Seattle’s Nailed Their First Round Picks As of Late
October 15, 2025
Seattle’s Nailed Their First Round Picks As of Late
13 comments
Witherspoon reminds me a lot of Earl, hope he gets healthy and stays good for his career bc he is an animal
Absolutely. Schneider’s been drafting like it’s 2012 again building a young core that actually looks ready to contend for years. Feels good to have that magic back
I miss spoon man 😭
Picking high in the draft sure helps, though. Next year when we’re picking #32 it’s going to be a whole lot tougher.
Thank the broncos
Can we talk about how Seattle’s completely reinvented their approach to top-end blue chip talent.
Up into the early 2020s, Seattle kept adhering to their M.O. of drafting THEIR guys, regardless of their projection, trying to trade down as much possible to cast the widest net. Which worked in building the L.O.B. but the returns kept diminishing.
Just look at the first picks from 2012 to 2021
2013 – 1st traded to Minnesota for *Percy Harvin* – Harvin was great in the Super Bowl but a complete whiff otherwise, and their first player selected was Christine Michael who was just DIDN’T have the kind of production RB you want from a 2nd Round RBs
2014 – Traded out of the first and landed Picks 45 (Paul Richardson), 108 (Cassius Marsh), 123 (Kevin Norwood), 199 (Garrett Scott), 227 (Kiero Small). Richardson and Marsh were solid role players but those last three players didn’t even last to 2015. Seattle could’ve had Joel Bitonio, Davante Adams, or DeMarcus Lawrence from the jump if they stayed, who all provided more production in the NFL then those 5 players combined
2015 – 1st and Max Unger traded to New Orleans for *Jimmy Graham* – We all know the story, the pick that sunk our interior O-line for a decade. One solace from this trade was the 4th Round Pick we acquired from the trade was included in part of the package used to trade up for one **Tyler Lockett**, which was pretty cool to see
2016 – Traded down from pick 26 and landed Picks 31 (Germain Ifedi) and 94 (Nick Vannett).
2017 – Traded down from pick 26 and landed Picks 35 (Malik McDowell), 95 (Lano Hill), 111 (Tedric Thompson), 187 (Mike Tyson), 249 (**Chris Carson**). Aside from the complete lotto ticket hit on Carson, that’s a really rough return for a low first round pick
2018 – Traded down from pick 18 (and past Jaire Alexander & Frank Ragnow) and landed 27 (Rashaad Penny), 79 (Rasheem Green), 186 (Jacob Martin), and 220 (Alex McGough)
2019 – Selected L.J. Collier with the Frank Clark Trade 1st and traded out of pick 21 for Picks 47 (Marquise Blair), 120 (Gary Jennings Jr), 132 (Ugo Amadi), 142 (Ben Burr-Kirven), and 204 (Travis Homer). Seahawks probably made their best move with their trade downs parlaying picks 77 and 118 from two trade downs and trading up to pick 64 to select **DK Metcalf** But when the best pick without trading back up is Travis Homer, that’s some messy maneuvering
2020 – Selected Jordyn Brooks with their own native pick. Solid player and absolute tackle vacuum but never became the successor to Bobby Wagner like we wanted.
2021 – Traded Pick 23 for Jamal Adams. Ultimately got a solid consolation prize for the metric ton of draft capital we lost in Coby Bryant in the 2022 draft.
Ever since then, Seattle’s stopped getting cute with the first draft. Because casting a wide net for players doesn’t matter when you can’t bring in quality rookies to supplement the holes in the roster. They have faired FAR better staying put in the first and getting those blue chip players.
Disagree strongly re Witherspoon. Really poor use of a top 5 pick. Terrible positional value with a nickel CB, and dude’s list of impact plays in 2+ seasons is nowhere close to an acceptable return on a top 5 pick. Sorry, but no amount of homerism will make this untrue.
And guess what. They’re only going to get better.
Thanks Russ!
A major component of this is the better draft capital. It’s still very impressive to go 5/5 for getting not only starting-caliber players, but positive impact starters. However, being able to draft in the top-half of the 1st round raises the team’s chances at getting those guys. I remember reading a study that said on average, pick 22 or so is where the chance of getting a starting caliber player drops to like 48%, whereas above that you’ve got well over a 50% chance.
Their process has been great and the lack of all-in trades have given us the draft capital to lock in a core group for the future.
We’ve actually had some decent pick slots at long last. JS has also gotten really good at finding gems outside the first (most are second round but still):
Tyrice Knight
Barner
Hall
Charbonnet
Mafe
KW3
Lucas
Coby
Tariq
And not to mention the promising guys from this years draft like Emmanwori, Arroyo, Horton, Ouzts
So glad Byron Murphy is having a sophomore breakout. Him and Leonard Williams are just wrecking games.
