My 2 weeks until the draft mock

Well it seems the draft will never get here so I'm going to put way too much time into this. Let's get started.

1st rd #26
I anticipate a trade down barring Rankins or Conklin falling. The reason for this is the Hawks very likely have similar grades on 5+ guys at this position. If a team is willing to move up from early 2nd Schneider will make the deal and probably cheaply too, say for an extra 4th only. But since it's too hard to guess where a trade might happen, I'm going to pick a DL here. The reasoning is this. I think they are happy with their tackle situation going into camp and the guys they would consider here are not likely to be available. Spriggs/Ifedi/Coleman/Decker/Clark are all relatively uninspiring (personally I like Coleman the most). Because of this and the great interior OL depth available in the next 3 rounds I think we solidify the DL.

The guy I'm picking isn't perfect (no one at the end of the 1st is) but if we look at what he can do, he could provide a lot of help on the interior. He blasts through OL nobodys business. He is also country strong and probably overall the stongest player in the draft. The pick? Andrew Billings. now many of you might disagree and that's fine. When I watch his tape I see a guy who has a bad habit of rushing through the line and whiffing on the RB going right past him. Now that's uninspiring, but I believe the coaching staff can imprpve his gap discipline and make him into a top notch DT. He may not get 8 sacks but he is going to push the pocket enough so that when Avril blows around the corner, the QB can't step up and avoid the sack. I really think he can boost the overall DL play a lot and thus he is my pick. He is also incredibly young. Other possible choices: Bullard, Butler, Floyd, C. jones

2nd rd #56
Now I am tempted to get cute here and try to grab another solid player on defense gambling on the OL depth but I'm not going to. I am going to take advantage or the interior OL depth here and grab a guy who can step in and put Britt on the bench where he belongs. This pick is unoriginal if you follow other seahawks sites but I'm going to grab Connor Mcgovern. If you follow Seahawksdraftblog.com at all you know all about TEF. Rob appears to have unlocked the formula and Mcgovern screams Seahawks. I think he steps in and is immediately better than Britt. Other possible choices: Martin, Kelly, Coleman should he fall this far.

3rd rd #90
I'm going to go back to the defensive side of the ball and really try to shore up the middle. The guy here plays at a small school but he is very athletic and was extremely productive. The pick here is Javon Hargrave. He looks like he could step in on 3rd down and provide the Mcdonald/Hill role of cleaning up the scraps. Pairing Hargrave with Billings gives us 2 young DTs so we have the interior DL locked up for multiple years. One of the strengths of this draft class is DT and I'm not fighting it. Also considerd: Willie Henry, Ronald Blair

3rd rd #97
I am going to pick a guy here who is prpbably a round too early, but I think the Hawks will love him. WR isn't really a need but this guy jumps off the screen to me. The pick? Michael Thomas. If you want to watch what this guy can do all you have to do is pop in the tape vs UW in the bowl game. The only reason that game wasn't 42-0 is because Thomas single handedly willed USM into a couple TDs. He went over the middle, caught passes and turned them upfield, wrangled in some deep balls and all around torched, what was apretty good defense. He transferred to USM and played 2 years. His senior year he had 1300 yds and 14 TDs. He was very consistent and had 100+ yds 8 times. I saw this guy and I immediately just knew we had to have him. His draft rankings are all over the board so I am grabbing him too early to ensure I get him. Other players considered: Cajuste.

4th rd #124
This really is a good draft for Safetys IMO. There are a handful of guys I really like and one of them is KJ Dillon. He could backup both safety spots and is IMO very underrated. I struggled with a good spot to grab a safety in this draft and I settled on this spot.

5th rd #171
The 5th round has traditionally been a secondary rd but I am going to change it up as I don't think we grab a CB this year. I am going to grab OLB Stephen Weatherly. He might need a little time to develop he is very athletic and has gorilla arms at 34.5". I think he could be groomed to be Irvin lite and play SAM. He has great instincts and I think could really turn out to be a 5th rd steal, continuing the tradition.

6th rd #214
At this point we are down to some out of left field picks, but I am going to ensure we have a Mashaun on the team for years to come. The pick Marshaun Coprich. A player that obliterated the FCS is going to be good camp fodder for Rawls and Cmike. I just really love this guys tapes and would love him to become a Seahawk.

7th rd #225/247
We are down to the real headscratchers that probably won't make the team. I'm running out of steam so a couple guys I like here, Justin Zimmer who is an animal and Connor Wujiack who looks like he could be the latest DL convert to OL.



