KIRKLAND – All the mock drafts and Mel Kiper Jr. told us that Penn State’s Jimmy Kennedy was a sure-fire top-5 pick and the kind of player who would make an immediate impact.
He didn’t, unless you count the 10 tackles Kennedy made for the St. Louis Rams over the entire 2003 season to be an impact.
For those keeping score, that’s 20 fewer tackles than Rashad Moore had as a rookie last year for the Seattle Seahawks. Moore was a sixth-round pick in the 2003 draft, taken 171 spots later than Kennedy (the 12th player taken in the first round), yet he became a productive starter for a playoff team.
The NFL draft is an inexact science, indeed.
With so much focus put on the first round, sometimes the best players sneak into the later rounds of the draft. The Seattle Seahawks have found their share of late-round steals, with Moore and kicker Josh Brown being the most recent finds.
The knock on Moore last April was that he wasn’t productive enough in college. He spent most of his career at the University of Tennessee behind future first-round picks Albert Haynesworth and John Henderson, and even when Moore got a chance to start in 2002, his statistics were modest.
There was also a rap that Moore was lazy and often got out of shape. He answered both of those questions by putting in extra work at his first training camp.
“I worked hard with the strength coach and all those guys, and I reached a point that I’ve never reached,” Moore said last November. “So it was a big step.”
Brown slipped into the seventh round simply because of the position he plays, but that doesn’t make it any easier to find a late-round kicking gem. Since 1995, five of the 16 kickers drafted didn’t make their respective teams, while six others are no longer with that team.
In fact, of the 89 players selected in the final two rounds of the 2003 NFL draft, less than 60 percent made it through training camp.
The Seahawks have had their share of success in the later rounds recently. Since Mike Holmgren took over as coach in 1999, Seattle has chosen 20 players in the fifth round or later. All but four of those made the team in some capacity as rookies, while nine are still on the roster.
“We put a lot of emphasis on rounds 3 through 7,” said Ted Thompson, the Seahawks’ vice president of player personnel. “We think those are pretty important for our organization, or for any team in the league. We try to do as much or more work there (as) we do in the first round.”
The biggest steal has been wide receiver Alex Bannister, a fifth-round pick who made the Pro Bowl as a special-teamer last year. Most of the others still around, like offensive linemen Matt Hill and wide receiver Taco Wallace, are developmental-type players who haven’t seen a whole lot of playing time.
For every Terrell Davis and Tom Brady taken in the late rounds, most of the players selected are more like Bannister, Hill and Wallace. NFL teams are looking for a hint of potential that might blossom after two or three years of mostly practices and spot game experience.
One key for Seattle finding value in the fifth round and later has been the ability to resist taking need over potential. When the Seahawks have tried to fill a position of need in the later rounds (defensive tackles Tim Watson and John Hilliard in the sixth round of the 2000 draft, for example), it hasn’t worked out. When they’ve looked past roster spot availability and selected players who are high on their draft board, it has worked with some degree of success.
Not that Seattle hasn’t had its share of misses. Cornerback Steve Johnson (sixth round, 1999) and defensive tackle Kris Kocurek (seventh, 2001) got cut in training camp and are no longer in football.
The Seahawks are planning to make every pick in this weekend’s draft a hit. While many of the coaches were taking a few days off last week, Thompson and team’s scouts were evaluating players who might go in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds in an effort to find the next Tom Brady. After that, it’s up to the coaches to bring out the best in the overlooked rookies.
“Not everyone can go in the first and second rounds, so somebody has to be in lower rounds,” said cornerback Marcus Trufant, the Seahawks’ first-round pick last year. “But it’s not always about where you go; it’s about what you do when you get out there. And I think that’s what happens. Sometimes guys who may have gone later may have more of a drive to prove what they can do.”
