In this article I’ll discuss how today impacts the Seahawks at #18, the latest O-line free agency situation and Geno Smith’s contract talks. But first…

Combine day one winners

James Pearce Jr (EDGE, Tennessee)
Only nine edge rushers have run a faster time at the combine than James Pearce Jr’s 4.47. He took this into the drills, showing effortless movement skills. He also ran a 1.56 10-yard split (anything in the 1.5’s is elite). When you consider he had the joint highest run-stop responsibility percentage among edge rushers (10.1%) and the third best pass-rush win percentage (22.7%) — it seems improbable at this stage that Pearce Jr will get out of the first half of round one.

Olu Oladejo (EDGE, UCLA)
Nicknamed ‘the Mayor’ for the way he led the players at the Senior Bowl, Oladejo jumped off the screen during drills. He’s built like a tank and looks absolutely jacked — yet his movement and change of direction was excellent. He didn’t run a forty but I’m inclined to say it doesn’t matter with the way he moved today. In a year lacking a lot of top-end talent, teams will gravitate to physical players with high football character. That’s Oladejo. At one point he was relaying instructions by the coaches to the rest of the team. He’s a natural leader and looks like a ‘win getting off the bus’ type of player.

Landon Jackson (DE, Arkansas) & Shemar Stewart (DE, Texas A&M)
Four players have weighed 260lbs+ at defensive end and jumped +40 inches in the vertical. These two, plus former #1 overall picks Myles Garrett and Mario Williams. That’s good company to keep. Stewart also ran an elite 1.58 10-yard split, tied for the second fastest by any defender over 265lbs over the last 15 seasons. Nick Bosa’s 1.55 seconds is the only faster time. Meanwhile Jackson’s runs were fine and he shifted around the field during drills nicely. He’d look like a Terminator if you painted him silver and some teams will prefer the Arkansas DE to the smaller edge rushers like Mike Green. Stewart didn’t do drills after hurting himself. One thing to note — don’t overreact to Stewart’s testing. He was only ever considered a first round pick in the first place because of his physical profile. Today shouldn’t give him a big jump in stock, it simply confirmed he is a great athlete. This isn’t new news. People are acting like he’s a top-12 lock all of a sudden. No, the assumption on physical skills was the only thing putting him in the round one discussion in the first place. A reminder, he only had a pass-rush win percentage of 12.4% and had 21 fewer pressures than Braydn Swinson and Donovan Ezeiruaku.

Ty Robinson (DT, Nebraska)
Although he looked a bit stiff at times changing direction during drills, you can’t argue with the fastest forty time among defensive tackles (4.83) and the speed on his 10-yard split (16.98mph) being the third fastest by a player at his position in the last three years. A 4.50 shuttle at 288lbs is very interesting and he’s extremely explosive — jumping a 33.5 inch vertical and a superb 9-11 broad. High character, incredibly physical, quick and explosive — with enough agility to be interesting. This is a second round pick profile to go with an AFC North mentality.

Donovan Ezeiruaku (EDGE, Boston College)
He didn’t run a forty but his 4.19 short shuttle at 248lbs was a highlight. Khalil Mack and Clay Matthews ran a 4.18. Harold Landry, a better comparison for Ezeiruaku, also ran a 4.19. He added a good 6.94 three cone, he has long 34-inch arms and he’s an explosive tester. He shared a leading 10.1% run-stop responsibility rate with James Pearce Jr and had a strong 18.2% pass-rush win percentage. He’s a reasonable 10-yard split away from being a comfortable first round selection.

Jihaad Campbell (LB, Alabama)
No linebacker was close to Campbell in terms of just how smooth he looked doing drills. Meanwhile, he ran a 4.52 at 235lbs with a 1.53 10-yard split. Roquan Smith ran a 4.51 at 236lbs with a 1.51 split. They are different types of players but their testing numbers are similar for quickness. The big difference is Campbell is far more explosive (10-7 broad vs 9-9). He’s such a ferocious, physical tackler and a versatile chess-piece who lined up everywhere from the box to edge to even free safety in 2024. There’s no doubt in my mind he’ll be on Seattle’s radar at #18.

Demetrius Knight (LB, South Carolina)
Every week on tape, Knight would make plays for South Carolina. Then you hear his backstory — taking on extra jobs to get by, showing pure determination to have a career in football. You just wondered about the testing. Not any more. Knight reached 22.76mph during his forty — the fastest time among linebackers (Jihaad Campbell’s 22.62 was second). He ran a 4.58 forty with a good 1.58 10-yard split. He also added a 4.25 short shuttle. Again, in a draft without a lot of obviously brilliant players — tough, productive, high-character individuals like this who test well will find a home in the first two rounds.

Other shout-outs

— Indiana’s CJ West is the ninth defensive tackle to weigh at least 315lbs and run a sub-5.0 forty at the combine since 2003. I haven’t studied him but will after the combine.

— Nazir Stackhouse looked like a tub of goo for Georgia but here he looked fantastic. He’s carrying almost no bad weight, he moved freely during drills and he was one of the big surprises for me. I can definitely see him being on the radar for teams looking for a nose tackle in round four.

— Derrick Harmon showed well enough to secure a top-40 placing and while Darius Alexander’s 4.79 short shuttle was disappointing, a 4.95 forty and some good explosive testing numbers are a positive.