These picks would set us up with an OL of Gilliam Mcgovern Lewis/Sokoli Glowinski Webb which to me is light years ahead of last years. This draft addresses the depth at DT, S and OLB. I also am very happy with Michael Thomas as I think he could be a great pairing with Russ. I'm sure the Hawks go a completely different direction but this is what I am picking 2 weeks before the draft.

Keith Marshall please.

Nice write up

McGovern seems to be getting zero draft hype outside of the Seahawks blog-o-sphere. Everything I've read about him suggests that he's a round 3-4 player. His overall profile is similar, if not slightly inferior, to Mark Glowinski. And Seattle got Glow with a late 4th last year (#134th overall). There's a good chance he'll still be on the board at #97 and a decent chance he's still on the board at #124.

Similarly, Michael Thomas is probably going to be a round 6 or 7 guy, and if we miss out on him it won't be the end of the world. I'm a huge fan of his, but I think you can get him much later.

I have mixed feelings on Billings, but I have mixed feelings on all the 1st round DTs this year.

I didn't always love the value but I liked most of the players, namely McGovern, Hargrave, Thomas and Coprich.

The front office will make sure you are wrong on every pick.

I am sure they will.

I am also a fan of Marshall but I think he is too injury prone. I certainly wouldn't complain if we grabbed him.

As far Thomas' draft projection I've seen UDFA to top 5 WR on some guys' rankings. I just think he is going to be a good to great WR for years to come and I hope it's on the Hawks.

My latest Seahawks mock draft, using the current 4/15/16 update of rankings at cbssports.com. I prefer to do mocks that do not reach beyond the current rankings and update when rankings change. Obviously rankings do and will change AND the trade may or may not be viable (who knows?), but here are my picks with my alternate choices, all of which are realistic per the current rankings.

4/17/2016, cbssports update of 4/15/2016
********1-26-----TRADE DOWN, get picks 35, 99 & 156********

2/35-----OT-Germain Ifedi(42) -or- OT-Shon Coleman(53) ----either will do.
2-56-----OLB-Kyler Fackrell(66) -or- OG-Connor McGovern(89) ----either will do.
3-90-----DE-Bronson Kaufusi(92) -or- DT-Javon Hargrave(90) ---either will do.
3-97-----RB-Jordan Howard(104) -or- OLB-Joe Schobert(105) ----Howard complements RB position well.
4/99-----SS-Miles Killebrew(115) -or- TE-Jerell Adams(112) --Killebrew, a Steal, Don't miss him PC/JS
4/125---OT-Joe Haeg(128) -or- RB-Tyler Ervin(143) ----Haeg, underrated, like his tape + durability.
5/156---DT-Willie Henry(175) -or- DE-Stephen Weatherly(183) ----Henry = just a great pick here.
5-172---OLB-Tyrone Holmes(208) -or- FS-Justin Simmons(184) --Holmes, a Steal Don't miss him PC/JS
6-215---DT-Justin Zimmer(315) -or-WR-Moritz Boehringer(222) --Zimmer, a Steal Don't miss him PC/JS
7-223---CB-DeAndre Elliott(297) -or- CB-Ken Crawley(236) ----Annual CB pick, WR-Boehringer a possible?
7-245---WR/RB-D.J. Foster(277) -or- OG-Alex Redmond(293) ----Foster is pretty close to Ervin as 3-rd RB.
PUDFA: QB-Vernon Adams(289). - I really like this kid as a backup (eventually), Hawks might even draft him in Rd-7?

UDFA: CB(slot)-Brandon Williams(261), DT/(OL-Convert)-Connor Wujciak(269), TE-Jake McGee(280), OLB-Montese Overton(295), RB-Peyton Barber(354) and finally OT-Halapoulivaati Vaitai(286) primarily because I want to hear his name trying to be pronounced many times on game days.

My -"Don't leave the draft without" picks: Deathbacker-Killebrew, Leo-Holmes & DT-Zimmer + 2 or 3 OL/DL picks.

Lots of good potential Seahawks in this mock who also may have been available later.

Perhaps the primary benefit of having unconventional desires is the ability to get value. ZBS wasn't introduced because it was better but rather because it was cheaper. A guy like McGovern definitely feels like a Seahawk, but taking him in the second round gives up a lot of our advantage there and sets the bar a lot higher for him to produce a positive RoI.

