Seahawks draft threw me for a loop

[KiwiHawk]

I know some teams go by the philosophy of "take the best player available," but it misses the point that if you have a pressing need for one more LB and don't fill it because there are better WRs and DBs available .... you still are left with a hole in your LB crew.

Pete's known for inserting safeties into LB slots and LBs into DE slots, adding speed to those positions. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. My sense is the best way to fill a need at LB ... is simply to draft a LB.

I disagree.

If you really need a LB then you can't roll the dice on a rookie to fill the spot and not make rookie mistakes in crucial moments. You get a vet to fill the immediate need, and draft for the future. If your drafted player beats the vet, then great, but you can't pin the success of a team on whether or not a rookie will transition.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I expected a defense heavy draft but like you I was surprised by some of the positions. I thought CB was most like with the first pick. I was ambivalent on whether or not they should draft OL. The WR surprised me. I would have expected another CB or maybe a LB in that spot, though I did not think LB was nearly the need some people did. Two good players already, there just isn't much marginal benefit to adding a 3rd, especially when the 3rd might not really be on the field that often. Still, I expect a linebacker to be taken at some point just for depth and ST.

Right, remember we signed Wilhoite, Garvin and McDonald in the FA period at the LB spot, so not as big of a need going into the draft as many thought.

I can assure you that despite those signings, LB is still just as big a need as before.

Not as big of a need as DB, OL and DL.

As long as Wagner and Wright continue to play at a high level, we will continue to use FA and the draft to fill other more pressing needs. One of these guys goes down? Then I agree with you.

 

[gowazzu02]

Much of what I thought I knew about the Seahawks draft strategy and needs was turned upside down with this last draft...

1. Outside CB was clearly not as big a need as I thought it was. They had multiple chances at guys that fit their profile for outside cornerback but passed on most all of them. We'll see how they use Griffin, he could be the only guy they added to the competition in that area. That's not how Seattle normally attacks a position of need. When Seattle perceives a real area of need they generally throw multiple options into the mix and create competition to see who rises to the top. Adding just 1 guy makes me think that they are confident in someone they have already and just added to the group for depth.

2. Is Seattle adjusting their profile on corners? Before this draft the Seahawks had never drafted a corner with a wingspan smaller than 77 inches. That was the case for outside cornerback and inside nickle cornerback. However this year the two corners they drafted are both under that perceived minimum requirement (Griffin 74 3/4" and Tyson 76 5/8"). Maybe this is because they are looking for a different type of athlete (for a specific scheme?), or maybe this is because they've relaxed their physical requirements in favor of putting more emphasis in play on the field? I don't know for sure but I find it interesting any time a change like this takes place. Have they found something new to stay one step ahead of the league like they did back when they showed the league how to effectively use big long corners? I'm really interested to see how the 4-2-5 gets used and where Pete takes it in the end.

3. Not a single Husky or Coug brought in. Were they not as good of fits for Seattle as I thought many of them were? Has Seattle encountered challenges they don't like about dealing with local in state guys causing them to shy away from bringing them in? In the past it seemed we had kind of a pipeline of UW talent at least, when it came to UDFAs, but no instate talent this year despite some interesting guys that didn't get drafted (Joe Mathis, Darrell Daniels, Jake Eldrenkamp, Gabe Marks).

4. Not a single linebacker. At the beginning of the draft some would have put linebacker as maybe our top need and most definitely seemed to think it to be in the top 3 needs for this team. I'm shocked that we didn't even draft one. Is this because of a scheme shift/change (4-2-5)? Confidence in who we have already? Or was it just as simple as there being no linebackers we liked around where we picked? Even some of the free agents we brought in were a bit of head scratchers to me. Not the typical quick long hybrid type OLB I thought they'd be searching for but more of traditional inside linebackers that don't cover as much ground.

I'm not saying any of this to criticize the front office at all, contrary to the stance some others have taken because Seattle didn't draft "who they wanted" and "how they wanted". I actually see it as interesting and an opportunity to learn. I love how this team never does what everyone thinks they should do. They march to the beat of their own drum and in my opinion that's really interesting because they've built a perennial contender doing it their own way. Instead of criticizing them and assuming I'm smarter than they are when I don't understand a move they make, I like to take the approach of, "Wow, I'm interested to see how this works out". It's like watching Mozart compose a masterpiece, seeing how things all come together in the end and all the changes and alterations during the process. Fun times! I'm very much looking forward to this coming season and another run in the playoffs.

