Day 3 Draft thread

[auroraave]

The way the draft has gone, woolen was clearly replaceable. It's really whether they chose the correct replacement. It would point to using the first pick on Price. There wasn't a reason to give Woolen $15 MIL when you can find a replacement on a rookie contract. That to me is a question of depth. Mafe fits that too in my mind.

I think the bigger problem with Woolen is his huge mental lapses and shit-for-brains attitude at times - he singlehandedly cost us the SF game early on with multiple botched plays in that critical drive and his stunning fuck up against the Lambs giving them new life - unforgivable. Then gets burned for the TD on the next play. Can't do that to your teammates who have fought SO hard. That taunting play was the end of his time in Seattle. That play was the only time all year I saw infighting on the team - his teammates calling him out - and rightfully so. What that could have cost the team... you can't bring him back after that.

[Donn Beach]

The way the draft has gone, woolen was clearly replaceable. It's really whether they chose the correct replacement. It would point to using the first pick on Price. There wasn't a reason to give Woolen $15 MIL when you can find a replacement on a rookie contract. That to me is a question of depth. Mafe fits that too in my mind.

I think the bigger problem with Woolen is his huge mental lapses and shit-for-brains attitude at times - he singlehandedly cost us the SF game early on with multiple botched plays in that critical drive and his stunning fuck up against the Lambs giving them new life - unforgivable. Then gets burned for the TD on the next play. Can't do that to your teammates who have fought SO hard. That taunting play was the end of his time in Seattle. That play was the only time all year I saw infighting on the team - his teammates calling him out - and rightfully so. What that could have cost the team... you can't bring him back after that.

I don't think that had a thing to do with it. I went through this with tharder. MM said it was because they couldn't afford him. And I think this demonstrates it. Woolen could have been a choir boy and they still aren't giving him that money when there was going to be plenty of replacements available for a fraction of the cost. And they knew that, they knew what was going to be available

[Gametime]

Need a guard! Bradford is just not it.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Need a guard! Bradford is just not it.

It's too late now. Dunker was their last chance to address the RG situation and JS passed in order to gain a 7th round pick.

[trharder]

Clark seems more like a cover corner despite playing safety and Neal seems more like a safety despite playing CB in that he is rated highest as a tackler in run support.
Neal is an inch taller and 15 lbs heavier than Clark.

I noted the same thing. Since I'm working on the assumption MMs defenseive plan is designed this way, I'm anxious to see how they work out.

[trharder]

Guessing this thread might not even hit 5 posts but Oh well. Obviously need Edge and a G.

SO you think they might be "chasing edges"? Oh, see what I did there?
I'm just here for the bitching and moaning and lamentations of how our draft picks suck and how this team, despite going 14-3, beating four 12 win teams down the stretch, blowing out NE in the SB, having an all time great defense, a coach who won a SB in his second year and an executive of the year GM, still sucks.

Plus I want to get DT to his coveted 5 posts prediction.

Yeah, after this last year, it's slim pickings trying to find this straw-man-complainer to slay. But good luck anyway.

[trharder]

Need a guard! Bradford is just not it.

It's too late now. Dunker was their last chance to address the RG situation and JS passed in order to gain a 7th round pick.

They like Bradford. I keep saying this. I also think there's evidence he is better than the anti-hype.

[trharder]

The way the draft has gone, woolen was clearly replaceable. It's really whether they chose the correct replacement. It would point to using the first pick on Price. There wasn't a reason to give Woolen $15 MIL when you can find a replacement on a rookie contract. That to me is a question of depth. Mafe fits that too in my mind.

I think the bigger problem with Woolen is his huge mental lapses and shit-for-brains attitude at times - he singlehandedly cost us the SF game early on with multiple botched plays in that critical drive and his stunning fuck up against the Lambs giving them new life - unforgivable. Then gets burned for the TD on the next play. Can't do that to your teammates who have fought SO hard. That taunting play was the end of his time in Seattle. That play was the only time all year I saw infighting on the team - his teammates calling him out - and rightfully so. What that could have cost the team... you can't bring him back after that.

