Do the #Seahawks Have Their Next Franchise QB? | #SeattleSports

Do the #Seahawks Have Their Next Franchise QB? | #SeattleSports

Uh, all right. So, now what? The Seahawks are done with the draft. Uh, they signed Jonathan Henkins. They probably still have a little bit more work to do. What What’s the sort of now what situation for a team like Seattle? Well, before we do that, can I I just got our researcher to do all this uh research off of my uh top 150. He does this every year. And I wanted to see coming on with you guys where the Seahawks fair just and again it’s just off of how I had the players rank. So, I always am, you know, people do draft grades and all that kind of stuff. Like, I I think that’s kind of silly, but this is just a it’s this is concrete numbers based off of how I stack the players one to 150. So, if you look at the most players drafted among my top 150, you had the Browns and the Patriots with seven. Um, and the uh let’s see, the Seahawks were with with uh five. So, that’s just over average should be what? 4.7. So, sorry, sorry. Seahawks had five top 150 picks and they got six top 150 players. But this is where the this is where the good stuff is the total value added. So if you were to just rank the players and you get like a you know you get 150 points for the first player on my list and one point for the 150th player. So if you just kind of look at it that way um in terms of the most added value, the Seahawks were third with 547 points behind the Browns and the Patriots. And then lastly, the one of the other things they do is they go uh points over expected. So if you had the first pick, the expected value would be 150. And you kind of figure it out as you go. So the Seahawks, just based how I had it, they were plus 129 on points over expected, which put them fourth. Wow. Um so how I graded the players, I thought they they got they got quantity and quality basically is what I’m getting at. Mhm. You hear any rumblings after these rookie mini camps, uh, Daniel, from around the league and maybe even in Seattle of, “Okay, here were our picks and here’s our takeaway from actually what we saw now in our own uniform.” I’ve I’ve stopped making those phone calls over the years because I I I tend to tend to find a lot of bias in those initial I mean, he got out there. I mean, he was the first one on the field. Okay. Um, you know, I mean, you should have seen this uh Yeah. I mean, he’s already learned everything. I’m like, how many places? Six. You know, like uh you know, like it’s just it there tends to be a little hyperbole coming out of these early early mini camps. So, I’ve stopped I’ve stopped kind of paying attention. All right. Well, let me ask you this then. This is this is a go the opposite way for a moment because I think every stat you just gave about what your researcher came up with is super positive about the Seahawks. Brock and I have been incredibly positive about this Seahawks draft. I think we all really like what they did. Um, but Mike Sando, who we love, did a piece where he interviews a and gets a lot of information from other execs, anonymous execs around the league. And they also had some nice things to say about the Seahawks draft. But this was the other side of it. So, I’ll ask you what you think of it. The catch, Seattle targeted nonpremium positions with its first three picks, getting the second guard, the second safety before taking a Royo, who was consistently one of the most praised players in the Seahawks class. So essentially taking a guard, a safety, and a tight end, three nonp premium positions with their first three picks. Should should we be more concerned about that than we’ve been? I don’t think so because I don’t think they forced it. And and I I know, you know, you always want to try and load up on the line of scrimmage, but you you just can’t force that. And I think you’ve even seen to me and I and I’m biased and I readily admit it because the two teams that I worked for that I feel like have been as good in the draft game as anybody are Baltimore and and Philadelphia. And you look at Baltimore took Malachi Starks. You look at Philadelphia, they took an offthe-ball linebacker and Jiad Campbell. Like the the draft, you can go in there with a plan in place and we’re going to address the premium positions, but if it falls a certain way, you get in trouble when you’re trying to just force it and jam it in there. At the end of the day, the goal is to have blue players. You want to have elite players scattered across your roster. And depending on who you talk to, they’ll tell you we need to have, you know, 8 to 12 like blue caliber players, guys that could be considered in the top 10 of their position in the NFL. In order to win it, you’ve got to have those elite players. So, if you can get one of those elite players at one of those non-premium positions in a draft like the one we just had, I mean, that’s that’s just doing it smart in my opinion. How big a deal is magnetism at quarterback in your evaluation as you go through this process and have over the last couple decades, DJ? I I Yeah, and I I love that word. Um I always go back to this conversation that I had with Steve Young, you know, gosh, decades ago, uh when I was just a young kid, and I just remember asking him, um, you know, hey, in your opinion, I’ve talked to a bunch of different people about this, but what makes