I’m flying to Seattle in the next few hours so I’m not sure how active I’ll be on here over the next couple of days. In the meantime here’s a podcast where Kenny and I get stuck into the New England game, Christine Michael’s release, a crazy weekend of college football and a handful of quick-fire NFL topics. It’s a good one so check it out.
Welcome to Seahawks Draft Blog, providing daily analysis on the Seattle Seahawks and the NFL Draft.
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We have a great community in the comments, we just ask you keep things on topic.
Rob Staton
Hot topics
- Why the Seahawks are already facing a critical period under the new regime
- Instant reaction: Don’t be fooled, this was an embarrassing loss
- Curtis Allen’s week six watch-notes (vs San Francisco)
- Scouting notes week six: Eye-catching O-liners, a player the Seahawks might target, Luke Lachey notes, Cam Ward is what he is & more
- Video: 49ers preview with Puck Sports and an honest debate about the Seahawks after the Giants loss
Go Hawks
Bruce Irvin might turn into a 3rd round comp for Seattle. He currently is, but is ‘on the bubble.’ Please be so. The 3 rd round has been a goldmine for this team on draft day. Its the round you roll the dice on guys.
DT John Jenkins was signed to try and give them more pass rush from the interior according to PC. Hmmm….
Yes please to an extra third rounder in this class.
Yeah that would be incredibly exciting. I know its way too early to confirm, but the 2018 class looks like it could be loaded too.
Last I checked Jenkins is about 3fity. Not sure how much ass rush your going to get there.
Oh, I think that dude could give you plenty of, ahem, buttrush lol!
Haven’t cleveland already traded their 3rd rounder, which was for alex mack, who signed for the same money as irvin?
Yes. But the thing people forget about comp picks is how much a guy plays.
Snap count adjustments can change it. That’s why Sweezy is only a 6th.
I notice Sean Smith is listed as being as canceled out by Mitchell Schwartz.
That’s a bit strange as as their salaries are about 3 mil apart, and KC lost someone else for about the same coin as Scwhartz.
Isn’t that a bit strange that you can trade the pick before snap counts are known, or is it possible for the pick to change after being traded?
Good question.
Not sure to be honest. I’m in the same boat as you are my man. Some of this comp pick stuff can be confusing.
I think they just write the necessary conditions into the trade. Like if this fourth rounder becomes a fifth then yada yada yada. But I doubt you’ll see these teams miss too often
That’s exactly what they do. It’s not unlike the conditions of those NBA draft pick deals where they exempt them if they are lottery picks.
I assume that is what Cleveland did in the Collins trade. Everybody reported they sent their “3rd round compensatory pick” to New England in the deal, I would think they’re banking the Alex Mack comp draft pick. What will be interesting is what the language of the deal states if they are not awarded the round pick they’re projecting…is there language that gives their “natural” pick or do they just stick with the compensatory pick?
With a team like Cleveland destined to be near the top of every round, it could be a big difference if not worded properly.
One scout said Utah’s Garrett Bolles is the best tackle in the country and it isn’t even close. I agree with that.
What’s the source? I also agree by the way.
NFL.com ‘Sources Tell Us’ a DJ piece.
I was hoping ‘Bama DT Dalvin Tomlinson would be available on day 3, but it looks like some teams think he goes in the range DT’s Jarrah Reed & A’Shawn Robinson went.
I really really hope that was a Seahawks scout!
You never know if you were going to ask a scout about Tackles you would likely ask the Hawks, Vikings or Panthers.
I think it was an AFC West scout.
Yeah, it’s statements like that one that point to a pretty strong signal this kid has to come out early. Get the cheddar now, NFL teams are desperate for you.
And not only that, but his age will be a factor and he has a baby coming too.
Speaking of older prospects, USC DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu is monster! Reminds me of Haloti Ngata a little bit. Great 2 gapping DT. He dominated that Udub O-line. The whole game. A physical presence in the run game. His burst off the ball ois incredible. 6’1, 320 lbs., transferred from Utah.
They got a nickel/safety hybrid in Leon McQuay III that has excellent range, smart, heady DB, and just always seems to make big impact plays. Good size too at 6’0-6’1, 195 lbs. He has the look and feel of a STs standout.
Yeah, I thought #96 had a dominant game against the Huskies. I thought the whole Trojan DL was impressive.
Anybody else watching Navy football this year? Check out Jamir Tillman, Sr. WR at 6’4″ and 212 with the wingspan of a pterodactyl. On a Navy team that throws the ball more this year, he’s a standout. Looks like a budding hybrid TE if he can add a few pounds. Catches everything thrown his way and seems to have the speed to beat CBs. His father played in the NFL. Some service academy guys are being granted the opportunity to play in the NFL while deferring their service. He would be a steal if he’s still on the board in day 3.
Interesting guy will have to check him out.