Go Hawks!!!

Not really sure why anyone would be surprised by anything the hawks do draft wise. If anything they are consistently "off doing their own thing" talking head judgement be damned. And lets be honest most of us only think a pick is good or bad based on the info we pick up from the talking heads. Which alot of the time is a crafted lie fed to the media to help the team (hello SF/Chicago trade)

Seattle uses Sparq alot and early picks are always a blue print physically. But picks later on aren't as strict to the body type rule.

I think the husky fandom blinded alot of people. They are obviously close to those athletes, they've followed their career arc. But when you look at things a bit higher up. This years draft was loaded with quantity in the secondary. It shouldn't really surprise anyone we chose D line and Oline with our first two picks, then we loaded up with secondary players mid draft. As for my guy Marks, it shows you that college production doesn't mean anything to the league, it's all about measurables, and Gabe isn't quite 6 feet tall and didn't run quite fast enough. I called out the Baldwin comparison a couple years ago, and like Marks Baldwin wasn't drafted either. It will help with his large chip on his shoulder. I bet he makes a better career then alot of the wr's drafted ahead of him.

As others have said, our base defense IS nickle. So not really surprising no LBs were taken.

 

[Boycie]

I know some teams go by the philosophy of "take the best player available," but it misses the point that if you have a pressing need for one more LB and don't fill it because there are better WRs and DBs available .... you still are left with a hole in your LB crew.

Pete's known for inserting safeties into LB slots and LBs into DE slots, adding speed to those positions. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. My sense is the best way to fill a need at LB ... is simply to draft a LB.

I disagree.

If you really need a LB then you can't roll the dice on a rookie to fill the spot and not make rookie mistakes in crucial moments. You get a vet to fill the immediate need, and draft for the future. If your drafted player beats the vet, then great, but you can't pin the success of a team on whether or not a rookie will transition.

This^

There are no sure things when drafting a player based on his draft ranking, and giving them a spot that they haven't earned, or may not be able to earn. This team is all about competition.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

This draft felt like it was part of an evolving script. John did mention how they had reviewed past mistakes and were looking to change things up.

Things that I though followed our standard formula:

1. 32 inch arms. It may as well be the first commandment now. Even John clumsily exclaimed without provocation that Griffin had 32 inch arms. Of course, John has a very quirky, sarcastic sense of humor. He could just as easily been teasing the fan base with that outburst.

2. Breadth of positions covered. Seattle picks DL/OL/DB in every draft.

3. Trade back in the first. Although I think this has more to do with situation in each individual draft. It's interesting, consistent and yet largely at odds with the next common point.

4. Fall in love with a player. When we've had first round picks, we seem to target a specific player (Richardson, Ifedi, McDowell). Usually that leads to teams either standing pat and taking their guy, or even moving up to ensure they get him. And while it does appear that our trade back propensity defies this point -- the trades back also seem to be done relative to where Seattle thinks they can comfortably drop back and still get their one true love. It may be true that they have a cluster of guys they'd be satisfied with as consolation picks. But it also appears undeniably that their move back strategy is also linked to a specific target.

5. Double dip at positions of strength. Seattle has done this for awhile now. To the point where you can almost book it. If the draft is deep at any one or two positions, we're going to take two from that group. And probably not early.

6. Pre draft ahead of need. This draft is ripe with hedges everywhere (blue = 2018 UFA, Green = 2018 cap casualty potential).

McDowell - Rubin (30), Bennett (31)
Pocic - Britt
Griffin - Shead, Sherman (29)
Jones - Rubin (30)
Hill - Chancellor (29)
Darboh - Kearse

Every one of our day 1 and 2 picks are guys slotted to replace players on this roster at some point during their rookie deals.

7. RB Law. 5 foot 11 inches and between 215 and 220 lbs. Check

Things that I felt diverged from our previous drafts

1. OL criteria. We've been targeting good raw athletes who need significant development. Generally selecting players who played OT in college (due to length/athleticism) and moving them around. Pocic is really kind of the opposite of that. In Pocic, they added a player extremely well versed in zone scheme run blocking. Pocic's strengths are his level of skill and demonstrated ability to run the scheme we run. His weaknesses are inversely what we'd always sought as strengths on the line. Length. Athleticism. Great testing. Pocic is probably close to the worst athletic tester we've drafted. Not a 'horrible' tester. In the kind of good range.