a great quarterback? And he the way he explained it was it was that quality of being able to go into the huddle and to look everybody in the eye and say over my dead body are we going to lose this game. And so whether you want to describe that as you know this big energy that fills the room and everybody wants to be around them or to me I lean more towards just there’s that competitive greatness inside of these guys that that attracts people. Maybe that’s the magnet that that uh that attracts people. But that always I mean I heard that over 20 years ago and that always stood out to me. I think Jordan Palmer said to us yesterday, there’s not going to be a better QB room than what Seattle has now. From that regard, from a character standpoint, and even an upside of talent, obviously Jordan Bias because he’s worked with Sam and now working with Jaylen. But when you now look at the that room with Drew Lock, obviously Jaylen Milro and Sam, my goodness gracious, from a just QB character quality, is there a better room in the league right now? Those are all good dudes. Those are all really good dudes. Um, you know, Josh Allen is as good as it gets in terms of of how he is and what he’s all about. I always assumed I don’t even know. I think Matt Barkley might have retired, but I always assumed that Matt Barkley was just always going to be the three wherever Josh Allen was because he’s he literally was such a such a good dude um that he kind of survived on that. But no, I mean, I think it’s important. I think there’s having the competitiveness of like we all want to play. Let’s not hide that. Let’s be honest about that. But there is also that hey he’s he this is the pecking order and my job is to try and get myself ready to play as a two or the three but I also need to serve the starter and I think you get some bad some bad rooms when there’s those lines aren’t really drawn that way and it’s I’m out for blood as the number two quarterback and uh I don’t know if that if that always makes for a good room. Yeah. if you were to have an opportunity to chat with any one member of this Seahawks draft class, you got 11 guys in the draft class, and you could give them some advice on, hey, if you want to make this team now, if you want to be successful, if you want to be even more successful maybe than where you were drafted, which one player would you love to just have a quick conversation with and give him one good piece of advice that you think would help him and the team? Yeah, I would probably start and I I think we’ve talked about him being one of my favorite guys that they got in terms of the value, but I would probably start with Horton and I would go tell him that at your first and I would I’ve done this I’ve actually told this to some people before is, hey, at the first mini camp, I want you to as soon as you get on campus for the first time in the building, I want you to walk down to the special teams coach’s office. First of all, look who look it up and figure out who it is before you go in there. go in there and just tell him, “Use me however you want to use me. I I want to be a gunner. I want to return kicks,” which he’s done. Like, I want to go and I’m gonna start right there. I’m gonna dominate that universe and then I’m going to figure out once I dominate in that universe, the the other universes are going to expand for me. So, I’ve always said if you’re not a first or second round pick, one of your first moves should be to walk right down into the special teams coach’s office and try and make an impression. Because you’re a little under the weather today, DJ, and you’re fighting because you come on this show serving us with information. battler. I’m I’m going to play uh to your strengths. I’m going to throw you a couple here in your wheelhouse. The two places you’ve been, we played some Howie Roseman sound yesterday from the war room where Howie really put a charge into his guys on that third day and said, “Find me starters. I want two starters. I don’t want depth. I want to take some swings here.” So, on day three picks of the Seahawks, seven of them, right? Seven guys in this draft class. Who would you put stock in to be in a possible starter or two out of those seven picks? Well, I’m I’m when he gets healthy, Riley Mills to me has starter ability and he carried a starter grade for me. So, that’s just let’s let’s take our time here and maybe that’s a year down the road, but we’re going to take our time. We’re going to get him healthy. But, that is that to me is and I agree with that philosophy of, you know, hey, let’s let’s chase the upside a little bit um versus the, you know, the stability and the high floor on on day three. So, that one first and foremost is one. I I think Damen Martinez can carve out a role. Um, you know, you got to make the team first, but I think he’s someone who can carve out a role, can can be a short yardage back, can be a four-minute back, put some games away. You know, when when you hear the the rumors pre-draft like Kenneth Walker might be traded and where, you know, what kind of good graces is he in? Like, to me, if I’m Martinez, I’m sniffing some opportunity there to try and carve out and find a role on this team. And again, it starts on special teams, but I could see him eventually getting, you know, to the point where he could earn some carries. Um, so those would be a couple that would come