FOR THURSDAY:
2004 NFL draft
Saturday (Rounds 1 through 3) and Sunday (Rounds 4 through 7)
TV: ESPN, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday
ESPN2, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Seahawks: Have seven picks, including No. 23 in the first round
Top five inside linebackers
1, Jonathan Vilma, Miami
2, Daryl Smith, Georgia Tech
3, Courtney Watson, Notre Dame
4, Dontarrious Thomas, Auburn
5, Richard Seigler, Oregon State
Summary: Vilma is probably the only first-rounder in the bunch, but his size remains a question mark at the NFL level.
Seahawks’ outlook: The bottom line here is that the Seahawks have no healthy middle linebackers until training camp, so they’ll probably take one at some point. Will Vilma be available at No. 23? If not, they’ll probably wait until after Round 1 to address the position.
Top five outside linebackers
1, D.J. Williams, Miami
2, Karlos Dansby, Auburn
3, Michael Boulware, Florida State
4, Teddy Lehman, Oklahoma
5, Keyaron Fox, Georgia Tech
Summary: Some big-time names here, but there are questions as to how they’ll make the transition to the NFL. Williams has been compared to Tampa Bay’s Derrick Brooks.
Seahawks’ outlook: Chad Brown is aging, and Anthony Simmons has been plagued by injuries. Seattle likes its depth with D.D. Lewis and Isaiah Kacyvenski, but don’t be surprised if the Seahawks add someone to the mix.
Tomorrow: A look at the draft’s cornerbacks and safeties.
HAWKS RE-SIGN HUARD
BY SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – Brock Huard is coming home.
Again.
The former University of Washington and Seattle Seahawks quarterback re-signed with the Seahawks on Wednesday after spending the past two years with the Indianapolis Colts.
Huard signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks for an undisclosed amount, and there are no guarantees that he will even make the roster. He is expected to challenge Seneca Wallace for the No. 3 position behind starter Matt Hasselbeck and backup Trent Dilfer.
Huard said that he saw Indianapolis as a “dire situation” because of the fact that starter Peyton Manning has never missed a start in his six NFL seasons. That didn’t leave much room for Huard to ever earn the starting job.
The Colts approached Huard about re-signing, but he didn’t want a long-term deal playing behind someone who never gets hurt.
“To sign back there, I would be signing to be a career backup, and I’m not ready to do that at this point in my career,” Huard said. “I know they’ve got some talented players here, with Matt and Trent and Seneca, but we’ll just see what happens.”
Although Dilfer signed a four-year contract in 2002, the Seahawks are not bringing in Huard to give them cap relief. Coach Mike Holmgren said last month that the Seahawks are comfortable with Dilfer’s $1.25 million base salary this season.
Huard was originally drafted by the Seahawks in the third round of the 1999 NFL draft, and by his second season he was given a chance to supplant Jon Kitna as the starter. But Huard suffered a concussion in his third NFL start, got a bruised kidney later in the season, and never started a game again. Following the 2001 season, he was traded to Indianapolis for a fifth-round draft choice.
While backing up Manning in Indianapolis, Huard threw just three passes over two regular-season games. He was released in February so that the team could clear up cap space to re-sign Manning.
The Colts wanted to re-sign Huard, but the offer to sign a one-year deal and Huard’s comfort level here made the Seahawks his choice.
“Matt and Trent are still good buddies,” Huard said. “I’m closer to them than I ever was to Peyton or anyone in Indianapolis. As they say: My people are here.”
Huard, who grew up in Puyallup, maintained a house just two blocks from the Seahawks’ Kirkland facility. When Holmgren approached his agent a month ago about returning, he was all ears. Huard said that offers were similar financially, but that the pull of his hometown won out in the end.
“It’s a special place to be,” he said. “Once you’ve lived in Seattle, and then you go experience life elsewhere – whether it be in the Midwest or anywhere else in the country – you realize that it’s special to be here. And I’m glad to be back.”
Huard came out for the NFL draft after his junior year at UW, where he broke many of the school’s career passing records as a two-year starter.
In four NFL seasons, he has started four games and played in eight. He has a 56.1 completion percentage, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
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