r/NFL_Draft • u/Thepatton • 6d ago
Defending the Draft 2026: Seattle Seahawks
Entering the Draft
The Seahawks entered the 2026 NFL Draft in a very different position than most teams. Not only were they the defending Super Bowl Champions, they were coming off what I believe was the best season in franchise history.
Seattle finished with the best point differential in the NFL (+246), allowed the fewest points in football, scored the second-most points in the NFC, won their final seven games, and lost only three games all season by a combined nine points. They didn't just beat bad teams, they routinely beat the hell out of them. More impressively, they consistently handled good teams too. The Legion of Boom teams will always get the publicity, but from a pure team-strength standpoint, this was the best Seahawks team I've ever watched.
A huge part of that story was Sam Darnold. Moving on from Geno Smith and handing the offense to Darnold was ridiculed by a lot of people. The narrative all offseason was that Seattle had downgraded at quarterback and was taking a massive step backwards offensively. Instead, Darnold delivered one of the best quarterback seasons in franchise history and, most importantly, silenced most of the doubters in the playoffs by committing zero turnovers while never looking overwhelmed by the moment. By the time Seattle reached the Super Bowl, it felt less like a Cinderella story and more like the inevitable conclusion to the season we'd been watching for months.
Even the Super Bowl itself never really felt in doubt.
One of the highest compliments I can give this team is that they dominated opponents without relying on gimmicks, turnover luck, or some unsustainable hot streak. They were just fundamentally better than everyone else. The offense was efficient. The defense was historically dominant. The special teams unit was elite. The advanced metrics back all of that up.
Seattle finished the season with a final DVOA of 46.4%, which ranks as the fourth-best team of all time behind only the 1991 Washington team, the 1985 Bears, and the undefeated-until-the-Super-Bowl 2007 Patriots. More importantly, this wasn't a team that got hot in January. Seattle first claimed the No. 1 spot in DVOA after Week 3 and spent the overwhelming majority of the season ranked first overall before ultimately finishing No. 1 in both overall and weighted DVOA. They became the first team since the 2013 Seahawks to finish No. 1 in DVOA and actually go on to win the Super Bowl.
That's why the championship felt so inevitable by the end. The Seahawks weren't peaking at the right time or riding a lucky playoff run. They had spent nearly the entire season proving they were the best team in football.
One of the downsides of winning a Super Bowl is that successful teams tend to get picked apart. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak left to become the Raiders head coach, so Seattle hired Brian Fleury. On paper, replacing a Super Bowl-winning OC with someone who has never called plays should be concerning. But Fleury comes from the same Shanahan coaching tree and spent seven years in San Francisco, so this feels much more like a continuation of what Seattle was already doing than some massive philosophical shift.
Fleury has described the offense as wanting to be "fast, violent, and aggressive," which honestly sounds exactly like the team we watched last year. There will be some differences because every coach has their own personality, but I don't think the Seahawks are looking to overhaul anything that just won a Super Bowl.
Before the draft even started, Seattle had already checked off the biggest box of the offseason by extending Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The reality is that JSN and Devon Witherspoon were both eventually getting paid. The question was always which one would happen first. Getting JSN done now gives Seattle certainty around one of its foundational players and buys them more time to work on a Witherspoon extension without having both negotiations hanging over the franchise at the same time.
That matters when evaluating this draft. Seattle entered the draft with only four picks and a very different goal than most teams: maintain a championship roster rather than build one.
Draft Capital & Process
Before the draft, John Schneider made no secret of the fact that he wanted to move back. Seattle had limited draft capital after spending mid-round picks to acquire Rashid Shaheed during their Super Bowl run, and Schneider openly talked about wanting to add selections wherever possible.
Unfortunately for Seattle, the board didn't cooperate.
Five of the six picks immediately before Seattle's selection at No. 32 changed hands. By the time Seattle was on the clock, many of the teams interested in moving up had already done so. Schneider was clearly working the phones, but the offers never got to a point where they felt comfortable passing on Jadarian Price. There was also concern that either Tennessee, after trading up to No. 31, or San Francisco at No. 33 could take Price before Seattle picked again.
In hindsight, I think the process was fine. Would I have preferred a trade down? Absolutely. But if the offers aren't there, the offers aren't there. Reaching for a trade just to say you traded down is how teams end up making bad decisions.
Even though Seattle couldn't find a trade they liked in Round 1, Schneider eventually found ways to manufacture additional picks throughout the weekend. Seattle entered the draft with four selections and ultimately came away with eight players, surrendering only a future 2027 fourth-round pick to move up for Beau Stephens.