I know this is off topic but has anyone seen how Irvin and Okung are doing on their new teams? I never catch their games want to see if PC/JS made the right call… And curious about compensatory picks (though I know Okung screwed us up :).
Irvin right now is a 3rd round comp, but is on the bubble. So in other words, teetering between a 3rd and 4th round comp.
Sweezy is a 6th round comp. And we have a 7th rounder from Carolina through the Kevin Norwood trade.
As for Okung and Irvin? Okung has been up and down. He was fantastic early in the year, but hasn’t been very consistent. Really he’s been the same there as he was here his last year or so.
Irvin has been the opposite. Was struggling to adjust early on, but has started to come on as of late.
I do think they made the right calls. Although I loved Bruce and still do.
Okung really was stellar from pre-season to about week four. He’s picked up an injury there as well.
That Oakland team ain’t no joke boy.
Would love to see them make a run at the Conference Finals
Yeah I’m on board the Oakland train this year. I always thought their QB Carr could be good. Now he is surrounded by talent and their defense looks tough too.
I wasn’t really impressed with Irvin in the Broncos game.
Looked like he was just running staright into a blocker and getting stuck there.
My only can’t miss podcast. You two are awesome together. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Geoff 🙂
Releasing Christine like that sure is telling to me. Must be his attitude and lack of adapting to the game plan? I trust Pete and John so I am net worried. Just seems really weird at this point in the season. My guess is that he still feels entitled which he nee to get under control if he still wants to make skme cheddar as an NFL player. The fact they kept Alex Collins over Michael sure is telling unless they just dig some Celtic dancing, ha.
Go Hawks
Your probably right about C-Mike although PC said today it was more about the guys they got coming up behind him. Rawls, Prosise, and Pope. But, the big factor was apparently the way Pope has been practicing since coming back.
He said Rawls is going to play ‘considerable’ amount Sunday. He wanted to play against NE, but they were taking the cautious route.
Pope they tried to get through to the PS, but misjudged or mishandled that. Compared Pope to Justin Forsett.
If Rawls returns to form like I think he will and they sound like he will too, Pope does what he did pre-season wise, and Prosise being who he is, IMO they’ll target a goal line/short yardage back to compete with Collins in the draft. Just my current line of thinking.
I still think they want an ĂĽber athlete even if it’s an undrafted no name.
A spark that reminds everyone that they’re not necessarily safe
Could be.
A goal line/short yardage back doesn’t have to be an un-athletic plodder.
If we look at their stable of RBs, what’s the one trait or skill set they’re missing?
Mike was clearly never part of the future, yet I find his release just a bit premature, even if only by a week. Just to make certain on Rawls Durability.
The questionable oddity to me is, with the lack of Our impending free agents this year. I was under the impression that we would hold onto Mike until his looming free agency… To possibly acquire an extra 5.
I can only assume Schneider and Mike’s film was pretty forward with GB. Bad Reads, Not a Student, and best/worst of all… THAT BOY BE TRIPPIN, physically and mentally. Of ALL the places he’s been, GB is by far his best short term destination to focus on getting his head in the game, unlike Seattle’s Freedom of Expression. Green Bay’s a living, breathing Aaron Rodgers personified team, let alone spending the winter in WISCONSIN.. Would briefly be earth shattering for Mike. So he’s in for an ultimate test, but if he can focus that motor, he’ll hopefully explode into that potential.
Best of Luck C-Mike, except for week 14 ✌
Wow grammar mistakes all over my post. Got gun happy and broke my rule of spell checking. My bad
Hey, Rob, just wondering what time Sunday or Saturday would work best for your schedule, if you still wanted to do a meet n greet?
Be cool to say I met you when you’re GM of the London Kings ?
Not sure yet Kenny — need to speak to my brother. Saturday probably best before the game but will update when I get to Seattle.
No problem. Whatever time; I think the Ram is a solid spot. It’s near the UW Stadium and large enough to accomodate a sizable crowd. Good food, too.
I’ll probably be there for most of the day just to enjoy the atmosphere. I’m taking the train up so I can get f8d ayyyyee
Just to reiterate; I am not Kenneth Arthur. With any luck one day I could be like him though ?????
That’s funny Kenny I think we all thought you were Sir kennith Arthur for a bit.
Go Hawks
Not witty or attractive enough
Cable says sowell is competing w Gilliam at rt now. What a meteoric rise for Fant and fall for Gilliam.
Love that they are keeping Fant at LT. It will be an incredible test this week though. SO curious to see who starts at RT>
I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Sowell. Say what you will about his abilities in pass pro, it always seemed to me like he enjoyed getting after it in the run game, something I don’t sense out of Gilliam.
Where does tony romo end up?
He read a statement at a press conference all but conceding that he’d lost the job there.
Who’s a QB short of being a contender?