right to the top of mind. Well, you know, Sulk’s a blink scout. We’ve talked about that, right? Blink analysis. Uh, I this is, and I’ll I’ll admit right here, I’m doing a total blink analysis. I’m taking a 20 second clip of John Benton, the old line coach, working with the guys and just praising Bryce Cable in just with some of his movement skills just in this one little 20 second clip. Can you tell me why a guy that’s 6’5, 300, started 50 games, run ran sub five, why that guy was a six round pick? Well, we can start. First of all, it he was not a uh he was not a combine invite. So, correct. You know, that’s that’s that’s telling you kind of what the league is saying because a lot of that comes from that. I’m pulling up my notes on him. um the the issues that I had with him, you know, just struggle with speed, you know, so I don’t think the athletic testing necessarily showed up on the tape. I thought the toughness was there. Um, you know, I have in my notes just the redirect issues, beat by speed. Um, I do I do love his effort. He looks to finish. That’s going to be something that’s going to gain you a lot of popularity with an offensive line coach um with a strain and an effort and a want to. Um, so that to me was kind of the the pluses where you’ve got he tested out of the gym and then you you love the effort, the tenacity, the toughness. Now the issues that showed up where he’s getting beat on the edge with speed and then some of the redirect athleticism stuff um gave him issues as a tackle, not a tackle, but slide him into guard. That that he needs neighbors. He needs to play with neighbors. So that that but that’s kind of that kind of gives you the whole holistic picture there. But I that’s why I’ve always said I’ve always gotten trouble with that with the offensive line grades if I were to be, you know, self-critical and go back and evaluate self- scout. I’ve I think we’ve even talked about this. I’ve got in trouble when I’ve overvalued athleticism and when I’ve undervalued intelligence and toughness at at those positions. Those guys find a way to play. Do you have any concern about Jaylen Milro’s decision making after he ch, you know, ends up in number six? Um, what’s the significance of just the worst quarterback number? I mean, it’s just awful. Wow. I mean, I think Bobby Bister would I think Bobby Bister would have something to say. That’s exactly right. I mean, I think Bobby Bister He literally defines this. Yes. Who else is a six? Was it’s Baker Mayfield, Bobby Bister, and that’s it. Yeah. Jay Color. Exactly. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. What’s our level of concern here? It’s kind of It’s kind of a kicker number. It’s a horrific quarterback number. Yeah. Horrific. Uh, well, I can tell you I can tell you that uh my first my first uh game as a red shirt at Northeast Louisiana University, I came in there, I wanted 17. I couldn’t get it. So, I got five. I was very excited. Five is a good number for a red shirt freshman. I mean, I was I’m like I kind of built like uh like uh Garcia a little bit with the Niners. I was just, you know, like a like a stick. So, I’m like, that’s fine. So, I get out there and uh my my first game we played Minnesota at home and uh so they have your jersey laid out there and I go uh I go to the equipment manager and I go, “Hey, uh question two questions.” I go, “Number one, why do I have number six for I thought I was five.” And he goes, “Well,” he goes, “Well, we have double numbers and since you’re red shirt, not going to play, we have you in a six.” I go, “Okay, I get that. Uh you spelled my name wrong on the back of the jersey. That’s maybe the bigger issue.” I don’t think it is. J E R E, not J E R A. So, I literally lost my name and my number for the first time I put on a college uniform. That’s a tough pill to swallow. I’d rather have a misspelled name than I would wear number six as a quarterback. That was the only time that was the only time I that I got back to five the next week. Let me uh let me give you a more serious question. Uh how’ the rest of the NFC West make out? Um shoot. I mean, the Rams just getting next year’s one is that’s a huge win. It is. The ners was I I’m not going to say it’s a good or a bad draft. It was maybe the more surpris one of the more surprising drafts to me and and that they went so heavy on defense which okay I can understand that because they had a lot of holes to fill. But for a team that’s been like an attack front, they took a lot of rundefending like front seven guys, you know, like that was it was literally, you know, guys who are much better against the run than than they are in the pass game. And that started with with Mike Williams with their first overall pick. So, that one kind of surprised me just because it seemed like there’s a philosophical shift there. And I don’t know if that’s because, you know, the Rams are a physical run team. You know, if you want to go outside the broader picture of the NFC, you got Saquon Barkley and the Eagles that offensive line, but that was a philosophical shift. Yeah. Detroit is a physical team. So, that just kind of, you know, from being a team that was always attack up the field to more like kind of sit and uh and hold the point of attack type players. That one was uh that one shocked me. But the uh and then you you look at the Cardinals. I thought the Cardinals actually had a really