2. Athleticism taking a back seat. Love Zach Whitman's work in this regard. Here are the Seahawks draftee results:

McDowell - 48th percentile
Pocic - 26th percentile
Griffin - 96th percentile
Hill - 32nd percentile
Jones - 7th percentile
Darboh - 83rd percentile
Thompson - 12th percentile
Tyson - 22nd percentile
Senior - N/A
Moore - 73rd percentile
Carson - 66th percentile

These are pretty awful scores. I'd see this as a continuation of last year's change. Two straight drafts (21 picks -- 3 drafts worth) to me is a trend.

Ifedi - 69th percentile
Reed - 23rd percentile
Procise - 46 percentile
Vannett - 20th percentile
Odhiambo - N/A
Jefferson - 41st percentile
Collins - 12th percentile
Hunt - N/A
Lawler - 13th percentile
Brooks - N/A

Seattle has been traditionally a team that goes after home run athleticism. But these last two drafts have been dominated by poor athletes who have very specific traits or very narrowly defined roles. We aren't drafting the kinds of prospects we took in the 2010-2014 seasons. Where the biggest misses in the mock draft season have tended to lie, is in the expectation that we're still going for awesome athletes who can be developed into superstars. Clearly Seattle is not doing this at all. Either early or late.

 

[KiwiHawk]

Just a note about the "move back" policy: It's also a short-term cap saving move. Yes, we lose the option year by moving from round 1 to round 2, but we get him at a lower salary . It comes back to bite us in an earlier second contract, but that's only when we retain the player. When you're drafting late in Round 1, you're out of blue-chip players so retention is not a sure thing anyway.

 

[HawkGA]

Just a note about the "move back" policy: It's also a short-term cap saving move. Yes, we lose the option year by moving from round 1 to round 2, but we get him at a lower salary . It comes back to bite us in an earlier second contract, but that's only when we retain the player. When you're drafting late in Round 1, you're out of blue-chip players so retention is not a sure thing anyway.

That's 5th year option is pretty pricey too though.

 

[kobebryant]

It appears that they approached the draft with their top 3 targets (in any order) being interior pass rush-cb-ol. And if you look at where the cliffs were in the draft it appears that they did it in the right order.

After McDowell, there wasn't much left amongst talented pass rushing DTs; the OL fall off after Pocic, Moton, Elflein and Feeney went was pretty substantial; in the 3rd round they they could still pick from Griffin, Tankersley, Douglas and Lewis of the CBs.

 

[jammerhawk]

There are several vey capable draft 'experts' that regualrly post around here and they make very cogent arguments for selecting player X or player Y.

Furhter after some time watchng the FO several here including myself believe we can discern patterns and player characteristics and we all tend to over focus upon them.

I have to say I was surprised by several of the picks but not McDowell or Darbough.

We all need to look inward and admit there is more than a bit of group think in our draft "suitability" conclusions. accordingly when we don't get the player analysis right there is surprise and confusion.

Fairly assessed after the fact, I think the FO did a great job this draft.

 

[jammerhawk]

Frankly, I think we all got a bit confused by this draft. We all got into a group thought and missed some signals o r simply guessed wrong.

I thought there was a strong possibility the team would draft McDowell, he was team leader, had visited the team, and was a positional top player in the draft at a position the team was/has been interested in improving the competition while getting younger. That said I genuinely thought the team would draft the uber athletic Husky CB, Smith, so I was surprised but not thrown for a loop.

I must say I was not at all surprised at the John the trader double trade back

I also thought the team was really interested in Melifonwu and was disappointed when Oakland drafted him just ahead of the team's pick @58. I suspect he'd have been the choice at pick 58 if still around. The Pocic pick frankly surprised me. It is interesting though that the team announced him as a Tackle and intends to play him as a RT, even though they liked his versatility to play interior positions. Upon reflection maybe we should have seen this pick as more rather than less possible even though the conventional draft sites had him ranked a a 3rd Rd. pick, yet his versatility and size makes him an interesting choice. After these two initial picks I was surprised and somewhat disappointed in the choices, being of the King and Melifonwu group thought view of the teams' expected direction.