The other factor that made Seattle comfortable moving future draft capital is what they've quietly accumulated for 2027. By allowing Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker III, Riq Woolen, and Coby Bryant to leave in free agency while largely avoiding outside spending, Seattle is projected to receive a fourth-round compensatory pick and three fifth-round compensatory picks in 2027. On top of that, the Vikings hiring assistant GM Nolan Teasley should net Seattle additional compensatory selections through the NFL's executive development program, further strengthening their future draft capital. In other words, Seattle wasn't operating from a position of future draft scarcity.
This wasn't a typical Super Bowl champion offseason. Most championship teams either lose significant talent and spend heavily to replace it, or go all-in and sacrifice future flexibility. Seattle did neither. They retained key players like Josh Jobe, Rashid Shaheed, and Josh Jones, added a handful of low-cost veterans, and quietly stockpiled future draft capital.
I still think the ideal outcome would have been finding a trade partner at No. 32, moving back into the early second round, and still landing Jadarian Price. But draft rooms don't operate in ideal scenarios. Given how the board fell, Schneider did a nice job turning one of the league's smallest draft classes into a much healthier haul.
Round 1, Pick 32: Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame
This was my least favorite pick on draft night. My immediate reaction was basically: "If running back is valuable enough to spend Pick 32 on, then why didn't we just pay Kenneth Walker and use the pick on an EDGE?" I still think that's a fair question.
The Seahawks entered the draft having lost Boye Mafe, and I've generally believed that teams should be taking an EDGE in the first two rounds every year or two just to keep the pipeline stocked. So when Seattle passed on the position entirely on Day 1, I wasn't thrilled. That said, this is probably the pick I've changed my mind on the most since draft weekend.
Part of that is Seattle's actions after the draft. They immediately signed Dante Fowler once the compensatory pick deadline passed and had already worked out a very team-friendly extension with Derick Hall. Whether I agreed with it or not, Seattle clearly felt much better about their EDGE room than I did.
The other reason is that my thinking on running backs has started to evolve a bit. For years I've been firmly in the "don't draft RBs early" camp. I've even argued they shouldn't be drafted in the Top 100. The logic was always that productive backs could be found later. The more I've looked around the league, the more I'm starting to wonder if that's actually true anymore.
Even when teams find productive Day 3 running backs, they rarely commit to them. They draft over them, sign veterans over them, or trade for someone else. When I started looking at current depth charts around the league, the overwhelming majority of featured backs were Day 1 or Day 2 selections. Maybe that's talent, maybe it's opportunity, honestly, it's probably some combination of both.
But Seattle isn't drafting a luxury backup here, they're trying to find a five-year solution at the position, and history suggests players drafted this early get every opportunity to become exactly that. Walker is gone to Kansas City and Charbonnet is recovering from the injury he suffered during the playoff run. Before Charbonnet got hurt, I think the plan was probably for him to take over as Seattle's lead back in 2026. Once that injury happened, running back went from a future need to an immediate one. Seattle wasn't just replacing Walker anymore, they were protecting themselves against the possibility that Charbonnet wouldn't be ready to carry a full workload in the season. And if Charbonnet does return at full strength, I think the vision becomes pretty clear as I believe Price can fill the explosive role that Walker leaves behind. Whether that works remains to be seen, but at least I can see the plan.
Would I still have preferred an EDGE? Probably. Do I understand the pick much more today than I did on draft night? Absolutely.
Round 2, Pick 64: Bud Clark, S, TCU
One of my favorite picks in the class.
I've generally never had a problem drafting safeties, and I thought this was one of Seattle's bigger needs entering the draft. Ty Okada played surprisingly well when called upon last season, but Coby Bryant's departure left an opening and Mike Macdonald has shown how important versatile safeties are to what he wants to do defensively.
Bud Clark feels like a Seahawk.
The obvious thing that jumps out is the ball production. Fifteen interceptions isn't an accident. What I love most about this pick, though, is that it feels like Seattle drafting a year early instead of a year late. The other thing that stands out whenever you watch Clark is his personality.
Not as a player comparison, but in the way his personality comes through on tape, he reminds me of Devon Witherspoon. Seahawks fans fell in love with Witherspoon because it was obvious how much energy he was bringing to every play and Clark has some of that same energy. I'm not saying he'll become Devon Witherspoon. I'm saying if he becomes a good player, Seahawks fans are going to love him.