I also expect us to be heavily looking for competition at OT (RT?). That's a place where NFL rookies have been able to contribute immediately recently and I haven't heard any good vibes about Poole over the last year to make me think they're comfortable with a Gilliam/Sowell/Webb/Poole unit.

Would really love the hawks to take Joe Dahl OT/OG out of WSU. Kid was dominant in the pac12 only gave up like 2 sacks his jr and sr year in Mike leachs throw it 100 times a game offense. Ive seen him mocked as high as round two. But could potentially be had in the 3rd or 4th.

If by the end of day two, we ended up with:

Shon Coleman
Connor McGovern
Javon Hargrave
Joe Dahl

I think I'd be absolutely tickled pink.

Although I do expect that either Ifedi or Ogbah are going to make the grade somewhere. They are just too freakishly athletic to ignore. In a class that is generally unathletic at the top to begin with. Putting personal favorites aside -- I certainly should expect one of those guys to be picked and picked early.

Two players that flash awesome dominance. But also maddeningly inconsistent. If I put on the 'prospects aren't close to what they will be as pros' hat on -- then I can get down with either of those picks pretty easily.

In April -- they look like ugly ducklings at times. But rookies do improve. And if the light switch goes on for either of those guys, you have a core franchise player.

gowazzu02":1bon16r2 said:

Would really love the hawks to take Joe Dahl OT/OG out of WSU. Kid was dominant in the pac12 only gave up like 2 sacks his jr and sr year in Mike leachs throw it 100 times a game offense. Ive seen him mocked as high as round two. But could potentially be had in the 3rd or 4th.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm with you on this. The scouts poke holes in his physical stature and measurables but all the kid has done is gone out and played well, both at Wazzou and in the Senior Bowl. Would love for us to grab him in the mid rounds.

Something that just occurred to me today:

Is it mere coincidence that Seattle resigned Clemons? The scuttlebutt has been that he'd be a good mentor for Frank Clark while providing rotational pass rush value.

But in terms of athletic type -- Ogbah is one that compares more closely to Clemons and would likely mirror a similar role. Ogbah is considerably bigger/faster than Clemons was at his pro day and at his professional peak. Both have ridiculous length. Ogbah physically looks like a first round version of Chris Clemons.

Have to wonder if maybe bringing him in isn't more foreshadowing a potential Ogbah selection. Their physical similarities is uncanny. It's assumed that there will be a transition period for Ogbah in the NFL. Not unlike Ziggy Ansah needed in Detroit.

The addition of Clemons is a convenient and possibly productive bridge to that second year. Not to mention an ideal candidate to mold the development of a rookie in a positive way.

We know that Seattle does like to pre draft for need. And we all know that Avril and Bennett will be hitting their decline sooner rather than later. Pass rush is a critical role and one that can't be allowed to whither.

I just have to wonder -- because I agree he has motor issues. He also has ridiculous talent. To have been that productive with those deficiencies, it is tantalizing to think what a properly developed Ogbah could achieve. In a position where there is going to be some development concerns with whomever is selected -- I could make the case that the tea leaves could be pointing in his direction.

I can't get behind Billings anywhere near that high. What I watched showed not only a lack of gap discipline, but too much of a tendency (particularly for not being taller) to play with a high pad level. I have a pretty significant preference for Hargrave, Butler, Henry (2nd or later), or Chris Jones or if going for how raw I see Billings, Maliek Collins later, who I see as really raw but quite a bit more dynamic.
The rest of it I like quite a bit, though as much as I like Michael Thomas, there just isn't as much chance for a WR to help as easily without being bigger unless Kasen and Kevin are pretty much out of the picture. I can't skip out on giving them competition, but that feels too early for me unless you're getting a real steal, and there is good depth of other options at the position. I'm also gonna mention what I think is a hugely underrated need for the Hawks at TE and I'm not thinking that a dynamic receiver is nearly as important as most think. I want a guy who is a real improvement over the TE blocking we've seen since losing Miller, even if his first year only sees passing targets when the defense overlooks him. My favorite is Higbee, though it takes a bit of a leap of faith to feel he's ready as a blocker; he looked a bit sloppy to me, but very capable. He's also quite dynamic as a weapon, so could go earlyish based on that. My favorite alternative who seems like he should be available later is Bryce Williams, whose testing numbers were a bit disappointing but I liked on film. He looked solid as a blocker and even a bit more dynamic as a receiver than his measurables suggest, and there is quite a bit of room for increased productivity over college as he was a JC transfer playing with a bad QB.