Houston still
I could see Dallas getting a high pick for him in the offseason with teams desperate for franchise qb’s. Like Denver, if they want one or two more shots at the sb and don’t think Semian can do it, or Arizona, if Palmer hangs it up. Jets…
High pick? No way. His cap hit is crazy high for someone with his injury risk. He hasn’t started a game in over 12-months and has a cap hit of nearly $25-million next season with virtually all of that guaranteed.
Dallas would be lucky to give him away to a team willing to take on that financial burden.
Just stumbled on an article at the saints sbnation page.
They have 3 players left from the 2012 -2014 drafts.
They have really mismanaged their roster with huge free agent busts as well. They are just now getting out of dead money hell. Talk about wasting years of Brees.
Touch match-up this week. Philly’s WR’s and outside CB’s aren’t good, but the rest of the team is stacked.
There’s a reason they’re still #1 in DVOA. Wentz has been solid taking what the defense gives him, and we could struggle to stop their running game. The offensive line has been very good for them and they get Barbre back this week too. Avril & Clark need to feast on Hallelujah Vaitai at Right tackle.
The other side of the ball is what especially worries me. Cox and Graham are playing at all-pro levels, and Barwin & Curry round out a formidable pass rush. Our offensive line could easily be dominated like what we’ve seen in the Cards & Rams games earlier this season. Hicks, Bradham & Kendricks form a great LB group, and their safeties are very good as well.
One thing I’m not worried about is the Pats win getting to their heads. This team has the “1-0 every week” mindset. It should be a tough game, but I don’t expect a rookie QB to come into the Link and pull out the upset. (same applies for a potential playoff game with Dallas)>
Eagles are good, but I think you might be giving them a bit to much credit.
– #1 team so far this season according to DVOA, including the #1 defense & special teams
– Quality wins against the Vikes & Falcons
– Dominated a healthy Steelers team, and should have won against Dallas
– Pro Bowl Talent all over the roster (Peters, Brooks, Cox, Graham, Barwin, Hicks, Jenkins)
Their so-so record makes them very underrated by fans & media. I hope the Hawks are giving them the credit they deserve with their preparation this week. Stylistically, they may be a tougher match-up than NE, as Philly’s excellent DL should overwhelm our blocking schemes.
Yeah, they certainly got a test facing Barwin, Graham, and Cox.
But, I’ll be surprised if Philly scores more than 10 points.
Their STs are legit too. Seattle takes care of that, they’ll be fine.
Also, with RWs mobility almost completely back, it should be interesting to see.
For me this week is a true test of where Fant and our OL is at.If they can get through this week relatively well then I think it bodes very well for our OL the balance of the year and in turn our teams playoff chances.
Shwartz loves to bring pressure and they have players to do it effectively I just hope the OL has their communication down.
For sure – if the OL can get through this week without getting dominated, I’ll consider Seattle the easy SB favourite.
Schwartz would be smart to lay off the blitz and just rush 4 most of the game, we’ll see.
Vol12 – If Bennett was playing, I’d like their chance of holding Philly to 10 or fewer, but mid-high teens is more likely without his disruptive presence against the run & pass.
Also, RW still isn’t close to 100% healthy. He might not be all season playing through an MCL sprain. He still looks pretty slow running the ball, but at least he has his functional pocket movement back. Just a few weeks ago he was getting the snap and basically standing still, throwing off his back foot.
An X factor this week for the Seahawks offense could again be Prosise running and catching in the flat, and on screens. I think Seattle is well aware of the aggressive style of the Philly DL, and will probably to drawing up plans to us it to their advantage. I”m also expecting to see them spread it out more in 5 wides, and make Philly cover the whole field. In my observations, RW is most lethal in the pocket in these sets probably because he sees things better than in the bunch formations.
Gotta disagree man.
What I saw from that defense Sunday night with Chancellor back, who moves the ball on this defense? I think Wentz won’t handle the noise, hell be overwhelmed with what he sees, Ryan Matthews is average at best. Agholor is awful, Jordan Matthews is average, they don’t use their TE.
And I’d say RW is about 85-90%.
Philly can’t win on the road, they are kind of like Seattle was for a while in 2012. Their DVOA is kind of being propped up by their early start – blowing out two of the worst teams in football and absolutely destroying Pittsburgh (which doesn’t look like that great of a win anymore based on their performance of late). Their defense is for real though, I don’t think it’s #1 in the NFL good but certainly top 5-10. They haven’t been blown out yet but I can’t see how they win. 9th worst in giving up explosive plays bodes well for us. How are they going to score?
