Wanna get away?
Last year, I wrote a fairly massive post in the hours before the start of Day III covering all the good remaining players. I thought about doing that again today, but then I looked over the remaining talent and was amazed by the sheer amount of it. There are roughly 75-100 players that I consider at least arguably worth a 3rd round grade or better, and I expect many of them to remain when the draft is over. Considering that Seattle has ten picks coming up, it makes for the most exciting Day III that I’ll ever experience in my lifetime, most likely.
Consider- this is already the best Seahawks roster in team history. This is one of the deepest drafts many people have ever seen. We have a front office that is considered to be the best in the league at nailing late round picks. And we have an incredible ten picks to use in the late rounds. The term “perfect storm” feels like an undersell.
When I returned to the blog back in January and talked about my excitement for this draft, I was essentially referring to today specifically. I knew all the way back then that we’d have an unbelievably loaded late round draft this year, and it appeared Seattle would have a lot of picks too (though I wouldn’t have guessed we’d have this many). Now is when the fun really begins. Especially if you’ve done your homework.
If you’ve followed this blog the last few months, and if you read my recent draft visit series, you should be fairly well equipped for many of the names we’ll see later today. With that in mind, I’d just like to cover some basic things that I think might happen. Having called the Christine Michael pick in round two, I’m on a bit of a roll, so might as well see how far I can push things.
John Schneider intimated in his Day II press conference that defensive tackle was the only true need for the team in this draft. With the selection of Jordan Hill in round 3, that need is dealt with. From here on out, all bets are off. That being said, I expect Seattle to continue to target the weakest areas of the roster with a degree of preference. On the whole though, I think Seattle will be on the hunt for the best athletes available, guys like TE Chris Gragg, T Luke Marquardt, WRs like Denard Robinson or Terrell Sinkfield (among many others), QB Matt Scott, FB/TE Kyle Juszczyk, FS Earl Wolff, SS Cooper Taylor, or CBs like Demetrius McCray, Tharold Simon, or Sanders Commings.
With that said, here are my thoughts on the positional breakdown for Day III. Remember, this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list- I’m sure there are plenty of players the Seahawks love that are either off my radar or won’t be mentioned here.
Tight End:
I think Seattle will look at this position, perhaps with their next couple picks. Remember though, Seattle grades for athleticism first, and Seattle’s current #3 Tight End is a terrific athlete from South America. Upgrading on his athleticism could be very tough, and even the best athletes of the bunch would only break even with Anthony McCoy.
The most likely candidates at tight end for Seattle are Chris Gragg, Nick Kasa, and Ryan Otten. Otten visited with Seattle. Kasa was linked to Seattle by Tony Pauline. Chris Gragg is by far the most athletic tight end in the draft, though he has the build of a receiver.
Offensive Tackle:
There is some very impressive talent still on the board at tackle.
I’m a huge fan of Luke Marquardt and would have probably drafted him at #87 if the pick were mine to make. He has Nate Solder type measurables, athleticism, and nastiness. I don’t know if David Bahktiari fits Tom Cable profile well enough as he’s more of a finesse tackle, but he really impressed me on tape and I wouldn’t mind getting him anywhere in the draft.
David Quessenberry had better tape than I expected and has a lot of power. I think he has fringe second round talent athletically. He met with the Seahawks, too. And then you have Jordan Mills, the Louisiana Tech left tackle that was rumored to draw heavy interest from Seattle back in February.
Interior lineman:
I’m not really expecting Seattle to add a guard, but Lemuel Jeanpierre is a free agent next season and prepping a cheap alternative at center could make some sense. I don’t think Seattle would add an interior lineman under normal circumstances, but they do have ten picks to use.
Fullback:
I don’t think Seattle will bring in another classic running back, unless they feel he has fullback versatility (Kregg Lumpkin and Vai Taua were RB/FB hybrids last year). Kyle Juszczyk is a player I am highly intrigued by. A converted tight end moving to fullback, this Harvard grad has a little bit of Gronk to his game, beastmoding through tackles like it’s nothing.
He’s a unique player and a great athlete. I have to imagine he’s at least on Seattle’s radar. Oh that’s right, he is on their radar. He had a team visit with the Seahawks.
Quarterback:
I’ve never seen a 4th round this loaded with quarterback talent before. I don’t need to rehash the names, but I would keep an eye on Matt Scott and Tyler Wilson with one of those 5th round picks. Matt Barkley would be something, though I feel for the guy and hope he lands somewhere with a real chance to start.