good draft. I liked what they did. Mhm. I think I’m going to know your answer on this one, especially as you spent so much time with Clatt and Clatt and I are the same on this one. Colin Coward, we just had him on DJ and and asked about uh Jaylen Milro playing six or seven snaps, right? He had said that on his show and and Sulky asked him about it and and he pointed kind of to the red zone and what have you. Do you think that’s a healthy dynamic? And do you think that’s realistic that Jaylen Milro is going to get on the field for six or seven snaps a game? I I would say that, you know, that maybe the conservatively the 15th time I’ve heard about a quarterback entering into the league that’s going to play a package of plays and I can tell you we’re 0 for 15. It never happens. It’s always discussed and it’s always it is you know what what it is? It’s always one of those things, those ideas that’s great upstairs and you you come up with this upstairs plan and then when the the message gets delivered downstairs, something gets lost in translation and that never happens. So, we’ll see. I I mean, again, I think it sounds fun. Let’s get him a a package of plays down in the red zone, some short yardage stuff. And it’s been a long time since Cordell Stewart was doing that with the Pittsburgh Steelers, man. It just Teams don’t do it. So, I asked uh I asked Brock this, I asked Lam Moa, I asked Colin earlier, I’ll ask you as well. Do you think the Seahawks next franchise quarterback, and I’m talking about the next guy on this team who will win multiple playoff games and be considered a franchise quarterback, however you choose to define that, do you think they’re currently on this roster? I think that the fact that there’s a pause there probably is not right great in terms of the confidence, but I I I think they can win playoff games with Sam Darnold. I do. I I think Sam’s good enough to do that. I think they put the right things in place around him, continue to build up. I mean, I don’t think what he did last year was a fluke. I know the way it ended was not not what anybody wanted to see, but I I still think the ability’s in there for him to do that. Now, I also have always talked about the confetti test. Um, and that is if you have a quarterback on your roster that you can imagine the confetti falling on him. I I don’t I don’t know that they have that guy. I thought that was Clatt’s line. You stole that from me. He’s such a thief. He’s such a And and just to be clear, this is what he does. He gets me about four Diet Cokes deep and then next thing you know, he’s stealing all my stuff. And and Milro doesn’t enter into that for you. You don’t see him as a potential franchise guy eventually? I don’t uh I just think there’s so much distance to travel in the pass game. But I mean, hey, let’s uh, you know, let’s see where it all goes. I know there’s a lot of raw, you know, raw stuff in there, a lot of ability in there, but it’s just to me there’s a lot of assembly required. So, so let me follow up on it because we did have an interesting conversation with Jordan Palmer. And one of the one of the phrases he used, which I kind of liked, was he said we would be able to judge uh, Milro by how well he puts the ball in play. essentially saying we know he’s going to make plays like if he’s in the game he’ll make some big plays cuz he’s just so explosive running etc. splash plays. The highlight reel will be awesome, but how how well does he essentially function as a game manager, as a point guard, getting the ball to other people and allowing them to make plays without taking a sack, without, you know, missing them by, you know, 30 yards, whatever. If it feels to me anyway from the outside like that’s something you could teach somebody to just be a decent game manager and to just like do the little plays because the big ones are going to come. If he could do that, couldn’t he become something of a of a franchise quarterback? I I would argue that that’s probably the hardest thing to do. Interesting. The exact exact opposite is is being efficient and and not going big game hunting and taking what’s there and being patient. Um I I think that’s the the more rare trait that you’ll see. You there’s a lot of guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. It it’s just, you know, to use that baseball analogy that I think Jordan was going for. It’s the guys that are just constantly putting the ball in play and moving the line. Um, that’s, you know, I I think that’s one of the harder things to do. It’s one of the it’s one of the reasons why Brock Pery was missed by the entire league because the entire league was looking for the real of the splash plays and they didn’t exist. It turns out the guy was just playing point guard and doing the efficient, you know, easy things consistently really, really well. And that’s why he’s he’s had the success that he’s had. I got called out appropriately yesterday or Monday by one of our peers because I am known at OTAAS to have Brady Henderson next to me and Brady’s got the roster and instead of putting my readers on in front of everybody, I’ll ask him, “Hey, who’s number 65? Hey, who’s this? Who’s that?” Yeah. Uh, it’s a vanity issue for me and hopefully I’ll get over it. But if Daniel Jeremiah were with me and Brady out at OTAAS, the first OTAAS for the Seahawks, where would your eyes be, DJ? Where would you want