I don't think that had a thing to do with it. I went through this with tharder. MM said it was because they couldn't afford him. And I think this demonstrates it. Woolen could have been a choir boy and they still aren't giving him that money when there was going to be plenty of replacements available for a fraction of the cost. And they knew that, they knew what was going to be available

Everything Auro said is true. Donn seems to be arguing Woolen was just not that talented.
Woolen's new contract is further evidence that Auro and I are correct. 12 million is way more than Woolen has
ever made in one season before, yet it's a one-year contract. This was the best Woolen's agent could find.
It's the contract you get when you are talented, but a high risk to flake out.

[Lamda]

G Beau Stephens.... what did we trade to get him?

[D-train]

A rare good piece by Calkins:

RENTON — There’s a team that plays about a thousand miles south of Seattle that nearly knocked the Seahawks out of the playoffs last year. This team was the Super Bowl champions’ biggest threat last season and, maybe, the biggest obstacle in their quest to repeat next season.

But this team also did something astonishing Thursday night.

With the 13th pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Los Angeles Rams select Ty Simpson, quarterback, Alabama.

This has easily been the biggest surprise of a draft that has now completed its first three rounds. The Super Bowl-contending Rams, who went all-in during free-agency, used their opening pick on a quarterback despite having a reigning NFL MVP in Matthew Stafford behind center.

So what does this have to do with the Seahawks? It’s simple: They don’t make picks like that anymore. They have been productively predictable — boring in the best possible way.

Let’s look at this year’s draft so far. A month and a half after losing running back Kenneth Walker III to free agency, the Seahawks selected running back Jadarian Price with the 32nd pick Thursday. A month and a half after losing safety Coby Bryant to free agency, the Seahawks selected safety Bud Clark with the 64th pick Friday. And a month and a half after losing cornerback Riq Woolen to free agency, the Seahawks selected cornerback Julian Neal with the 99th pick Friday.

The Rams are generating ink. The Seahawks are just fine with chalk. This isn’t new — and fans should be happy about this.

Seriously, when’s the last time you went “wait … the Seahawks picked who?!?!” It was probably back in 2021, when they used the 56th pick (their first in that draft) on receiver D’Wayne Eskridge despite already having DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett on the roster. What they needed that year was a lineman, and seven picks later, the Chiefs drafted center Creed Humphrey, who has since made four Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro teams.

Obviously, if the rest of the league knew that Humphrey was going to have that level of success, he would have gone higher. But he was sitting right there for a Seahawks team that was weak up front. Seemed like a classic case of overthinking. That doesn’t seem to happen anymore.

In 2022, the Seahawks chose left tackle Charles Cross first, linebacker Boye Mafe second and Walker third — all needs. In 2023, they selected cornerback Devon Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba with their first two picks — also needs. In 2024, defensive lineman Byron Murphy went to the Seahawks with the 16th pick, and last year, guard Grey Zabel went to them in the first round and defensive back Nick Emmanwori in the second. Every player mentioned filled a need, and every player mentioned was integral to last season’s Super Bowl crown.



Obviously, nobody knows how any of this year’s picks are going to end up impacting the team. Whiffs happen no matter who’s in charge, but Seahawks general manager John Schneider’s track record has been close to impeccable lately. Going the simple route has been a key reason why.

“I know the mistakes that I’ve made personally in the past and what that looks like, and we’ve learned from those things and don’t want to repeat it,” Schneider said Friday.

That was a general statement from the GM, not a response to a specific question about past picks. But it speaks to the evolution of his and his staff’s approach to the draft. The easy pick is often the best pick. And there’s something to be said about having the discipline to not go too far off-script.

This doesn’t mean that need is always going to supersede talent when it comes to who Seattle selects. If the brass thinks adding a player to an already stacked position room is going to help the team, they’ll do it. But as Schneider said of this year’s draft so far: “We’re really excited, just to be able to have that balance of best player/team need.”

The Seahawks aren’t slated to pick again until the sixth round Saturday, but that’s OK. They are returning the core of a championship-winning team and may very well have plugged their most conspicuous holes.

They aren’t creating chatter, they’re cementing a window. Boredom in the draft room in April is what leads to bedlam in the streets in February.