Wide Receiver:
As expected, an incredibly strong and deep receiver class remains loaded heading into Day III. My favorite player, Ryan Swope, remains available, as does Rob’s, Quinton Patton. There are seriously fifteen or so receivers I’d be excited to get. It’s crazy. And though I think Da’Rick Rogers is probably another Titus Young, everything else about him is very Seahawk-like.
I think Seattle will strongly favor receivers over 6’3″, namely Marquess Wilson, Mark Harrison, Marcus Davis, Rodney Smith, Tyrone Goard, Courtney Gardner, Greg Herd and the guy who I’ve probably jinxed into being a Seahawk by not talking about him…
Brandon Kaufman from Eastern Washington. Not only is Kaufman basically a better version of Kris Durham, but he had 10 catches from 140 yards against the Huskies when he played them. He was covered in that game by first round pick Desmond Trufant.
Cornerback:
Tharold Simon and Sanders Commings are still around. I’m not totally shocked, but whoever gets them is getting incredible value at this stage. Both are big corners that run well and have good tape.
Marc Anthony was a projected second rounder by a consensus of anonymous executives, yet still remains available, and he comes from the Pac-12.
Demetrius McCray has awful tape but awesome measurables- the kind of specific measurables John Schneider really goes for (long arms, etc).
Don’t forget about Brice Butler, the Richard Sherman type project with connections to Pete Carroll. It should be interesting to see if Seattle drafts him or if they chance using their connections to get him in undrafted free agency.
And then there is my favorite late round corner- Micah Hyde. I wouldn’t be shocked if Hyde somehow went undrafted, but he’s just a great football player. In many ways, he’s a poor man’s Dee Milliner.
Safety:
Look for someone with speed. Earl Wolff is still out there. Fantastic athlete. Ditto Shamarko Thomas. Jakar Hamilton is a player I like a lot with one of those 7th rounders. I like him more than the guys he competed with at Georgia: Shawn Williams and Bacarri Rambo. Duke Williams visited Seattle and has great speed to go with his big hitting ability.
Linebacker:
I’ve always been lukewarm on Khaseem Green’s tape. I know that he had good stats, but he seemed to me to be more of a damage control linebacker than a playmaker. I had a 4th round grade on him and felt confident he’d end up in the 4th round, and that was when I was assuming he’d run a forty time in the 4.5s. He’s not fast on tape, but he also looked like he was holding back. I don’t really care about his decent pro-day time, as players usually improve on those. His combine time was in the 4.7s. No thanks. If Seattle does draft him, it means they don’t value speed as much as I thought. I’d be a little surprised if they did. I guess we’ll see.
Cornelius Washington, who isn’t even a true linebacker, is the only remaining linebacker to run a forty time under 4.7 seconds at the NFL Scouting combine. Think about that. This clearly wasn’t the year for Seattle to grab a linebacker with a significant investment.
Later on, much later on, I would make a case for Jayson Dimanche, Craig Wilkins, Michael Clay, John Lotulelei, Ty Powell and AJ Klein. I kind of hope they avoid Jelani Jenkins, especially after the forty he ran. If Seattle doesn’t take Khaseem Green, I think there is a very decent chance they wait for undrafted free agency. The speed at linebacker just isn’t there this year.
Defensive line:
If Seattle only had a few picks left, I wouldn’t really expect them to add more linemen on the defense. But with ten picks to spend, you can probably assume that defensive line is still in play. Some of my favorite remaining options include Stefan Charles, Armonty Bryant, Rufus Johnson, Abry Jones, Jesse Williams, Alex Okafor, Brandon Jenkins (a natural LEO), Quinton Dial, Montori Hughes, Joe Kruger, Lavar Edwards, and of course John Simon.
I’m not a fan of Devin Taylor, but I’m keeping an eye on him as he has athleticism that nearly rivals Ezekial Ansah or Margus Hunt.
Marquardt, Commings, and Simon please!
Hurray for us!!! I loved yesterday. When you add Harvin to the mix, that is quiet the haul. Two great offense playmakers and a situational DT w/ pass rush ability.
It will be very interesting to see where they go today, I can hardly wait… Depth at OL and grabbing a BJ Danials-type backup QB prospect seems obvious. I must say though, one thing that really is intriguing is drafting a QB like Scott or even Barkley for a future trade. Who would ever thought Barkley would have fallen this far.
I still don’t understand what they will do w/ all of these bodies though. Any thoughts?
GO HAWKS!
Hard to believe with the way it seemed, but what about Matt Scott in the 5th. It is at the very least a possibility.
My favorite players left in the Draf6t are Darick Rodgers, Mark Harrison, and Sanders Comming Im hoping for 2 of the three… If Barkley is there when we pick in the 4th I hope they take him
Who is the TE from South America? I thought Fells was from like Finland or something..