On to round three, having been of the view of the view the team might just trade up to snag a CB or a DE/OLB. I was again a bit disappointed that my expected trade up didn't happen as a few CBs seemed available and this year had the length and wingspan we'd convinced ourselves of here. I thought there were a few CBs ahead of Griffin, or an edge rusher/OLB that the team would have been interested in adding. Griffin was a good pick @ 90. He's fast and has the length the team likes (arm length/wingspan theory was just a theory and arm length ruled) he fits Pete's desired speed parameter of low 4.4 high 3.3. Still I'd have preferred King or Melifonwu. After assessing this choice I believe they picked a good player who was lower ranked by the draft dweebs than he deserved.

Picks 95 and 102 surprised me. I thought the team was looking for an athletic interior OLineman like Siragusa or Asiata, and had been caught off guard with the earlier pick of Pocic, thinking more interior interior depth wasn't a bad idea. Delano Hill was a surprise at 95 and had been ranked lower by several draft sites though was a darn good ball player who was well coached in college. I think we are goin to be happy with what we see from him as he gains NFL experience. Frank Clark's endorsement of Hill tells you a lot, Hill is a baller. Was quite surprised by the Nazair Jones pick @ 102 after the earlier McDowell pick but upon reflection shouldn't have been as depth on the inside has been a need for a few seasons, he replaces McDaniel as an interior run stuffer who offers steady play with superior size. He also has very long arms and played well in college. The addition of an edge rusher here seemed expected but didn't pan out. As said earlier it was not surprising to see the team choose Darboh, big and fast with good hands and a willingness to block, sure is nice to add to the pile at WR to fight for very few highly competed for depth positions. The team numbers this offseason at WR are significant and some familiar names in the receiver's room better be ready to compete for their jobs.

Tedric Thompson @ 111 was a draft trade bonus pick, yet a good one from a similar defensive back scheme to the Hawks. He was a solid pick to fill in depth needed on the roster, and had good takeaway numbers as a college player. This player may really surprise. Adding CB/S- Mike Tyson @ 189 was again another bonus from the early trades; he's a ballhawk and fits the Maxwell type pick the team isn't afraid to try, he will initially compete at CB instead of S. The final three are all pure developmental players with high potential upsides who each may struggle to make the team. I think OT- Senior is a raw somewhat different OL prospect that may have to spend time on the PS before developing into a backup level OT. WR- David Moore is a good sized somewhat raw prospect from a tier 3 school who may be a lot better than we know. He clearly was a scout's serious recommendation. RB- Carson is one of those guys Pete likes to add plays hard runs hard with good size. He too like all from 106 onward may have to really fight to get a roster spot.

Am interested is seeing them all play. It was an interesting draft without any doubt. The team added a god number a quality picks to the pile to improve young depth and got better even if the players liked were different from those we thought they might pick.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

Frankly, I think we all got a bit confused by this draft. We all got into a group thought and missed some signals o r simply guessed wrong.

I thought there was a strong possibility the team would draft McDowell, he was team leader, had visited the team, and was a positional top player in the draft at a position the team was/has been interested in improving the competition while getting younger. That said I genuinely thought the team would draft the uber athletic Husky CB, Smith, so I was surprised but not thrown for a loop.

I must say I was not at all surprised at the John the trader double trade back

I also thought the team was really interested in Melifonwu and was disappointed when Oakland drafted him just ahead of the team's pick @58. I suspect he'd have been the choice at pick 58 if still around. The Pocic pick frankly surprised me. It is interesting though that the team announced him as a Tackle and intends to play him as a RT, even though they liked his versatility to play interior positions. Upon reflection maybe we should have seen this pick as more rather than less possible even though the convention draft sites had him ranked a a 3rd Rd. pick, yet his versatility and size makes him an interesting choice. After these two initial picks I was surprised and somewhat disappointed in the choices, being of the King and Melifonwu group thought view of the teams' expected direction.

On to round three, having been of the view of the view the team might just trade up to snag a CB or a DE/OLB. I was again a bit disappointed that my expected trade up didn't happen as a few CBs seemed available and the year had the length and wingspan we'd convinced ourselves of here. I thought there were a few CBs ahead of Griffin or an edge rusher/OLB that the team would have been interested in adding. Griffin was a good pick @ 90. He's fast and has the length the team likes (arm length/wingspan theory was just a theory and arm length ruled) and fits Pete's desired speed parameter of low 4.4 high 3.3. Still I'd have preferred King or Melifonwu. After assessing this choice I believe they picked a good player who was lower ranked by the draft dweebs than he deserved.