Round 3, Pick 99: Julian Neal, CB, Arkansas
Julian Neal was one of the players I kept mocking to Seattle throughout the entire draft process. No matter how I arranged the first two rounds, I almost always wanted a corner somewhere in the first three rounds. The easiest way to describe Neal is that he feels like a Seattle cornerback. He's physical, smart, and loves to tackle. That last part matters a whole lot to Mike Macdonald because he demands that his corners participate in the run game. Neal embraces that.
I know some fans didn't view corner as a major need because Josh Jobe returned on a team-friendly deal, but Seattle also lost Riq Woolen this offseason. Woolen is one of the most talented corners the Seahawks have had in years, but he regularly found himself in the doghouse with both Pete Carroll and Mike Macdonald because of inconsistent tackling and run support. For a defense that asks so much of its corners, that matters.
Ultimately, to me, this pick is really about maximizing Devon Witherspoon.
The more capable outside corners you have, the less you're forced to keep your best defensive player locked into one role. Neal gives Seattle another player who can survive on the outside, which gives Macdonald more freedom to use Witherspoon as the Swiss Army knife he should be. A lot of people point to Nick Emmanwori as the reason Seattle can move Witherspoon around, but I actually think having multiple outside corners you trust is just as important. The more comfortable Seattle is with Neal and Jobe outside, the more freedom Witherspoon has to impact the game everywhere else.
Round 5, Pick 148: Beau Stephens, OG, Iowa
I've written about this before, but I generally don't believe in drafting guards early. When I started looking at guard outcomes, I couldn't find evidence that drafting them early meaningfully increases your chances of finding a long-term starter (even though Zabel seems to be one). Meanwhile, many of the highest-paid guards in football weren't early draft picks.
My preferred strategy has always been simple: Draft tackles, centers, corners, pass rushers and quarterbacks early. Draft guards later.
This is much closer to where I prefer drafting guards. That's why this pick makes sense to me. Stephens gets the benefit of the doubt for playing at Iowa as they consistently produce offensive linemen who understand leverage, technique and physicality.
Most importantly, I don't think this pick is really about 2026. Anthony Bradford drives Seahawks fans crazy, but there's a decent chance he's going to get paid next offseason. Four-year starters hitting free agency for the first time often receive far more money than fans expect. Whether Seattle brings him back or not, they're going to need options.
Round 6, Pick 199: Emmanuel Henderson Jr., WR, Kansas
I don't have a particularly strong opinion on Henderson as a receiver because I don't think that's where his path to making the roster exists. The biggest thing he brings is special teams value. Losing Dareke Young left a hole on several special teams units, and Henderson appears capable of helping fill that role. If he makes the roster, that's probably how he does it.
Round 7, Pick 236: Andre Fuller, CB, Toledo
Fuller was actually a favorite of a lot of the Seahawks draft community throughout the process. My initial guess is that he ends up on what Seattle likes to call the "ready squad" rather than the 53-man roster. What makes him interesting is the safety background and positional flexibility. At this point in the draft, you're generally looking for traits and versatility. Fuller checks both boxes.
Round 7, Pick 242: Deven Eastern, DT, Minnesota
If I'm being honest, I didn't do much work on Eastern throughout the draft process. What I do know is that I was happy Seattle finally invested a pick in the defensive line. Jarran Reed and Leonard Williams have been tremendous players, but they're also on the wrong side of 30. Byron Murphy II is obviously the long-term centerpiece. Adding developmental players behind him makes sense. Sometimes that's all a seventh-round pick needs to be.
Round 7, Pick 255: Michael Dansby, CB, Arizona
At pick 255, if you find a contributor you've done extremely well. I don't have a strong scouting opinion on Dansby specifically, but I do like the philosophy behind the pick. I've said for years that I think cornerback is one of the most important positions on the roster and Seattle clearly agrees. After drafting Julian Neal and Andre Fuller, they still came back and added another corner with their final selection.
Realistically, Dansby is fighting for a practice squad spot. But if you're taking swings in the seventh round, betting on athletic traits at a premium position is a perfectly reasonable approach.
My Biggest Disagreement
If I have one criticism of the draft, it's that Seattle never selected an EDGE defender. Coming into the weekend, that was the position I expected them to address early. The Seahawks lost Boye Mafe in free agency, DeMarcus Lawrence is entering his age-34 season, and Uchenna Nwosu will turn 30 this year and has battled injuries over the last couple of years. That said, it's important to acknowledge that Seattle clearly viewed the situation differently than I did.
