The Seahawks have a horizontal Draft board graded against their own roster.
By default or inadvertently they draft for need.
Their first selection of the draft normally boils down to thinnest graded position group at biggest position of need.
They also wasted no time trading up into the 2nd to get a Leo because it was also a thin position group in the draft, and they had to move up and make sure they got their guy, or you end up drafting another LJ Collier. Which of course is an over correction from the previous draft, which a lot of teams and especially the Seahawks do. (Over correct from the previous draft failings.)
There is a flip side to that coin though. You end up with a lesser talent with the first selection, but a glutton of talent to pick from in rounds 3-5 in particular with a big need out of the way. Because JS has graded the other positions to be deeper and they will have all but guaranteed themselves a chance to acquire some real talents in the middle of the draft.
My argument has been well if the guy sucks, you didn't fill a need, only exacter-bated it.
The only way to truly NOT draft for need is to have a vertical board, line them up single file, and just take the best player available. The Seahawks do not operate that way. Ozzie Newsome of the Ravens did, and that's what made him so great in the 1st round. He just waited for the best talent to fall to him in the 1st and picked them.
I will say though the 1st round selection this year is a high ceiling talent, and I believe was the only 2nd backer off the board. So at least it was better than what it has been in seasons past. I think it also goes back to the over correction from drafting LJ Collier. (That Collier pick was a spectacular fail.)
JS was asked about why he took Collier with his first pick? And he said "there was quite a drop after him."
And I was thinking to myself when he said that, that Sweat was probably the cliff, and he was just digging through the carcasses at the bottom of the cliff. But he is the professional, and I am an internet arm chair GM, so he knows better than me. But damn it is amazing how many times the professionals overthink the 1st round.
Brooks is a nice step in the right direction (Talent). Now the next step is to get a better grasp of positional value.
QB, OT, DE, CB, 3T, WR. Is what you really should be looking at picking in the 1st. If you draft outside of that framework in the 1st, he better be a star. Earl Thomas at FS being a great example of doing it right. Brooks at least has a real chance to be a star.