Is this the year the Seattle Seahawks finally stick to the NFL draft script observers have handed them?
Since arriving as Seattle’s general manager in 2010, John Schneider has rarely drafted the way the pundits said he should. When the pundits say the Seahawks should zig, Schneider likes to zag, conventional wisdom be damned.
Schneider doesn’t care what draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. thinks. He drafts the players he believes are the best, rather than picking lesser players who play a position outsiders theorize is one of need for the Seahawks.
That strategy has largely worked. One look at Seattle’s record over the past four seasons, along with a glance of the list of players the Seahawks drafted from 2010-12, is proof of that.
But is this the year Seattle’s needs are finally so great they force Schneider’s hand?
The Seahawks are in dire need of a left tackle. Russell Okung drew the responsibility of protecting the Seattle quarterback’s blind side each of the past six seasons. But Okung is gone, having signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos. The current candidates to succeed Okung are Garry Gilliam, a converted tight end who played right tackle last season in his first as an NFL starter, and Bradley Sowell, a low-budget free-agent signing who hasn’t started a game since 2013. The draft is deep at tackle and a good prospect should be available when Seattle is scheduled to pick in the first round at 26th overall, so doesn’t that have to be the choice?
The other position that seems to be one of need is defensive tackle. The long-serving Brandon Mebane departed via free agency for San Diego. His fellow starter, Ahtyba Rubin, will be 30 when the season starts. The other options, Jordan Hill and Sealver Siliga, have yet to prove they can be full-time starters in the NFL. Defensive tackle is another position considered deep in this year’s draft. If the Seahawks don’t go for a tackle in the first round, they have to take a defensive tackle, right?
The logic seems clear, but that’s not the way Schneider works. Here’s a refresher of how Schneider approached conventional draft wisdom in the past:
— 2011: The Seahawks were desperate for a cornerback to play opposite Marcus Trufant, and perhaps most importantly had no long-term solution at quarterback following the departure of Matt Hasselbeck. Yet Seattle took offensive linemen (James Carpenter, John Moffitt) with its first two picks, waited until the fifth round to address cornerback (hitting a home run with Richard Sherman), and did not select a quarterback, leading to a year of Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst behind center.
— 2012: The Seahawks needed a new middle linebacker and needed to address their pass rush. Though they took a defensive end in the first round, Seattle “reached” for Bruce Irvin, who was rated nowhere near 15th overall. After shoring up middle linebacker in the second round with Bobby Wagner, in the third round the Seahawks, having already handed out a big-money contract to Matt Flynn to be the team’s quarterback, took an undersized QB named Russell Wilson, a selection that was largely panned by the pundits.
— 2013: Coming off a surprising season with a young roster, Seattle had few holes that needed filling. One position that definitely seemed well stocked, however, was running back, where Marshawn Lynch was coming off an All-Pro season. So naturally the Seahawks selected running back Christine Michael with their first pick.
— 2014: The Super Bowl champions lost mostly role players from their title team, but needed some help on the offensive line following the departures of Breno Giacomini and Paul McQuistan, as well as at receiver with Golden Tate leaving. This time the Seahawks largely held to form, using their first two picks on receiver Paul Richardson and lineman Justin Britt.
— 2015: Seattle needed nothing more than a center, with the team having traded away Max Unger and with Steve Schilling retiring. Meanwhile, defensive end was well down on the list of priorities. So when the Seahawks’ first pick came around they not only selected a defensive end, they picked one (Frank Clark) who came with a lot of baggage. No center was selected, and Seattle began the season with converted defensive tackle Drew Nowak as its starting center.
This is not the resume of someone who’s inclined to pick certain players just because everyone else says he should.
Just because everyone from the panel at ESPN to the fans in Pioneer Square says the Seahawks need to take an offensive or defensive tackle with their first-round pick, don’t think for a moment that Schneider is listening to their advice. He’s going to do his thing, and unafraid of unleashing another set of scathing grades from the pundits.
Indeed, it’s not even a given Seattle will keep its first rounder. The Seahawks haven’t selected in the first round since 2012, having included their first rounder in trades in both 2013 (for receiver Percy Harvin) and 2015 (for tight end Jimmy Graham), while trading out of the first round in 2014. Schneider even hinted during a radio interview with KJR last week he may trade down again this year.
But Seattle’s needs are glaring, and the depth of this year’s draft appears to align with those needs. So if ever there was a year where Schneider stays on script, this should be the year.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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