gets what he can. The immediate comparison I thought of was Vick Ballard. Ballard averaged just 3.9 yards per carry last season, but ended up being the Colts’ featured back anyway. Seattle isn’t as desperate for a starting running back as Indy is, to say the least, so I think Wright would probably be more of a bubble player on our roster.
Russell Shepard:
You can never have too many players named Russell right?
Shepard is a terrific athlete who looks like Percy Harvin in the above highlight clip. LSU lined him up at both running back and reciever to capitalize on his rare athleticism (4.5 forty at 6’1″, 38.5″ vertical jump) and for his ability to make tacklers miss. Shepard never really broke into LSU’s offense as a full time player, though it’s not uncommon for LSU backups to end up NFL players.
What I find most interesting about Shepard is that apparently he was approached by six different teams asking if he could convert to defensive back despite never playing the position before. Given that Seattle found great success with Stanford receiver convert Richard Sherman and has approached Brice Butler with the same proposal, it’s not unthinkable that Seattle could have been one of those six teams to view Shepard as a potential defensive back.
Martel Moore:
I used a goofy picture of Moore in the header and paired it with a Half Baked reference, but in all seriousness, his tape looks pretty good. On a side note, NIU quarterback Jordan Lynch will probably persuade some interest from the Seahawks when he’s done at NIU.
Aaron Mellette:
I’m not surprised Mellette got a visit. Being 6’3″ while running a 4.45 will get Seattle’s attention for their desired depth behind Sidney Rice. He also has long arms and big hands. His tape isn’t great, but Seattle isn’t afraid to gamble on coachable players with tools.
Tyrone Goard:
It’s not everyday you see a receiver who’s 6’7″. Goard also ran his forty in the 4.5s. He’s got a lot in common with Lavasier Tuinei, a guy Seattle brought in during undrafted free agency last year.
Rufus Johnson:
Another “man amongst boys” prospect from the lower divisions, similar to Armonty Bryant or Luke Marquandt. Rufus Johnson is highly comparable to physical defensive ends with untapped upside such as Lavar Edwards, Joe Kruger, and Maliciah Goodman, though Johnson is likely to be drafted several rounds later than those guys, if he’s drafted at all. Johnson also impresses in this interview posted on youtube. It’s hard to project small school players, but there is a lot to like about Rufus Johnson. I’m a fan.
to be continued…
More please, and thank you 🙂
I was kind of shocked by how athletic Sheppard was. The only thing I knew him from was the Senior Bowl where he didn’t do much on offense but looked pretty good on special teams. That’s why the talk of converting him to a DB made a ton of sense to me. After watching this I think he could probably do a little of everything untill he finds his spot. DB, ST, WR, RB. Much like I suggested with a former teammate of his who’s name we shall not say.
You should check out Aaron Mellette vs Vanderbilt in 2011. That game had me giving him a second round grade (when you add in his production and size) at the beginning of this year. He had a bad game vs North Carolina this year but when you look at it there was crappy, hurried throws because the o-line couldn’t handle all the freak of nature type d-lineman that they constantly seem to have. Then again, what small school o-line would stand a chance? He currently sits at a low 4th to a fifth for me just based on overall obscurity. But this guy can be a very good pro in a few years in my opinion
This should help you narrow your final Seattle mock draft.
nice! I’ve been looking for a list like this, thank you. Anyone else find it odd that they’ve only meet with 1 offensive tackle?
So out of that list Juszczyk stands out to me. Michael Robinson is in his final year and Seattle likes players who can bring options to the table. This is a Seattle type pick “over drafted” but works out well and they all eat crow.
Here are some interesting things about their shopping list:
Only 2 LB’s that I have never heard of?
Only 2 OL prospects
Only 2 late round TE prospects
Only 4 mid to late round DT’s (7 with two others Richardson and Jones who will be clearly off the board with only Sly Williams possibly being there at #56)
5 RB’s (including Robinson and Harvard)
5 QB’s
8 WR’s (not including Denard Robinson, Russell Shepard, and Brice Butler)
11 DB’s (including Butler and Shepard)
I think they clearly want to make the weakside LB /OT positions deeper and more competitive and they have only talked to two players at each position? It seems to me like they have their eye on a (player at both positions) but they don’t want to give it away. It just seems too suspicious.
