Rounding up the mock drafts

The NFL draft is only hours away, but who can wait that long? We need to know what’s going to happen RIGHT NOW, right?

Well of course no one knows for sure how the draft will play out, but it’s still fun to speculate. And speculate we media folk have over the past few weeks. There are probably a few thousand (if not more) mock drafts out there, and none of them will end up being exactly right thanks to trades and some picks that are just downright unexpected, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not fun to take a look at a bunch of mock drafts to see who your team might be picking.

So let’s take a look at a few, shall we? Before we get started, it’s worth noting that the Seahawks could very well end up not picking 12th. GM John Schneider has made no secret of the fact that he’d be willing to move down to acquire more picks, and today Albert Breer of the NFL Network reported that New England, which holds two picks late in the first round, has inquired about Seattle’s pick.

But assuming for a moment that the Seahawks do pick 12th, here are a few guesses at who they’ll pick.

In today’s Herald, both Chad Davis and I have the Seahawks picking North Carolina DE Quinton Coples. Coples obviously fits a need, though I tend to think South Carolina DE/LB Melvin Ingram, with his versatility, would also be a very good fit, though in my mock, and many others, Ingram won’t be around by the time Seattle picks 12th.

Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times also has the Seahawks taking a defensive end, but goes with Syracuse’s Chandler Jones whose stock has been on the rise of late. As O’Neil points out, the Seahawks aren’t afraid to go with their own evaluation of talent, even if it goes against the mainstream thinking, which is what happened last year when they took James Carpenter even though higher-rated tackles were still available.

Eric Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune has Seattle taking Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower. Hightower fits a need for Seattle, though by his own admission Williams thinks Hightower might make more sense if the Seahawks were trading down and picking later in the first round.

Over at NFL.com, their experts have a few thoughts on the Seahawks. Three have Seattle taking Coples, two go with Memphis DT Dontari Poe, two say Ingram, and one says Stanford guard David DeCastro.

At CBSSports.com, three experts have Seattle taking Boston College LB Luke Kuechly, one says Ingram, one says Coples, one says Jones.

Doug Farrar, who does excellent work over at Yahoo! Sports goes a different direction with Seattle taking Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill. Most people figure the Dolphins will grab Tannehill with the 8th pick, but if he does make it to 12, that will be an interesting decision for the Seahawks, who did sign Matt Flynn in the offseason, but are also believed to be very high on Tannehill.

Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks has Seattle going with Ingram as does SI’s Peter King.

I’d link to ESPN mocks as well, but theirs are insider articles, which mean you have to pay to read them, and really, isn’t there plenty of free draft speculation out there that we don’t need to pay for it?

Enjoy the last few hours of speculation. Soon we’ll have an actual draft to discuss.

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