Big Cat’s revival in Seattle is something to behold. He had 2.5 seasons in 2022 with New York, he already has 3 sacks in 6 games this year
Since 2022 they have excelled at 2nd round picks as well
13 comments
Witherspoon reminds me a lot of Earl, hope he gets healthy and stays good for his career bc he is an animal
Absolutely. Schneider’s been drafting like it’s 2012 again building a young core that actually looks ready to contend for years. Feels good to have that magic back
I miss spoon man 😭
Picking high in the draft sure helps, though. Next year when we’re picking #32 it’s going to be a whole lot tougher.
Thank the broncos
Can we talk about how Seattle’s completely reinvented their approach to top-end blue chip talent.
Up into the early 2020s, Seattle kept adhering to their M.O. of drafting THEIR guys, regardless of their projection, trying to trade down as much possible to cast the widest net. Which worked in building the L.O.B. but the returns kept diminishing.
Just look at the first picks from 2012 to 2021
2013 – 1st traded to Minnesota for *Percy Harvin* – Harvin was great in the Super Bowl but a complete whiff otherwise, and their first player selected was Christine Michael who was just DIDN’T have the kind of production RB you want from a 2nd Round RBs
2014 – Traded out of the first and landed Picks 45 (Paul Richardson), 108 (Cassius Marsh), 123 (Kevin Norwood), 199 (Garrett Scott), 227 (Kiero Small). Richardson and Marsh were solid role players but those last three players didn’t even last to 2015. Seattle could’ve had Joel Bitonio, Davante Adams, or DeMarcus Lawrence from the jump if they stayed, who all provided more production in the NFL then those 5 players combined
2015 – 1st and Max Unger traded to New Orleans for *Jimmy Graham* – We all know the story, the pick that sunk our interior O-line for a decade. One solace from this trade was the 4th Round Pick we acquired from the trade was included in part of the package used to trade up for one **Tyler Lockett**, which was pretty cool to see
2016 – Traded down from pick 26 and landed Picks 31 (Germain Ifedi) and 94 (Nick Vannett).
2017 – Traded down from pick 26 and landed Picks 35 (Malik McDowell), 95 (Lano Hill), 111 (Tedric Thompson), 187 (Mike Tyson), 249 (**Chris Carson**). Aside from the complete lotto ticket hit on Carson, that’s a really rough return for a low first round pick
2018 – Traded down from pick 18 (and past Jaire Alexander & Frank Ragnow) and landed 27 (Rashaad Penny), 79 (Rasheem Green), 186 (Jacob Martin), and 220 (Alex McGough)
2019 – Selected L.J. Collier with the Frank Clark Trade 1st and traded out of pick 21 for Picks 47 (Marquise Blair), 120 (Gary Jennings Jr), 132 (Ugo Amadi), 142 (Ben Burr-Kirven), and 204 (Travis Homer). Seahawks probably made their best move with their trade downs parlaying picks 77 and 118 from two trade downs and trading up to pick 64 to select **DK Metcalf** But when the best pick without trading back up is Travis Homer, that’s some messy maneuvering
2020 – Selected Jordyn Brooks with their own native pick. Solid player and absolute tackle vacuum but never became the successor to Bobby Wagner like we wanted.
2021 – Traded Pick 23 for Jamal Adams. Ultimately got a solid consolation prize for the metric ton of draft capital we lost in Coby Bryant in the 2022 draft.
Ever since then, Seattle’s stopped getting cute with the first draft. Because casting a wide net for players doesn’t matter when you can’t bring in quality rookies to supplement the holes in the roster. They have faired FAR better staying put in the first and getting those blue chip players.
Disagree strongly re Witherspoon. Really poor use of a top 5 pick. Terrible positional value with a nickel CB, and dude’s list of impact plays in 2+ seasons is nowhere close to an acceptable return on a top 5 pick. Sorry, but no amount of homerism will make this untrue.
And guess what. They’re only going to get better.
Thanks Russ!
A major component of this is the better draft capital. It’s still very impressive to go 5/5 for getting not only starting-caliber players, but positive impact starters. However, being able to draft in the top-half of the 1st round raises the team’s chances at getting those guys. I remember reading a study that said on average, pick 22 or so is where the chance of getting a starting caliber player drops to like 48%, whereas above that you’ve got well over a 50% chance.
Their process has been great and the lack of all-in trades have given us the draft capital to lock in a core group for the future.
We’ve actually had some decent pick slots at long last. JS has also gotten really good at finding gems outside the first (most are second round but still):
Tyrice Knight
Barner
Hall
Charbonnet
Mafe
KW3
Lucas
Coby
Tariq
And not to mention the promising guys from this years draft like Emmanwori, Arroyo, Horton, Ouzts
So glad Byron Murphy is having a sophomore breakout. Him and Leonard Williams are just wrecking games.
Big Cat’s revival in Seattle is something to behold. He had 2.5 seasons in 2022 with New York, he already has 3 sacks in 6 games this year
Since 2022 they have excelled at 2nd round picks as well
2022:Walker and Mafe
2023:Hall and Charbs
2024:no pick
2025:Emmanwori and Arroyo