TE is another position that we have talked about upgrading for future cap space purposes but they don’t seem to be too interested in that position. Maybe they don’t like the TE class or maybe they don’t want to give away who they are really interested in (it was a very slow TE class compared to the DB’s)?
DT? Same thing. Another semi-need position and only 4 mid to late round prospects they’ve talk to? They might not be in love with the class because there are only a handful of players who fit their height, weight, speed and length requirements or they could be targeting someone else completely. I would bet that they do draft one of these DT’s though – my favorite is Sefan Charles.
Positions that are already pretty deep at like QB (thank you Russell!), DB (legion of Boom + Winfield), and WR (Harvin, Rice, Tate, Baldwin not bad) they have talked to 24 different players at those thee positions. It tells me that they are just shifting through the hay stack looking for their needle at those positions. If the value exceeds the need then they will draft one of these guys but the price has to be right.
I also found it interesting that most of the DB’s that they have talked to aren’t high profile names (excluding the Honey whatever) and most of them are kind of short at 6ft or under. The reason I find that weird is because this is an extremely deep draft for CB’s. It wouldn’t be surprising to me if 11 (or more) DB’s were drafted in the first 55 picks and Seattle hasn’t been rumored to be involved with any of them? For a Coach whose background is in the secondary isn’t that odd? I mean a muscle car collector – just because he has a Shelby Mustang – doesn’t stop drooling over other awesome cars, right? Why isn’t that happening here? They seem to only be looking at the ones at the park and sell lot next to your house.
Christon, nice write-up.
Hey Kip. Thanks for doing this. I tried to get a discussion on the board regarding this topic just the other day. Kudos!
After watching that Sports Science on Sly Williams, and seeing in this article that a scout spoke to him… One can hope
Last week my mock draft looked like this;
2 (56) Menelik Watson OT Florida State
3 (87) Montori Hughes DT Tennessee Martin
4 (123) Zaviar Gooden OLB Missouri
5 (138) Garret Gilkey OG Chadron State
5 (158) Sanders Commings CB Georgia
6 (194) Zac Stacy RB Vanderbilt
7 (220) Mark Harrison WR Rutgers
7 (231) BJ Daniels QB Southern Florida
7 (241) Zach Sudfeld TE Nevada
7 (242) Alonzo Tweedy SS Virginia Tech
This week, based on the list Kip has expounded upon here, my mock draft looks more like this;
2 (56) Christine Michael RB Texas A&M
3 (87) Reid Fragel OT Ohio State
4 (123) Kyle Juszczyk FB Harvard
5 (138) Duke Williams S Nevada
5 (158) Aaron Mellette WR Elon
6 (194) Ryan Otten TE San Jose State
7 (220) Cooper Taylor SS Richmond
7 (231) BJ Daniels QB Southern Florida
7 (241) Stephan Charles DT Regina
7 (242) Eric Rogers WR Cal Lutheran
What do you all think?
Are these way off base?
Maybe a blend of the two? so many maybes?
The whole draft is a maybe. I could see your draft happening. You have 6 players that I have and 3 of those are in the same place picks 56, 158, and 220.
Same picks on which draft board, the upper or lower one?
nevermind…i see your mock below.
I could see Christine Michael at #56. Recently Kenneth Arthur represented Seahawks fans during the writers mock at Mocking the draft. He picked Jordan Reed at #56 (the available options weren’t particularly stellar, in fairness to him). I posted a comment in there that explained the reasoning behind some of the best options, and I ultimately said that if I were representing Seattle, I probably would have picked Christine Michael in that scenario. He’s a high risk high upside player that fits what I consider to be a future need and fits our offense perfectly.
As a diehard LSU and Seahawks fan I can tell you that having an addition like Russell Shepard would be a tremendous get for us in my opinion! He was originally a 5-Star recruit as a QB when he first came to LSU. However he didn’t ever attempt a pass. We ran the “Tiger” or Wild Cat as some have known to call it when he was in at QB. When he didn’t materialize at the QB position we tried him out at WR, but he’s routes were never great, and we haven’t had the greatest of options at QB to get him the ball regardless. Jordan Jefferson’s arm was quite awful. The one thing that stands out about Shepard is his blinding speed and athleticism. I like the idea of taking a 6th or 7th rd pick on the guy to see if he could make the transition. I could see him returning kicks too. The guy has off the charts athleticism and speed.