to watch this team, this roster, these acquisitions, both through this draft and and people they’ve added, obviously quarterback and wide receiver? Well, for me, if if you’re looking at the whole team being out there, um I don’t really get anything out of watching the trenches in these mini camps because you’re just not, you know, you’re not padded up. There’s nothing full speed. I just don’t think you’re going to get anything out of that. I want to see how they’re going to utilize Cooper Cup versus uh Jackson Smith and Jigba. I want to see kind of how they carve out cuz they’re very similar players. They do a lot of the the same things really, really well. So, how do they complement each other and how are they going to use those two guys? That’s probably where my eyes would go first and foremost. That’s good. Can I sneak a question because we’re starting to see some moves. And by the way, John Schneider told us like in the acquisition phase, there’s free agency. They were quiet in obviously with big money. There was the draft which they were very active with 11 guys that we were all loving. And then there’s this phase right now that we’re seeing as we see Pickins get traded. We see Gabe Davis get released. This this other acquisition phase with salary cap moves. Is there a corner out there that the Seahawks did not get that in this draft? It just did not fall that way, especially in the third round where they like some guys. Is there a corner possible salary cap? They got a lot of money. Can make a some moves here. Is there anything that you’d like to see added? If not corner receiver Gabe Davis just gets released as well. Do you see a move or two possible? I mean, everybody’s been talking about Jer Alexander, you know, pre pre-draft. I mean that was kind of the that was the big name at that position that you could see you know get pride out of Green Bay. So that would be the one that just comes uh you know completely top of mind. I I think we are going to see other moves like I like you know it’s been very quiet on a guy like Bryce Huff um who did not really fit for the Eagles. It just didn’t make sense but he’s still on that roster. I think it’s one of those guys that um as an edge rusher that I think they have to wait till June. But that you know there to to your point there’s a lot more moves that are coming. Um and so at the corner position off the top of my head that Jaire is the only one that comes right to top of mind. Usually teams are not looking to uh discard any talent at that position at this point in time, but that’s one you have heard. Seriously, what can can we thank you this is coming to an end. Yeah, it’s a bummer. Well, can Well, we’ll negotiate about maybe the season again. Yeah, no one said it was over forever. Just sort of this this run of draft conversations. Uh I will say I know Brock wants to say thank you, but I will as well. Just thank you so much. This was awesome. Enlightening every single week. Tremendous content for our listeners. Uh educational certainly for me and I know for Lyall and Mora. We’ve really enjoyed this. So, thank you so much. This has been awesome. Well, I I enjoy both you guys. I enjoy your company. I feel like I learned a lot through this whole process, including how to pronounce your name. So, that that was uh that was good. That was the most exciting. That was key. Yeah, that was a key a key moment for me. Took me a while. Slow learner. Slow learner, but I got Well, he had to be available, right? availability is the best ability and the fact that he was available in the leadup to the draft for every show. Golly, yeah, your attendance was way better in the spring. Thank you. Yeah, I try. I do the best I can. Basically, you guilted me into it. So, I was like, I can’t take a Wednesday off. The one thing I know is that I got to be here. Hey, by the way, you you there’s a lot I did not know this, but there are a lot of transplants from Seattle down in San Diego and Southern California. And I have I can’t I’ve had I’m not saying like dozens, but I’ve had a handful of people that I’m friends with that listen religiously to your show on the app down here and have never complimented me or said one thing about anything I’ve ever done on television, but have really enjoyed these appearances. So you guys for making me popular in my friend group. The day I get fired or retire, I will be joining you and all of those expats in San Diego cuz I think it’s about the best city in the country. DJ, thanks, man. We really appreciate it. All right, we got to go. There you There’s Daniel Jeremiah. This

NFL Network Analyst and former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah makes his weekly appearance with Brock & Salk to discuss the Seahawks 2025 NFL Draft class, QB Jalen Milroe’s future, and where the Hawks rank compared to the rest of the league.

0:00 – DJ’s rank + value of Seahawks draft picks
2:30 – Concerned over Seahawks “non-premium” picks?
4:30 – “Magnetism” at quarterback
5:20 – Seahawks best QB room in NFL?
6:40 – Advice for 1 Seahawks draft pick
8:07 – Day 3 picks for Seahawks
9:45 – 6th rd pick Bryce Cabeldue thoughts
11:25 – Jalen Milroe jersey #6
13:10 – NFC West draft picks
15:38 – Is the next Seahawks franchise QB on the roster?
17:04 – How can you judge a rookie QB
19:45 – Moves around the NFL
21:12 – Thank you

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