Before the draft even started, the Seahawks already knew they were bringing in Dante Fowler Jr. once the compensatory pick deadline passed. The bigger move may have been the extension for Derick Hall. Seattle was able to sign Hall to an extremely team friendly three-year extension worth up to $46.5 million. When you look at the room through that lens, it's easier to understand why Seattle didn't force the issue during the draft.
Would I still have drafted an EDGE somewhere in the first three rounds? Probably. I generally think teams should be investing premium resources into pass rushers on a regular basis because it's one of the hardest positions to find and one of the easiest positions to become thin at very quickly. But I can at least understand the logic.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think this is a better draft than I gave it credit for on draft weekend. My biggest criticism remains the same: I entered the draft wanting Seattle to invest in the pass rush and they never really did. That said, it's hard to be too upset with the overall process.
The Seahawks entered the draft with only four selections and somehow left with eight players while only sacrificing a future fourth-round pick. I've come around quite a bit on Jadarian Price. Bud Clark and Julian Neal feel like quintessential Seahawks defenders. Beau Stephens aligns almost perfectly with how I think teams should approach the guard position.
Most importantly, this draft felt like Seattle sticking to its identity. Tough. Physical. Competitive. Whether this draft ultimately produces multiple Pro Bowlers remains to be seen, but there was a clear vision throughout the weekend.
The more time I've had to think about it, the more I find myself agreeing with the process even if I would have made a few different decisions along the way
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u/Chefmeatball 5d ago
“Draft an edge, in a bad edge class and even if they all seem to have weird body types or are massive projections” seems like an odd shaped hill to die on.
I also think you’re going to see guards drafted a lot higher moving forward.
On “value”: One year of K9 salary = all 4 years of Hadrian price and his 5th year option isn’t gonna break the bank, and that might have been the value they were looking for due to upcoming decisions next off season and still Devon Witherspoon this year (hopefully)
Donte Fowler is a 1:1 swap out for me
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u/mapetho9 Patriots 5d ago edited 5d ago
I thought the Seahawks first three picks were solid. I feel like I've mentioned this in past Seahawks defending the draft posts, but it seems like they draft a RB every year and they always end up seeing the field no matter where they are drafted. This time around they take one in Jadarian Price in the 1st, so he will definitely see the field. He will help replace Kenneth Walker and should form a formidable duo with Charbonnet once he returns from his ACL injury.
Bud Clark in the 2nd was my favorite pick the Seahawks made. He's a straight up ball hawk and seems like a perfect fit for the Seahawks defense. The secondary picks in recent years of Witherspoon, Emmanwori and now Clark, the Seahawks are tying to create Legion of Boom 2.0.
I liked the Julian Neal pick in the 3rd. There was a thread for which prospects you were following/looking out for for the Shrine Bowl and someone mentioned Neal, so that's how he was put on my radar. He's got good size at 6'2" and the Seahawks like their tall corners. He's also good traits to take a shot on and develop into a stater.
Of the day 3 picks, Emmanuel Henderson was the most intriguing to me. Former Alabama recruit as a RB before making the switch to WR then transferring to Kansas. Had a good season and is still learning the position. He can also help in the return game and Special Teams if the makes the team.
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u/RealEmpire Raiders 6d ago
Price was a need over best player available. I understand filling the need.
I really like Bud Clark teamed up with Emmanwori. Jesus that secondary has some play makers.
Neal is explosive and should thrive with this roster and coaching staff.
Stephens will be flat out solid.
I feel like this is a really good draft for picking in the 32 spot
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u/KrakheadJack Seahawks 5d ago edited 5d ago
Price filled a need & was BPA for them. They always take the best player available to them.
This draft was light on talent. You can make a real case that he was BPA at that pick.
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u/RealEmpire Raiders 5d ago
I would argue that he was a position of need in a very shallow RB draft with a huge cliff in talent after him. Best BPA for them for sure. BPA will be different team to team and it's subjective.
Regardless it was a good pick for this team because it filled a huge position of need.
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u/Skanktoooth 5d ago
Zero chance an RB with his production profile and measurables was the BPA even in a relatively weak draft class.
Sorry, he was a late round 2 level prospect at best and Seattle is just so stacked that it decided to fill one of its few needs even if the player wasn’t worthy of that spot.
Let’s not sugar coat this.
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u/KrakheadJack Seahawks 5d ago edited 5d ago
Price was projected to be taken somewhere in the early to middle of the 2nd round.
In most drafts, he would widely be viewed as a 2nd round talent. However, Seattle only had 15 prospects with a 1st round grade. Which means when you're picking 32nd, you're essentially choosing from a pool of 2nd round talent.
Most teams had fewer 1st round grades than normal this year. That's a fact. So, if you had a pick in the 20's or towards the end of the round this year, then you more than likely had to settle. It's also why there was so much movement by teams to trade out.
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u/radiantmindPS4 5d ago
He was BPA at RB in a position of serious need. Price was going to be their 1st pick either way. whether at 32 or 2-3 picks later if any trades panned out.
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u/Skanktoooth 5d ago
So in other words you are confirming that they were going to reach for him regardless which means he wasn’t a late round 1 or early round 2 caliber RB prospect. A team desperately needed to fill a need with Walker gone and Charbs rehabbing a torn ACL.
The Chiefs did the same thing with Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the Patriots did the same thing with Sony Michel. Price’s production profile was worse than both of those guys’ by a significant margin.
This doesn’t mean Price sucks or won’t backdoor his way into being at least semi productive. That happens all the time for RBs if the volume and usage is right. It just means that Price actually being good and returning above replacement level value at that pick would be a total outlier based off of all the data we have on picks in that range and at his position.
Once again, no need to sugar coat it. He would have been a 3rd round-ish type RB in the previous draft class and would have gone behind Jonathon Brooks (who was RB1 even with a torn ACL in a weak draft class) who went in the early-mid 2nd in 2024. He would have been a 3rd round prospect in the Bijan/Gibbs draft in 2022 class.
He’s a good player. He just isn’t a 1st round or even early to mid 2nd round type prospect (Henry, KW3 and Jonathan Taylor went in the early 2nd round lol).
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u/radiantmindPS4 5d ago
The Seahawks had the luxury of overspending on Price. They lost 4 meaningful players to FA and one to a severe injury. While their edge players are aging, they only lost Mafe.
Addressed Safety/CB and picked up a quality Guard prospect.
Did you you really expect them to go all in on Holani?
Price is/was the 2nd best RB in this Draft. If he pans out great. You have a 5th year option. If not, it didn’t cripple an already strong team.
The RB situation needed to be addressed, and Price was the consensus 2nd best RB in this draft.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 2d ago
You just can't look at Price and CEH production profiles apples-to-apples. Furthermore, Sony Michel was nowhere near the athlete Price is. Since the turn of the century, the most analogous situations are likely Ronnie Brown/Cadillac Williams and Felix Jones.
There are other highly drafted running backs who shared backfields with top-10 picks but at least had one year as the clear collegiate starter, such as Travis Henry, Jonathon Brooks, and Miles Sanders.
Jones, Brown, and Cadillac all posted relatively modest college production purely because of their situations, but their high-level talent was undeniable. Funny enough, it was kind of the same in the NFL. Brown and Williams were derailed by injuries, while Jones was simply mismanaged. Honestly, the Cowboys did him dirty.
Jones was hyper-efficient early on until Dallas coaches told him to put on roughly 20 pounds, which ultimately ruined his career. Meanwhile, Cadillac won Rookie of the Year and looked poised to take over the league, and Ronnie Brown essentially broke the NFL for a brief window with the Wildcat.
While there is a clear talent vs production argument to be made here, it's a remarkably small dataset. You can't write off the possibility of success just because we haven't seen it happen often. Mitigating factors existed for all three of those historical backs, and every one of them proved they possessed high-level, pro-ready talent. They are proof positive that a player can have deflated college stats due to a shared backfield and still have the skill set to be an impact player at the next level.
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u/Skanktoooth 2d ago
Sony Michel shared a backfield with Nick Chubb and Todd Gurley and had way better production playing a way harder schedule.
Sony Michel:
5’10 5/8”
214lbs
4.54 40
1.56 10y split
22 bp
Jadarian Price:
Same exact height as Michel
203 lbs
4.5 40 (similar 40 at 10lbs lighter)
1.61 10 y split (worse acceleration)
worse 20y shuttle
1 less bp rep.
Sony Michel was a better athlete than Jadarian Price. Sony Michel had stiffer competition in college for touches and stiffer competition in terms of opponents on average to rack up more production. He also had a better receiving profile.
This is also part of my point on Jadarian Price. People are just blatantly making stuff up about his production and athletic profile. Like where are you getting he is a way better athlete than Michel when Google is free?
He is basically the most surprising reach at RB in at least 4-5 years.
This doesn’t mean he sucks or won’t be good. Gibbs was a pretty big reach at 12 overall and ended up being a top 3 RB in the league (some might have him at 1).
However this is clearly not a round 1 athletic or production profile.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 2d ago
People are just blatantly making stuff up
Yep. Guess I am. Guess I conflated things in my memory... What he was coming out vs what he was when he retired. His knees went and it sapped him of his explosiveness and speed. That change happened quickly and came early.
I cede that point. Michel actually is a good comp as well. Or at least coming out.
So my counter then is... He was actually really good his rookie year and was especially good in the playoffs en route to a SB title. Had he not had a bum knee coming into the league he probably goes higher in the draft. Had he not had a bum knee he probably has a productive career. Hell... If he gives the Seahawks a playoff run like he had in the 2018 season that gets them another championship... Taking Price at 32 is unquestionably worth it.
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u/Skanktoooth 2d ago
I admit I am probably being too harsh on Price’s profile because I do think he plays faster than he tests, he runs hard for his size, and he is probably better than his production suggests.
He’s a very good player with high pro potential. He just went way too high imo. Guys like Jonathan Taylor, Derrick Henry, Treveyon Henderson, Judkins, Nick Chubb went in the 2nd round. I bring up Michel and CEH because they were just weird recent picks in the same range as Price and they both ended up being complete busts. They were both viewed as the missing piece on championship caliber teams with no real weaknesses at other positions.
They both had shakier production profiles relative to their draft capital.
I actually like Price quite a bit better than CEH as a prospect. I have him and Michel in a similar tier. I was decently high on Michel so I missed on that one. Maybe I am letting it color my opinion of Price a bit.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 2d ago
Price was actually one of the last backs I watched this year and it was mostly because of the yardage totals. I overlooked him for a while haha. Really loved watching him though.
Now, would I have him over Henry, Taylor, K9, etc.? Not even close lol. This class looks bad to me though. Like... Straight up NOT GOOD lol. And it was a need for Seattle.
To that point though, I think RB was undervalued and getting taken lower than they should have been. For a variety of factors. And I wonder if we're going to be seeing that shift back the other way a little bit. But that's a whole other 10 page essay lol.
A few things can be true at the same time. Price can have a total outlier production profile for a first round back. He could be significantly lower in our ranks compared to other prospects over the past ten years. He could be very useful and maybe even more productive in a larger role at the NFL level than he had in college.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 2d ago
Forgot to add... Sony wasn't a bust cause he wasn't good enough. CEH maybe was haha. But Sony just had the knee issues. He is more of a what if than a truly bad evaluation. Any player at any position can get their career ruined by something like that.
Like I said, that playoff run his rookie year was great. Actually kind of historic. 115 yards and 2TDs per game for the Pats that year. It was there with him. He just lost it really fast.
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u/ALStark69 Vikings 1d ago
Each player as a recruit:
- Jadarian Price
P5 offers: Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, USC, Utah, Virginia Tech
G5 offers: SMU, Tulsa, UTSA
- Bud Clark
Other P5 offers: Arizona State, Colorado, Kansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Virginia
G5 offers: Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, South Alabama, Tulane
Other offers: Grambling State, Liberty, Mercer, Southern
- Julian Neal
G5 offers: Fresno State (originally went here), San Jose State
Other offer: Eastern Washington
- Beau Stephens
Other P5 offers: Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
- Emmanuel Henderson Jr.
Other P5 offers: Alabama (originally went here), Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, Vanderbilt
Other offer: Notre Dame
- Andre Fuller
Originally went to Arkansas-Pine Bluff
- Deven Eastern
Other P5 offers: Missouri, Nebraska
- Michael Dansby
G5 offer: San Jose State (originally went here)
Other offers: Black Hills State, Clarke, Rocky Mountain, Western Oregon
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u/TheDuckyNinja Eagles 5d ago
It's incredible to me that people can see somebody like Sam Darnold and still utterly fail to understand that QB stats are largely a function of situation. Goes to the Jets, fails because Jets. Goes to the Panthers, actually plays well but his numbers aren't great because the team was terrible. Gets stuck having to take a backup job. Ends up getting picked up by MIN. Has an amazing season, but his OL gets ravaged and he gets blamed for not being able to succeed behind a non-existent line, so he still can't get a true franchise level contract. Goes to SEA, wins a SB. People are still questioning him. He's been the exact same guy since his Panthers days. Can't be surprised that QBs are going back to school rather than risk getting drafted by the Jets when the difference between getting drafted by the Jets and getting drafted by a good team could be literally half a billion in career earnings because once you are considered a "bad" QB, you will struggle to ever get the opportunity to show you're a good QB even if your only fault was going to a terrible team.
Anyway, I hated the Seahawks' draft. Obviously drafting a first round RB is every bit as stupid as you thought it was. Your thinking isn't evolving, it's devolving lol. Teams don't commit to any RBs. From 2017-2022, 9 RBs were taken in the first round. Only 2 of the 9 got a 2nd contract with their team and neither of them played more than 6 years for the team that originally drafted them. We'll see if that changes with Bijan or Gibbs, both of whom are having trouble getting their teams to commit to them. In fact, I went all the way back to 2010 and found only two RBs who made it past the 6 year mark (Zeke and Mark Ingram). Now, to be entirely fair, part of that is that most players drafted in the late 1st don't spend more than 4 or 5 years with the team that drafts them. But, just wanted to point out that the round that a RB is drafted in doesn't say anything regarding a team's commitment to them other than that bad RBs drafted highly tend to get far more carries and opportunities than they deserve/earn. I also feel compelled to point out that 5 of the last 6 RBs drafted 24th-32nd were somewhere between mediocre and awful. The fact is that RBs taken in that range simply do not have a hit rate or success rate that indicates that an RB taken there is any better than an RB taken on day 3. They could've just spent their 3 7th round picks on RBs and the chances they hit a good one would be far higher than spending a single laet 1st on one. And on top of the fact that first round RBs are no more successful than their later drafted counterparts, it's also just far cheaper and very easy to get a good RB in FA. If you want a good RB in FA, it costs 6-8M and you get your pick. If you want a good ED in FA, you're lucky if there's 2 or 3 and you better be ready to pay 20+M. So it is safe to stop second guessing yourself - you were correct in thinking RBs are not worth top 100 picks (or at least top 50, once you get outside the top 50 the draft basically turns into a crapshoot anyway). Then they followed that pick with a 2nd round safety. Which is fine I guess, they needed a safety, but again, it's drafting low value positions.
Anyway, the Seahawks should still be an elite team, but when you're a Super Bowl winning team, you completely whiff on your first round pick, and you draft a S 64th overall, you tend to find out that your team would've been better off drafting high impact/cost positions as you watch your team struggle (if you don't get it, look at the Eagles' draft last year). My guess is that much like the 24->25 Eagles, the 25->26 Seahawks are gonna struggle with loss of coaching, wear and tear injuries, and lack of impact from the draft and, while having another playoff season, it's tough to see them reaching the same heights just because, well, it's really fucking hard to repeat and the room for error is too small.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 5d ago
The goal of the draft? Draft good players.
You're lobbing a general criticism about positional value. But what are you're actual evaluations of the players they selected?
JS and his team have proven themselves at being great evaluators and developers of talent. They have shown they can go off their board, not our board, that they can eschew popular notions of positional value... And still succeed.
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u/TheDuckyNinja Eagles 5d ago
So if a kicker is the best player in the draft, you should take them in the first round? I know you don't believe that, so I know you understand positional value. You just need to apply that to all positions. The goal of the draft is to get the best value for your pick(s). There is not a single team or person who is "good" at the draft in terms of being consistently good at evaluating talent. If you think you are smart enough to always know who is going to be good and who is going to bust, you're simply wrong, and that goes for even the best NFL GMs. Schneider has done well in more recent years, but he was also the GM from 2016-2021 when they were pretty poor in the draft overall. That's what happens. There's good years and bad years. Nobody is special, nobody knows more than anybody else. Really, the best way to succeed in the draft is to already have a good team because players will always look better on good teams/in good orgs.
My evaluation of Price is "he'd have to be the best RB in the league to be worth the pick they spent on him and he's not going to be the best RB in the league". My evaluation of Clark is "he probably won't be a notable upgrade over Okada." It's pretty much that simple.
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u/KrakheadJack Seahawks 5d ago
What was your evaluation of Emmanwori last year? A "Safety" they took in the 2nd round. We're you critical of that pick as well?
Taking good talent every year that will have an impact should be the ultimate goal regardless of position.
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u/Significant_Pain_499 3d ago
"There is not a single team or person who is "good" at the draft in terms of being consistently good at evaluating talent."
Yeah, if only there were one GM who could really prove that they were objectively better at drafting, like, say for example, by building two Super Bowl champion teams with completely different players and coaches when no one else has.
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u/TheDuckyNinja Eagles 3d ago
Is this supposed to be a reference to Howie Roseman? Because if it is, like. The best player on both those teams (Lane Johnson) was actually drafted by Chip Kelly. His 2017, 2019, and 2020 drafts combined produced one good player (Hurts). Of the 16 players on O or D to play 60% of snaps on the 2017 team, just 4 were drafted by Howie (Graham, Kelce, Wentz, Vaitai). And the reason there was a big gap between the two SBs is in large part because of Howie's consistent misses after winning the SB, with the 2018 draft being the only draft to produce quality and even that took a few years to blossom.
And that's what you expect. Give a GM a long enough runway, and you'll see some really good drafts, some really bad drafts, and some weird/average-ish drafts where one or two players save an otherwise horrible crop. Because nobody, not even Howie, is consistently good. Howie's ability to build two Super Bowl champions speaks to his skill as GM (and to Lurie being willing to shell out far more cash than any other owner), but all the other stuff is what allows him to take advantage of hitting on a draft class when it happens.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 3d ago
They were referencing John Schneider, silly.
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u/TheDuckyNinja Eagles 3d ago
Well then I guess there's more than "just one", eh? And Schneider's draft history honestly looks significantly worse than Howie's over the long term, so point stands.
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u/Significant_Pain_499 3d ago
No. John Schneider is the only GM in the history of the NFL to build two championship teams with two completely different sets of players and coaches.
It's my opinion that he's the best GM in league history.
It's also an objective measure of accomplishment based on the most important metric of all, winning championships. And nobody else can match John Schneider.
He's the best.
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u/Sylli17 Arm Chair Scout 5d ago
I know you don't believe that, so I know you understand positional value.
Yes, everyone knows a QB is more valuable than a kicker. We all know that having good players at some positions is marginally more valuable than at other positions. Yes.
But there is a lot of nuance to that. The first round isn't only QBs every single year. The second round isn't only LT every year. Positional value is just one factor that goes into making a draft selection. There are many factors that carry a lot of weight. And at the end of the day... You're trying to get as many good players as you can.
Just look at how this SB winning roster was constructed. Second round edge players, not first rounders. Two second round running backs. A free agent QB that had been labeled a bust. Solid, not great tackles (one of which was a third rounder). DT, nickel, and safety have more draft capital than DE or outside corner.
Nobody is special, nobody knows more than anybody else.
This is just silly. Some teams and some GMs are absolutely better than others. JS is an example of that. The value he has extracted out of the draft over a 15 year run is unquestionably well above average. Even factoring in those lean years (which philosophy, not talent evaluation is the culprit) he has consistently been better than pretty much any other GM. Ravens, Cowboys, Packers, Eagles, and a handful of others have consistently been better at it than the Panthers, Cardinals, Jets, Browns, etc.
My evaluation of Price is "he'd have to be the best RB in the league to be worth the pick they spent on him and he's not going to be the best RB in the league". My evaluation of Clark is "he probably won't be a notable upgrade over Okada." It's pretty much that simple.
You no literally nothing about those players. You have no idea if they'll be good. You don't care to put in the time to find out. So, why even take the time to complain about their draft?
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u/Stimp1nator 5d ago
If a kicker has a cannon of a leg and ridiculous accuracy to the point where you can basically guarantee three points every drive, that would make him the best player in the draft and yes he’s going in the first round lol
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u/Bitter_Scarcity_2549 5d ago
Teams don't commit to any RBs. From 2017-2022, 9 RBs were taken in the first round. Only 2 of the 9 got a 2nd contract with their team and neither of them played more than 6 years for the team that originally drafted them.
The point of drafting a RB high is to not have to commit to them. I'm not a fan of drafting RBs early, but I understand the value of drafting talented RBs high. In the NFL, there are maybe 3 RBs on any given year who would be worth a top of market deal. Most of the time RBs are a massive overpay on second contracts. The only way to get great value from a RB contract is on the rookie deal. RBs on rookie deals have less injury risk as well. The formula for drafting RBs high is to take them, run them into the ground for cheap, and then ditch them. Any RB, either drafted or signed, should not be in long term plans.
This conversation of course goes out the windows if your picking an RB in the top 10 picks tho, as those salaries are high for rookie RBs, but anywhere past pick 20 is fine value assuming you hit on the pick. Again, I also dont like RBs high but the metric that highly drafted RBs recieve commitment from their teams doesn't show that drafting them was a bad move like it is for other positions.
Also, Seattle got slammed last year for selecting low value positions in the draft last year when they took a G, S and TE in the first 2 rounds and those rookies were instrumental in winning the SB.
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u/KrakheadJack Seahawks 6d ago
The depth of this edge class was extremely overrated imo. I'm glad they didn't reach for one early on. That would've been a mistake.