POLL RESULTS: Middling grades for the Seahawks’ draft

Satisfying, but not electrifying. That seems to be the feeling among Seattle Seahawks fans with regards to the team’s 2020 draft.

The NFL draft took place last Thursday through Saturday, with the Seahawks selecting eight players. That included using their own first-round pick for the first time since 2011 to select linebacker Jordyn Brooks out of Texas Tech.

Therefore, in this week’s Seattle Sidelines poll we asked readers to give the Seahawks a grade for their draft.

POLL: What grade do you give the Seattle Seahawks for their 2020 draft? Full context, including a look at their picks, here: https://t.co/iQzw93tIoL

— Nick Patterson (@NickHPatterson) April 27, 2020

When tallying the votes between the poll posted on Twitter and the one posted on the Seattle Sidelines Blog, more than half the responders (55%) gave the Seahawks a solid B grade. Almost exactly half that number (27%) gave Seattle an average C grade. Another 9% handed out a stellar A grade, while the same 9% were far less impressed and scored the Seahawks a D/F.

Given Seattle actually used its first-round pick instead of trading down, one would think that would generate some excitement and grade inflation. So often in the past Seahawks fans would spend the bulk of the first night’s first-round coverage waiting in eager anticipation, only to leave with no payoff after Seattle traded out of the first round.

However, the nature of Seattle’s first round pick probably blunted that enthusiasm a bit. First, a middle linebacker isn’t a sexy pick — not because middle linebacker isn’t a crucial position, it’s just not a position that typically generates a lot of attention. Second, the Seahawks have the game’s best middle linebacker in Bobby Wagner, who just signed a three-year contract extension. Sure, there’s been talk about switching Brooks outside, perhaps to the strong side where he’d replace the departed Mychal Kendricks. But Brooks profiles best in either Wagner’s or K.J. Wright’s spot, which means Seattle fans may have to wait a bit before they get to see the team’s first-rounder at his best.

Otherwise, Seattle’s draft went mostly to form. The Seahawks largely took players who fill positions of need, and there was no quarterback in the mix to ramp up the second-guessing and push the grading one way or the other. Seattle also took players from Power Five conferences, perhaps choosing the safer route given the inability to fly players in for workouts or in-person interviews.

Add it all together and it equals a lot of Bs.

But what does anyone really know? Grading a draft in its immediate aftermath is folly, because no one knows how these players will actually fare in the NFL, yet we do it anyway. Come back in five years to find out if the voters actually knew what they were talking about.