Picks 95 and 102 surprised me. I thought the team was looking for an athletic interior OLineman like Siragusa or Asiata, and had been caught off guard with the earlier pick of Pocic, thinking more interior interior depth wasn't a bad idea. Delano Hill was a surprise at 95 and had been ranked lower by several draft sites though was a darn good ball player who was well coached in college. I think we are goin to be happy with what we see from him as he gains NFL experience. Frank Clark's endorsement of Hill tells you a lot, Hill is a baller. Was quite surprised by the Nazair Jones pick @ 102 after the earlier McDowell pick but upon reflection shouldn't have been as depth on the inside has been a need for a few seasons, he replaces McDaniel as an interior run stuffer who offers steady play with superior size. He also has very long arms and played well in college. The addition of an edge rusher here seemed expected but didn't pan out. As said earlier it was not surprising to see the team choose Darboh, big and fast with good hands and a willingness to block, sure is nice to add to the pile at WR to fight for very few highly competed for depth positions. The team numbers this offseason at WR are significant and some familiar names in the receiver's room better be ready to compete for their jobs.

Tedric Thompson @ 111 was a draft trade bonus pick, yet a good one from a similar defensive back scheme to the Hawks. He was a solid pick to fill in depth needed on the roster, and had good takeaway numbers as a college player. This player may really surprise. Adding CB/S- Mike Tyson @ 179 was again another bonus from the early trades he's a ballhawk and fits the Maxwell type pick the team isn't afraid to try, he will initially compete at CB instead of S. The final three are all pure developmental players with high potential upsides who each may struggle to make the team. I think OT- Senior is a raw somewhat different OL prospect that may have to spend time on the PS before developing into a backup level OT. WR- David Moore is a good sized somewhat raw prospect from a tier 3 school who may be a lot better than we know. He clearly was a scout's serious recommendation. RB- Carson is one of those guys Pete likes to add plays hard runs hard with good size. He too like all from 106 onward may have to really fight to get a roster spot.

Am interested is seeing them all play. It was an interesting draft without any doubt. The team added a god number a quality picks to the pile to improve young depth and got better even if the players liked were different from those we thought they might pick.

Thanks for the Write Up Jammer. Great information.

 

[SeaWolv]

They have a buttload of DBs trying to make the team- Baptiste, Seisay, Cox, Elliott, Desir, D. McCray, and then the draftees they added last week.

With all the defensive backfield talent it would seem like the front offense has some concerns about the longevity of some of the current starters.

 

[Seahawker86]

I think McDowell gets us 10 sacks this year. I really think this kid will be a force to reckon with.

I really like Griffin too. If we hit on our first three picks which I think we did we will be pushing for the superbowl if you ask me

 

[Seahawkfan80]

They have a buttload of DBs trying to make the team- Baptiste, Seisay, Cox, Elliott, Desir, D. McCray, and then the draftees they added last week.

With all the defensive backfield talent it would seem like the front offense has some concerns about the longevity of some of the current starters.

I thought about that as well. But my consideration is getting the next wave of LOBers on board so they can be mentored up by the best. A couple of them could easily start.

 

[CamanoIslandJQ]

After every draft I try and make sense out of the ranking sites that are often very influential in the draft process,
especially to us fans. Which sites are the most accurate? Here are this years #'s for each site relative to the actual
Seahawks picks. These are the 3 ranking sites that I have compared herein.
----(cbssports.com) ---vs:--- (dafttek.com)--- vs:---(draftwired2.com), ------------------------------- * =outliers.
Seahawks pick: #35----DT-Malik McDowell, ---(24)---(21)---(20)
Seahawks pick: #58----OL-Ethan Pocic, ---(67)---(79)---(77)
Seahawks pick: #90----CB-Shaquill Griffin, ---(121)---(85*)---(136)
Seahawks pick: #95----FS-Delano Hill, --(119*)---(177)---(189)
Seahawks pick: #102---DT-Nazir Jones,--- (92)---(114)---(111)
Seahawks pick: #106---WR-Amara Darboh, ---(90)---(82)---(156*)
Seahawks pick: #111---SS-Tedrick Thompson, ---(207*)--- (133)---(128)
Beyond this point, rankings are way too variable for all of the other picks later in the draft.

