For the last few years, John Boyle has written a great article discussing some of the events from within the Seahawks’ draft room. Obviously no trade secrets are shared — but there’s always a fed tidbits to get into.
You can read the full piece here.
When you combine the piece with the one written by ESPN’s Brady Henderson last week, I think there are a few ‘secrets’ to discuss…
— Boyle references the reaction to a pick in the 20’s that was seen as a reach by the Seahawks. In Brady’s piece, he noted, “some in the organization preferred (Beau Stephens) to Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge. It’s pretty easy to assume that the pick the Seahawks thought was a ‘major’ reach (as they call it) was the Texans selecting Rutledge at #26.
— When there were 10 picks left in round one, according to Boyle, the Seahawks had two players remaining with first round grades, “plus a handful more that are right on the line of being late-first or early-second rounders.” My guess is the two players with first round grades were Dillon Thieneman and Chris Johnson.
— Per Boyle, “At least one defensive player the Seahawks liked went off the board late in round one, drawing a reaction from the room.” With Brady also reporting the Seahawks were prepared to select Chris Johnson, it seems fairly straight forward to assume it was Johnson being taken by the Dolphins that disappointed the Seahawks.
— Going back to the comment of their being “a handful” of players right on the line of the first round, it does feel like the Seahawks had a collection of similarly graded players. Brady had noted in the past they liked R Mason Thomas. I can well imagine Treydon Stukes might’ve been in the conversation. Then there’s obviously Jadarian Price, who they took at #32. I’d said a few times before the draft I’d spoken to very respectable people in the league who viewed Price as an early second round prospect.
— After the 55th pick, Boyle says the Seahawks had two players left on their board with second round grades — one was a pass rusher, the other was Bud Clark. I think this is interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly — I wasn’t very high on Emmanuel McNeil-Warren or Anthony Hill Jr and thought both players were overrated in the media. Based on John’s article, the Seahawks didn’t consider either player worthy of a second round grade. Who was the pass-rusher? The next two to go were Keyron Crawford and Romello Height. They had Crawford in for a visit. If nothing else, it shows we were somewhat on the right track.
In my final mock I had Chris Johnson at #32, Keyron Crawford at #64 and Jonah Coleman at #96. That sounds like a plausible scenario based on what’s being discussed here.
— A defender the Seahawks liked at #96 apparently came off the board just before they picked. Brady’s piece noted the Seahawks liked pass-rushers Derrick Moore, R Mason Thomas and Jaishawn Barham. The Cowboys took Barham with the 92nd pick — so again, it seems pretty clear he was the player they were showing interest in. Boyle notes they had similarly graded players in that range, presumably that included Julian Neal.
— We discussed before the draft that there were opinions in the league that Beau Stephens warranted a day-two grade. I did a couple of mocks with the Seahawks taking him as high as #64. Per Boyle’s report, they clearly thought highly of him. By the end of the fourth round, Stephens was, “well above the rest of the field on their draft board.” It was a dynamic move to be aggressive and go get him. He might’ve been taken in round five but the Seahawks clearly rated him much higher than that.
— Brady, who as usual has been on top of things (and it was great to see him featured on ESPN with Dan Graziano), reported today that the Seahawks had a third round grade on Ty Simpson. It shouldn’t be a surprise — I imagine that was probably the league consensus on Simpson. Adam Schefter previously suggested that Simpson wouldn’t have been taken in round one, or at #34 by Arizona, had the Rams not selected him at #13.
It was a bizarre decision by LA, especially with the likes of Vega Ioane, Rueben Bain Jr and several others still on the board. They passed on an opportunity to load up an already strong roster with a quality player, to reach for a quarterback with only 15 college starts and a not altogether high ceiling.
Tomorrow Curtis will have a great cap review to dig into, be sure to check it out.