Pick 56 Christine Michaels RB Texas A&M, 5’10” 220lbs. 40-4.49
Pick 87 Travis Kelce TE Cincinnati, 6’5″ 255lbs. 40-4.65
Pick 127 Quinton Dial DT Alabama, 6’5.5″ 318lbs. 40-5.35
Pick 138 Luke Marquardt LOT Azusa Pacific, 6’8.5″ 315lbs. 40-5.35
Pick 158 Aaron Melette WR Elon, 6’2″ 217lbs. 40-4.46
Pick 194 Stefan Charles DT Canada, 6’5″ 310lbs.
Pick 220 Cooper Taylor SS Richmond, 6’4.5″ 224lbs. 40-4.48
Pick 231 Armonty Bryant DE43 E.C. Oklahoma, 6’4″ 266lbs. 40-4.78
Pick 241 B.J. Daniels QB S. Florida, 5’10.5″ 222lbs. 40-4.63
Pick242 Jordan Campbell OLB New Mexico, 5’10” 248lbs. 40-4.56
I imagine quite a few guys on that list will be asked as UDFA for camp and its possible quite a few will show up since our reputation seems have taken a jump forward.
Here’s my draft Scott Allen and I think it’s just as possible as your draft or even Rob’s
I like this one a lot.
This would be a tremendous draft.
I still think it needs a small tweak. Having a hard time with Campbell he seems a little short. I have another guy in mind but not sure if he’d be ready after having shoulder surgery. I’ll have it figured out before Tuesday.
Great job on this one. I’m liking duke Williams over cooper Taylor but I’d be thrilled with this on d day!
I’m feeling more confident about my TE pick, Cameron Morrah has signed with San Fransico. Not only do I have a slot open but Anthony McCoy will have to show me more this year with 1 year on his contract left. A good start would help with catching those easy 3rd and short passes.
Field Gulls did a mock draft where that Seattle trades 56 for a top 3rd and a 4th and they believe Michaels slides or Patton. With that 4th pick I would take Oday Aboushi ROT Virginia.
What would you take Rob?
Hard to say really, without seeing who’s on the board. Who was available?
They didn’t specify players just that the trade gave us another 4th round pick in the upper round.
Do a couple of these a day. Here is the latest.
Pick 56Christine Michaels RB Texas A&M
Pick 87Tyrann Mathieu CB LSU
Pick 127Reid Fragel OT Ohio State
Pick 138Kyle Juszczyk FB/TE Harvard
Pick 158 Aaron Melette WR Elon
Pick 194 Kwame Geathers DT Georgia
Pick 220 Cooper Taylor SS Richmond
Pick 231Jayson DiManche OLB/DE
Pick 241Jordan Campbell OLB New Mexico
Pick242Stephan Charles DT Regina
I’d be happy.
Nice! The more I go over it, the more it makes more sense. Even with the Honey Badger. I just have this gut feeling PCJS like him. I wanted to see, what I thought could be a legitimate draft, with Matthieu in it. Doesn’t look to bad at all for some reason. Decided not to put a QB in here either.
Winfield was a great acquisition, and his versatility should allow Quinn to develop some pretty wild 3rd down schemes. But don’t look for him go go beyond 1 year (he’s capable of having the kind of season you’d want to keep him, but you can’t count on that at his age). HB brings a slightly different set of skills, but the same kind of versatility at the same position, in addition to his ST abilities.
I wouldn’t stress not having a QB. We have 3 on the roster, and I think BJ Daniels can be had as an UDFA.
The only tweak I’d make is at 194 – Armonty Bryant instead of Geathers. IMO Bryant could be Clemons’ heir apparent.
No way you get Stephan Charles at 234!
Very good mock. I think all of these guys would be a great fit in Seattle. The only one I’m not sure of is Fragel because I haven’t really seen him play yet. Your best pick might be Cooper Taylor. I liked him as a LB conversion at first untill I saw his movement skills. He has the feet and hips to stay at safety and really excel. I could see Carroll liking him enough to take him in the 4th round.
I like Fragel because of his size and nature. He plays a little nasty. Not bad enough to draw a lot of penalties. Also, he played RT and looks good there. No need to switch him around. He could compete day 1.