All in all, the 3 different ranking sites were pretty close to each other with a notable few of the picks that are outliers.
IMO-These rankings just generally show that:
(1) McDowell was ranked lower than pick #35, so the Seahawks did very well, - especially after 2 trade-downs.
(2) Pocic was ranked a little lower than perhaps many thought & was indeed only a slight reach at pick #58.
(3) Griffin was ranked lower than perhaps many thought and was a need pick at #90. May be one of their best picks too.
(4) Hill was generally ranked maybe 70-80 picks later than his pick at #95 by 2 of 3 ranking sites, but fills a need,
(5) Nazir Jones was ranked about where he was picked at #102. Would seem to be a nice value pick.
(6) Darboh was a slight outlier with 82/90/156, but we got him at #106. There is a way inconsistent #156 there (why=?)
(7) Thompson was an outlier with 207/133/128, but we got him at #111. at #207, cbssports maybe disliked his 40 time?

IMO--cbssports.com only messed up with Tedrick Thompson too high and Delano Hill maybe too low. In Thompson's case Field smarts, anticipation & flat out hustle can often overcome a 1/10 of a second slower 40, they should have know that & not dinged him so much in their rankings. Hill, I don't think many got that one right. Drafttek.com seemed right on except for Hill & draftwired2.com was right on except for Darboh & probably Hill as well. My conclusion: I guess I still like cbssports.com the best because of their content & the multiple sorts on their headers, however I will continue to use all three next draft season.

 

[Seafan]

Much of what I thought I knew about the Seahawks draft strategy and needs was turned upside down with this last draft...

1. Outside CB was clearly not as big a need as I thought it was. They had multiple chances at guys that fit their profile for outside cornerback but passed on most all of them. We'll see how they use Griffin, he could be the only guy they added to the competition in that area. That's not how Seattle normally attacks a position of need. When Seattle perceives a real area of need they generally throw multiple options into the mix and create competition to see who rises to the top. Adding just 1 guy makes me think that they are confident in someone they have already and just added to the group for depth.


Why? PC/JS have never drafted a CB higher than this season.


2. Is Seattle adjusting their profile on corners? Before this draft the Seahawks had never drafted a corner with a wingspan smaller than 77 inches. That was the case for outside cornerback and inside nickle cornerback. However this year the two corners they drafted are both under that perceived minimum requirement (Griffin 74 3/4" and Tyson 76 5/8"). Maybe this is because they are looking for a different type of athlete (for a specific scheme?), or maybe this is because they've relaxed their physical requirements in favor of putting more emphasis in play on the field? I don't know for sure but I find it interesting any time a change like this takes place. Have they found something new to stay one step ahead of the league like they did back when they showed the league how to effectively use big long corners? I'm really interested to see how the 4-2-5 gets used and where Pete takes it in the end.

No change from their profile noted.


3. Not a single Husky or Coug brought in. Were they not as good of fits for Seattle as I thought many of them were? Has Seattle encountered challenges they don't like about dealing with local in state guys causing them to shy away from bringing them in? In the past it seemed we had kind of a pipeline of UW talent at least, when it came to UDFAs, but no instate talent this year despite some interesting guys that didn't get drafted (Joe Mathis, Darrell Daniels, Jake Eldrenkamp, Gabe Marks).


You draft the best player that fits your need.


4. Not a single linebacker. At the beginning of the draft some would have put linebacker as maybe our top need and most definitely seemed to think it to be in the top 3 needs for this team. I'm shocked that we didn't even draft one. Is this because of a scheme shift/change (4-2-5)? Confidence in who we have already? Or was it just as simple as there being no linebackers we liked around where we picked? Even some of the free agents we brought in were a bit of head scratchers to me. Not the typical quick long hybrid type OLB I thought they'd be searching for but more of traditional inside linebackers that don't cover as much ground.


Not a need at draft time. They took care of it earlier.



I'm not saying any of this to criticize the front office at all, contrary to the stance some others have taken because Seattle didn't draft "who they wanted" and "how they wanted". I actually see it as interesting and an opportunity to learn. I love how this team never does what everyone thinks they should do. They march to the beat of their own drum and in my opinion that's really interesting because they've built a perennial contender doing it their own way. Instead of criticizing them and assuming I'm smarter than they are when I don't understand a move they make, I like to take the approach of, "Wow, I'm interested to see how this works out". It's like watching Mozart compose a masterpiece, seeing how things all come together in the end and all the changes and alterations during the process. Fun times! I'm very much looking forward to this coming season and another run in the playoffs.

Go Hawks!!!

Another great draft IMO. The Hawks filled their greatest needs in order with talented athletes.