— Tyleik Williams looks like he could stand to lose 10lbs but he still looked really good during drills. I need to check out Zeek Biggers after some good testing numbers for his size.

— Oklahoma State linebacker Nick Martin had a very good day of testing including an official 4.53 forty and a 38-inch vertical.

What it means for the Seahawks

I think it’s less likely that Jihaad Campbell will last to #18, while James Pearce Jr might’ve secure his place in the first half of round one.

There are a group of players who feel like they ‘fit’ the vision of a current-day Seahawk (high football character, tough, smart, productive). I’m starting to worry that a lack of top-end talent will push these players up the board. They include Colston Loveland, Jalon Walker, Jahdae Barron, Armand Membou, Will Johnson, Jihaad Campbell and Tyler Booker. All would be fine picks. All have, at one time or another, been mocked in a range close to #18.

I’d include the likes of Ashton Jeanty and Tyler Warren but I’ve not seen anything to think they’ll get out of the top-12.

Meanwhile, there are some question marks about the ‘fit’ in Seattle for players like Mykel Williams and Mike Green. I’m not sure how they’ll view James Pearce Jr’s personality and ability to compete against the run at the pro-level, despite his better numbers at Tennessee in 2024. The likes of Shemar Stewart carry a risk-factor despite his athleticism and I’m not sure Kenneth Grant and Walter Nolen are fits either. I don’t expect them to be interested in Shedeur Sanders.

They could end up in a bit of a no-man’s land at #18, just out of reach for players they’d feel really good about and a bit too high to consider someone like Grey Zabel. We’ll see how Kelvin Banks Jr tests this week but I’m not convinced he’s a guard on review and might be better suited to right tackle at the next level.

Don’t sleep on Donovan Ezeiruaku. He had a highly productive 16.5 sack 2024 season, he glides by blocks like he’s ice-skating and his ability to bend the arc and straighten is extremely impressive. Any combination of length and agility is appealing and he’s the type of player they’ve targeted in the past.

Trey Smith off the market

The Kansas City Chiefs have franchise-tagged their right guard, which wasn’t expected. Here’s what I think has happened. It’s been established at the combine that Smith would get more than the tag price of around $23m. The Chiefs have also discovered that most of the league wants Smith and are prepared to pay him. Now, they’ve taken control of the situation. They have an exclusive negotiating window with him to retain his services. Any team that wants him also now has to go to the Chiefs with a trade proposal.

I think it’s a smart move, in particular because Kansas City can just loan money from Patrick Mahomes’ contract to create tens of millions of cap space.

I do wonder though if this might make Joe Thuney available. Surely it’s worth asking the question?

On the negative side though, any team that was prepared to pay Smith a mega-deal will now have money to burn. They might pivot to Drew Dalman if they need a center. There’s been talk at the combine that he might get $20m a year. That could be too much for Seattle. We could also see more competition for other linemen with Smith off the market.

This isn’t going to be easy for the Seahawks to address their biggest need. They have to find a way to do it. Even if that means paying a bit more for ageing players like Ryan Kelly and/or Kevin Zeitler. They need some proven experience up front, especially if they want to insert another rookie into the line-up.

Geno Smith contract talks set for tomorrow

John Schneider told 710 Seattle Sports that he hopes to get an extension done with his starting quarterback and they’ll meet with his agent on Friday “where we find out what he’s thinking.”

Here’s what I think is going on. The Seahawks clearly want to retain Smith but only on their terms. That’ll likely mean a new deal that puts more money in Smith’s pocket this year, lowers his cap hit for 2025 and retains an annual out for the Seahawks as they plot a longer-term future at the position.

I think a lot of the upbeat, positive talk at the moment is similar to what they were doing with Drew Lock a year ago. They’re making a public statement of admiration because they think that will help in negotiations.

I also suspect Smith’s agents, privately, have been allowed to dig around at the combine to discover what other teams, if any, would be willing to acquire Smith and pay him a new deal. After a few days of research by both parties, now they’re going to come together to see if a compromise can be reached.

My guess is there isn’t a red-hot market for Smith given he turns 35 this year and didn’t put up great numbers in 2024. Therefore, a compromise will be reached and probably announced next week.

However, if Smith’s representatives go into that meeting tomorrow demanding silly money and a commitment without annual outs, this could turn quickly.

I doubt the Seahawks have any interest in pivoting to the Sam Darnold market, which will be big, or scrambling around for Daniel Jones types. Or, for that matter, having to start Sam Howell or have him compete with a rookie. This could be a leverage point for Smith’s people.

However, I don’t think the Seahawks are going to cave. I also think Smith’s best outcome is to stay in Seattle. It might be his best offer financially and his best environment, to have continuity.

I think it’ll get done. It’s best for all concerned. Clearly tomorrow is a big day though and it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

A final thought for now. If/when a deal is struck, expect a lot of big talk about commitment, being able to win with Geno and things like that. Why? Because I firmly believe the Seahawks have their eye on the quarterback class with the opportunity to take one on day two. It’ll pay off to try and convince the league that they aren’t interested, especially if you have one or two specific targets in mind.

If you missed my day-one combine recap stream, check it out here: