Early Reaction to Seahawks’ Draft Trades from the 12’s

As can be expected, reaction to the Seattle Seahawks trading down three times in the 2017 NFL Draft is mixed. Imagine that, human beings failing to have a monolithic response to a complex event for which they feel intense passion. Seahawks fans, the 12s, are nothing if not intense.

As is obvious, a bit more than half of the 12s who chimed in were happy with the trades. 39 of the 187 wanted Reuben Foster, and I’ll admit, I have some strong reservations about passing on him, despite that linebacker isn’t a top priority. AS I wrote previously, I’d rather not see this guy wreaking havoc versus the Seahawks twice a year for the next ten years.

43 wanted the Seahawks to draft another player with that 26th pick. I suspect many, as one 12 made clear, wanted cornerback Kevin King. I think that’s exactly who the Seahawks had targeted with the 34th overall pick, but when the Green Bay Packers snatched him away at 33, Schneider and Carroll addressed the defensive line needs. Individual responses follow below.

AROUND COVER32

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2017 NFL Draft: S ee who was taken on Day 1 – NFL Draft First Round Results

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Extended Draft Coverage: Chiefs take risk by trading up for QB Patrick Mahomes with 10th overall pick

cover32 Exclusive: Check out this exclusive interview with Damond Talbot, owner of Draft Diamonds

One of the responses to our poll:

And another:

And one final tweet:

Okay, that last is a bit of a ringer, as it’s from our own Zach Peterson. He makes a great point though; it’s all about the hidden gems. Zach will have more to say on that topic quite soon.

So the draft isn’t complicated, you say? It’s just picking football players, it isn’t rocket science. Although if we needed help in that, there is a football player out there who could assist in interplanetary propulsion systems; yes, we’re looking at you, Joshua Dobbs. It might not be rocket science, but balancing the appeal of the “best athlete available” with the needs of your own team isn’t easy.

Add in that the needs of your team are two-fold. One must consider needs on the field – that’s Pete Carroll – and off the field – thank you John Schneider. Of course their areas of concern aren’t split that cleanly, but that’s a reasonable example for our purposes here.

So you need a defensive back. One that has the speed to cover deep routes, the agility to make cuts, the awareness to react at the last moment, and the power to level ball carriers. Sure. So Pete looks for the guy that comes closest to meeting those criteria, and might add a skill the current team lacks to some degree. Meanwhile, John reminds him that Player X will be an unrestricted free agent in 2019. Player X is Richard Sherman in this case. It’s always Richard Sherman, you guys know that.

So they hope to fill that possible hole with someone they can groom for the role. At the same time, they have impending free agents everywhere else, players with injury concerns, and players that simply could be replaced by someone better. Even for the Seahawks, yes.

The complications really set in knowing that 31 other teams are trying to do exactly the same thing you are with a very limited resource pool. You only get good draft picks if you have a bad year. Luckily for 12s, Seattle consistently chooses very late in the draft. The Seahawks have to figure out how to turn those late 20th round picks into early round talent. Based on the track record of Schneider and Carroll, they’re pretty darn good at that. And so far, I’d say they’re doing it again in 2017.

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