He only played basketball in Finland for a year to my knowledge… I don’t follow basketball so I can’t really comment much more on this subject but his signing has been acknowledged in a Finnish blog also.
Darren Fell nickname, Diesel 6’7″ 280lbs. joker TE. Play for Argentina pro basket basketball team.
http://blog.seahawks.com/2013/04/19/the-real-rob-report-offseason-workout-in-hermosa-beach-california/
I feel comfortable knowing that, when John selected Jordan Hill, he still had Brandon Williams, Jesse Williams and Montori Hughes to choose from. John went with the pass-rushing 3-tech, and let’s hope he has found the next Geno Atkins. The Seahawks could still use another 320 lb run-stuffer, so let’s see what happens. Sit back today and watch the master at work….I fully expect that John, with his ten picks, will find a pro bowler or two, and a bunch of guys who will push for a roster spot. Players like Howard, Guy, Toomer, Maxwell, Morgan, Thurmond, etc, better get ready to compete.
Agreed… the fact that they passed on those guys assures me that they weren’t settling. Heck, it even sounded like Schneider intimated that when trading down in the second that Michael was likely to be there and Hill as well. Sounds like he might have even potentially been in play with the second round pick. Now that would have been interesting!
The thing about Hill that worries me is that John said he was worried about reaching to fill depth at a certain position. My question then, is does Schneider think he reached for Hill? Schneider always struck me as a guy who drafts for BPA first and need second; If Hill is just a body to them, why draft him? I really hope they see him as more than just a body who comes in a certain mold they want. He needs to be a player they think could be good in this league. Not just a little good but pretty damn good.
What indication has been given that Schneider reached for Hill?
This quote from Schneider, particularly the first sentence:
“That was the one spot that quite honestly when you’re putting it together that you’re a little nervous that maybe you’re pushing players because of a need. We felt like there was a ledge here now with Jordan. We couldn’t pass on Christine because of where he was on our board and how highly we regarded him, but this was the next tier of defensive tackle. There was a fairly big drop-off.”
It just seemed as though he was suggesting that Jordan Hill could be one of those players that was pushed for because of need.
But it is encouraging that they were looking at him with their second-round pick. I don’t think they got to the third-round pick and said: “Oh crap! Who’s left at defensive tackle?! Take the guy at the top of that list!” I think there was some pre-meditation here. It just worries me when we picked for need when there were some high high upside guys on the board.
I would probably feel more secure if we drafted Lemonier or an O-lineman. But this front office keeps us on our toes. It’s just what they do.
Did you say the same thing for Irvin, Wagner, and Wilson last year, because every one was considered a huge reach by the media at the time. Just saying that the hawks do not worry themselves into drafting a position.
If they can wait for what they want at QB, they surely waited for what they felt was worthy of there selection at DT.
This concern is justified in my opinion, but the Hawks were patient and waiting. I would see it differently if they had traded up because they needed to get someone.
I got more Schneider’s quote that he didn’t want to push his current players on the roster by not getting a guy who fit their scheme. Without a pass rushing DT he may be asking guys like Scruggs, Howard, McDaniels and Bennett to fill a vital part of the 4-3 under system without the skillset to do it. If one of them gets injured and the rest show they can’t play an effective pass rushing 3-tech, they may fail even though they are more than capable to play a different part in the defense somewhere else.
no this implication tells me that he that with their draft philosophy Hill was a mix of BPA on the board as well as need.
For example. He was an equal grade to everyone else on the board, and met the need. This is why Michael was taken in the 2nd. He had a higher value than Hill based on being BPA/grade and beat out positional need.
also, what he was saying is that DT was the one spot that they felt there was a need, and therefore would be the position that they would fear reaching at. This means that they would be very intentional in there philosophy not to take a player to early as a safegaurd against reaching.
How can ya say it wasn’t a need? We just replace Leon Washington spot on the roster with a better running back.
Schneider said that DT was the only hole he saw on the roster. That is what I was talking about. RB was a need, but they took one because of a 1st round value falling to them, not because they had to have a running back.
They took hill because they would have taken him in the 2nd potentialy if Michael was not there. They saw him as enough value in the second and still got him in the third.
I actually feel that there are more needs on this team as far as depth than many people do. If we draft 10 times today I see every single possibility that each of them makes the roster. It is not likely, but we do have that many depth upgradeable positions on this allready stacked roster.
should have said hole in the first post. There are many more needs on a team than holes, and this is what Schnieder was talking about is holes.
Schneider said logic behind moving back in the second was that they felt that one of the two guys Hill or Michael would be still available. Both were and the picked up Michael.
To me that means that when they got Hill the next round they felt like it was fantastic value because they rated him worthy of their 2nd round pick if Michael wasn’t there. So not a reach.
I remember the comment you are alluding to. Im pretty sure they were concerned they would reach to fill a need, and relieved that they stuck with the plan and still got their guys.
Great call, Rob! Christine Michael has the physical potential and now the opportunity to learn the emotional secrets of Beast mode from the Beast himself. I love the way Coach gets contributions from young players right out of the gate. I like Turbin, but when he spelled Lynch, Beast game was on the bench. I think CM has the potential to maintain our smash mouth Beast game, giving Lynch a better chance to stay healthy. I am a big fan of not using Harvin on kickoffs. His greatest value might be the distraction he creates as defenses must focus a disproportionate amount of attention to him. Let’s keep him healthy and let CM return kicks?
The Jordan Hill pick could prove to be genius. With our stable of talent at DE, we just need a little push or penetration from the middle so QB’s cannot step up. Our DE’s will do the rest!!!
KJ Wright was 4.75 forty, so yeah, there’s not a lot of LB speed in this draft, but I could see them targeting someone who runs in the 4.7s, it’s not as though they don’t have the picks where they’d have to be skimpy.
Thanks for all this. Some of the bet content on the web.
Thank you !!!
I knew i’d hate the first 2 days. Not because of the players we got, i love those picks. It’s those rams and thier fresh armada of talented receivers or the 9ers with their magnificent picks. (I really don’t want a healthy Tank facing us…)
However, in the true tradition of JSPC, there is always the 3rd day. The day they work their wonders. So, with 10 picks in a draft as deep as this one, today we go for the kill.
On a personal note, out of my 4 favorites – 2 are gone. Hunt and Kelce will not be with us. I’m begining to hate them already.
I’m still in love with Swope and Jesse Wiliams. Can i pretty please have one of them. Just one out of 10 picks is not that much to ask for is it ?
Ohh well….let the games begin….After a day off on Thursday we have the physical advantage to crush those other tired draft rooms and Pete always said you win it the end.
GO GET THEM…10 of THEM.
Maybe this comment isn’t totally on topic, but I wonder if in whatever Top Secret alchemical formula that PCJS and staff use to grade prospects’ character they heavily weight competitive drive, as well as ‘hunger’, perhaps on a sliding scale: with a higher grade to those chosen in the later rounds?
Rob and Kip,
You Guys are killing it with this coverage, killing it. I am frigging jacked up about day 3!
Kip…
What don’t you like about Devin Taylor?
I like what’s happened so far counting Harvin we have 3 picks now and we have the same number of picks that we had yesterday. One guy I’m going to be watching is Oday Aboushi ROT he’s not the greatest run blocker but then that’s what Cable does is teach and the ZBS helps. The guy thou is a round grader in pass protection. I still want Luke Marquardt and both would have a year to learn. No matter what one would start the following year and the other would be a backup how that for depth in a really important position.
Gotta love the smirk that both Schneider and Pete have during the draft. Like they know something the rest of us don’t.
Hawks got quite possibly the best RB in the draft (which is a need if you remember the Falcons game, We need depth at top Tier RB to maintain the ratio of runs we want to do)… And they got a 3 tech in the 3rd round who they would have selected in the 2nd if Michael wasn’t there.
Consider Harvin Michael and Hill (if he turns out to be a top tier 3tech..seahawks rated him as one).. things are looking good and we just got started
what players on our roster would be worth anything in draft day trades.
I am listing the players that I see on the team that I would not mind loosing, though I don’t know there value if any.
Paul Mcquistan (saves money 3m, and I think that a draft pick on the OL seals his fate anyway as he is a
very expensive backup.)
Chris Maragos (has he shown enough for them to use him to move up the board/I dont think you get a pick but maybe moving up)
Clinton McDonald (see Maragos)
Jeron Johnson (see Maragos)
Brandon Browner (If they truly believe in Jeremy Lane, do you get something for Browner and just add
more competition at the backend of the CB depth chart, as this has been successful
in the past. I don’t see it happening, but it may be a discussion point)
Breno Giacomini (Same type of concept as Browner, and it save you money at 4m for the year. This
would mean that they are comfortable with a player in the draft starting. It also would
mean that there are two OL high on the Hawks radar. Just like Browner, this is a
discussion topic.
Don’t go to hard on me for this, I just want to bring up some thoughts.
I wouldn’t move Browner, he is too cheap $ wise to move. It would be difficult to get an equal or better value in return. McQuistan maybe moves. Margos was just re-signed, so he isn’t moving especially when we gave him a raise. Giacomini is still the starter.