Allen Barbre was a Seahawk. Too bad we moved on…
I see DT John Jenkins purely as a shot across the bow when going against Dallas. He was one of the first players I ever watched for draft purposes and was the NT for a team that had Alec Ogletree and Jarveis Jenkins killing it. Not very quick but impressive wingspan to disengage and take on ball carriers. A player like this I think can keep Bennett, Clark, and wagz, super clean. The current DL production to me is amazing but someone else to absorb blocks with McDaniels, Rubin, and Reed for rotational reasons could be awesome in a few weeks. Also in PC/JS I trust when it comes to forgotten dlinemen
He’s an interesting addition. I liked him coming out of college. I think he still might have some upside to his day. It was interesting that Carroll said they singed him to give more pass rush. My first thought was ” I think you meant to say run defense, Pete.” But with Bennett a few weeks away, maybe they do see something in him to help give an inside push, and Siliga just wasn’t could to help Reed and co with that. It’s also kinda interesting to my that I think Jordan Hill is still a street free agent, and they didn’t look to bring him back.
I just read that Christine Michael was signed by the Packers. We’ll see how long that lasts.
And apparently, the Vikings were trying to get Michael as well.
Great podcast Rob.
Hawks have lots to work on in the 2nd half but the scary thing is (for the rest of the league) is they will get better!
Likewise it’s great seeing the shifting requirements for next year’s draft esp with the high level performances of the core guys(!); with the progressive emergence of the newbies in Procise, Fant, Shead; the injuries situation and it’s impact when filling in or when vets return; the holes not quite fixed with the departures of Mebane & Irvin; and the possible underachievement/upgrade required at certain positions such as OT (Webb/Gilliam), 3T (Jefferson/Hill), 3/4th WR (Kearse), & SAM.
Enjoy the game(s) and the scouting opp. Represent!
I’m in the process of going through the NE game again (about halfway through)… Frank Clark had an impressive game. He reminds me so much of Michael Bennett; explosive, athletic.
For fun I did a fanspeak draft this week. They do not have Bolles as a draftable player. Why have we caught on, but other draft sites have not? Other than the absolute brilliance of Rob and the gang here on the message board.
Bolles is 24 already, and this is his first season playing D1 after transferring from JuCo. He was not on the draft radar at all prior to this season. For the most part, all the draft sites out there are well behind NFL scouts in their prospect analysis, and this is an extreme case due to the factors I mentioned. We’re lucky to have Rob introduce us to different options well before draft season comes up, and this one is gold. Bolles looks awesome on tape, especially as a punishing run blocker. As long as his athletic testing goes well (and it should), he’ll be an easy day 1/2 draft pick.
Bingo.
Scouts are about 3-4 months ahead of the draft websites and what not. It starts back in May with scouting services Blesto and National. Only 14 teams don’t use one of those 2 company’s.
Most thought I was wrong, but looks like I was right. Pete said the Hawks are a passing team. Not to say they will pass 70%, but while his philosophy was run and play good defense, paying Wilson and watching him play, I knew it would happen.
Now, does that mean the look at the draft differently? Doubtful. I still think they try and find special players early and special athletes later.
Seen that Simon may not play Sunday for the cards due to injury, that surprises me as much as Pierre Loius, not playing for us.
Hey guys. How many draft picks do the Hawks have at the moment? What rounds do they fall in? I know they got penalized and lost that 5th round pick.
1-natural
2-natural
3-natural
4-projected comp (irvin)
4-projected comp (sweezy)
(no natural 4th, traded to Patriots to draft Q Jefferson)
(no natural 5th, forfeit for camp violations)
6-natural
7-received from Carolina for K Norwood
(very likely no natural 7th, traded to Oak conditionally for D McDonald)
Sweezy was originally projected a 4th based on the FA contract deals, but hasn’t played so at the moment he’ll be a 6th. If he gets back on the field it will go back up, but everything out of Tampa is saying they’ll shelve him for the season.
Also Okung’s deal is goofy so that could work its way into things somehow.
Irvin could sneak into the 3rd round too.
6 or 7 picks isn’t terrible but after last years massive haul, we can’t complain. Thanks for posting this!
They’ll generate another pick or two through trade
Special thank you to the Philadelphia Eagles for passing on Bobby Wagner and ET.
And RW.
To be fair, they took Brandon Graham one spot before ET. He had a slow start but he’s graded out as the top edge defender in football this year. Mychael Kendricks is good but he’s no Bobby.
Eagles extend Chris Maragos, signing him to a 3 yr deal. Good for him.
Player to watch during the Eagles game – Bryce Treggs. If you scouted Kenny Lawler you no doubt saw film of Treggs. He’s a good route runner, very quick, a real deep threat with lightning speed. He’s also small and has a rough time getting off press coverage. He hasn’t seen a lot of time as he’s just coming on due to the Josh Huff injury, but the Eagles could try to fit him into their gameplan with deep passes.
I wonder if he’s the son or cousin of former NFL player Brian Treggs, who played at Cal, I think. I liked Treggs…