We’re lower than per week out from the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit. The Seattle Seahawks have a complete lot of query marks pertaining to either side of the ball as we enter the primary season of the Mike Macdonald period. Within the lead-up to the draft, we’ll check out the highest tales and questions we’ll presumably have answered subsequent Thursday-Saturday. At present, we’ll focus in on the (nonetheless) rebuilding protection.
5.) How early will they go at linebacker?
It’s not a matter of if, however when the Seahawks will replenish on inside linebacker. Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker have been the free agent performs, however the remainder of the depth chart consists of Patrick O’Connell, Drake Thomas, and Jon Rhattigan. No matter how nice Mike Macdonald and his teaching employees may very well be, you want nice expertise to win championships. Dodson and Baker are on one-year contracts and everybody else listed has been rooted to particular groups.
On paper, this isn’t a powerful linebacker class. Nobody is projected to go within the first spherical, and we would not see many taken within the second. Junior Colson is a logical match given earlier ties to Mike Macdonald on the College of Michigan. Together with NC State’s Payton Wilson, Colson is almost definitely going to be a second-round choice…not that this impacts the Seahawks proper now.
North Carolina’s Cedric Grey, Texas’ Jaylan Ford, Kentucky’s Trevin Wallace, Clemson’s Jeremiah Trotter Jr (that’ll make you are feeling outdated), Ohio State’s Tommy Eichenberg, and Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson are all seemingly Day 3 choices scattered all through the 4th-Seventh rounds.
4.) What about security?
Identical query, comparable state of affairs. Rayshawn Jenkins is on a two-year deal and he’ll be 31 when the 2025 season begins. Julian Love is far youthful however he’s on an expiring contract. The depth beneath these two consists of veteran Okay’Von Wallace, Jerrick Reed II, Coby Bryant, Ty Okada, and Jonathan Sutherland.
Seattle was lucky to have struck gold with Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor in 2010, such that this wasn’t a draft want for years. Then they each left, and the Seahawks acquired established gamers like Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams via draft capital. You might say that each trades have been necessitated via some… lower than stellar years drafting safeties in any spherical:
Each security the Seahawks have drafted post-Kam/Earl:
Mark LeGree (2011)
Winston Man (2012)
Eric Pinkins (2014)
Ryan Murphy (2015)
Lano Hill (2017)
Tedric Thompson (2017)
Mike Tyson (2017)
Marquise Blair (2019)
Jerrick Reed II (2023)
— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) April 19, 2024
One of many potential first-round options is Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, who was a cornerback in faculty and is sort of destined to be a first-round choose primarily based off of his stellar play on the place. Nonetheless, he’s being checked out as a potential corner-to-safety convert or a nook/security hybrid together with his versatility. DeJean has proven glorious ball expertise, sound tackling (significantly in run assist), and as a bonus he’s a harmful punt returner. Seattle has already had a pre-draft official go to with him.
Some Day 2/early Day 3 choices embrace Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin, Washington State’s Jaden Hicks, Georgia’s Javon Bullard, Utah’s Cole Bishop, Miami’s Kameron Kinchens, and Wake Forest’s Malik Mustapha. Very like linebacker, don’t anticipate many (or any) pure safeties (so not DeJean) to be taken in Spherical 1.
3.) Will they nook the marketplace for a nook once more?
As noted earlier this month, Seattle’s solely corners below contract via 2025 are Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon. The Seahawks have traditionally not invested a complete lot of early-round draft capital on the place, just for Witherspoon to vary that tendency in 2023.
Tre Brown was stable with out being spectacular as an out of doors nook, Mike Jackson Sr is serviceable depth and a former starter, and Artie Burns has turn out to be depth after probably not panning out as a starter on different groups. If the Seahawks are considering long-term, they might be eying one other cornerback alongside Witherspoon and Woolen (who himself had some tough stretches of play in 2023).
The aforementioned DeJean is a prime choice at No. 16, as is Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell. I’d be shocked if the Seahawks picked a cornerback early once more, however I anticipate some Day 3 funding not too dissimilar to what we’ve traditionally seen over time.
2.) An inside redesign on the horizon?
The Seahawks gave up their second-round choose for Leonard Williams and re-signed him to an enormous contract. Dre’Mont Jones was a significant free agent splash in 2023, and until he actually turns issues round this season he is likely to be the worst contract on the roster.
Seattle has been steadfast in not drafting blue-chip defensive tackles, of which there aren’t precisely many on this yr’s class. Byron Murphy II (Texas) and Johnny Newton (Illinois) are the premier prospects, of which I’ve mocked Newton to the Seahawks already. Just a little decrease within the pecking order will get you Clemson’s Ruke Orhorhoro, Florida State’s Braden Fiske, Ohio State’s Michael Corridor Jr, and Oregon’s Brandon Dorlus. I assume T’Vondre Sweat (Texas) may very well be on there however his inventory might tumble after his latest DUI arrest.
My need of a blue-chip DT is all about discovering gifted inside cross rushers, not run-stuffing nostril tackles. The Seahawks can get low-cost run-stuffers late within the draft or in free company (which they’ve already achieved). In immediately’s NFL, you want both a monster edge rusher like Myles Garrett or T.J. Watt or Nick Bosa, or a standout pass-rushing inside lineman. the place these pass-rushing inside linemen are discovered? Early.
I’m far more involved concerning the Seahawks not producing sufficient strain on the within than I’m about stopping the run, which is a vital a part of protection however not practically as necessary as stopping the cross. I’ll shout till I’m blue within the face that the Seahawks’ prime precedence this offseason on protection needs to be enhancing their efficiency towards the cross, which was extra ruinous than how they fared towards the run.
Will the Seahawks look to bolster their depth by going for Murphy or Newton? And if that’s the case, who’s dropping snaps? Will the rookies be restricted of their taking part in time? Is Mike Morris going to issue in any respect? What’s going to Dre’Mont’s function be shifting ahead? Is Jarran Reed staying at nostril sort out? I think the Seahawks are going to be tinkering a bit extra with their defensive entrance earlier than the season begins. I’m supportive of extra our bodies (learn: extra expertise) to maintain everybody contemporary and never be overly reliant on the likes of Williams, Jones, and Reed. Having a harmful inside rusher (or two!) might open issues up on the perimeters, talking of which…
1.) How do the Seahawks really feel about their edge rushers?
Seattle has spent second-round picks on Darrell Taylor, Boye Mafe, and Derick Corridor in three of the final 4 drafts. They’ve been searching for high-quality edge rushers early and infrequently, with blended outcomes. Mafe made a considerably second-year leap, which is what have to be required out of Derick Corridor, who didn’t file a sack and had one of many worst pass rush win rates in the NFL. who was worse than Corridor? Darrell Taylor. Solely 18 pressures in 292 cross speeding snaps is horrible. He’s by no means had a win fee increased than 8.6% over three seasons, which suggests he’s good at getting sacks and mediocre-to-bad at producing constant strain.
Uchenna Nwosu quietly was not nice at persistently pressuring the quarterback final season earlier than his harm, however at the least he had above-average efficiency in 2022 that justified his contract extension. I imagine we’ll see him again at his greatest in 2024.
Florida State’s Jared Verse, UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, Alabama’s Dallas Turner, and Penn State’s Chop Robinson are among the many early choices who shall be within the neighborhood of the Seahawks’ first-round choose. Turner might go earlier than No. 16, however everybody else needs to be round within the mid-first. If the Seahawks go along with an edge rusher with their prime choose (and even an acquired second-rounder), that sends a transparent message about how they really feel about their present group of gamers, and I feel it might be warranted.
