A UW Husky-Free Mock Draft For the Seahawks
By Nick Lee
For this Mock Draft, we pretended the University of Washington doesn’t exist. With no Washington Huskies available for the Seahawks, who does that leave in the NFL Draft?
It seems like the Seattle Seahawks have an affinity for former Washington Huskies players (see Jermaine Kearse, Marcel Reece, Kevin Smith, Kasen Williams, etc.). This has panned out for a few. Kearse has made some huge catches for the Seahawks and has 2,109 receiving yards with 11 touchdowns. Reece was a nice addition last season and performed well as the fullback.
There are a lot of rumors flying about how high former Huskies cornerbacks Kevin King and Sidney Jones are on Schneider’s shopping list. Throw Budda Baker and John Ross in there for good measure. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of these guys could be studs and look really good in Seahawks threads. But let’s clear our heads a bit and look at a draft without Washington Huskies. A fresh take without the Seattle bias.
For what it’s worth, I believe the Seahawks will trade out of their current first round slot. But for simplicity’s sake, I will keep everything status quo.
Round 1, 26th overall: Garett Bolles, OT, Utah
This one is easy. The Seahawks should take the best tackle left on the board. The defensive back class is much deeper than the offensive linemen this year. With Ryan Ramczyk likely off the board, Bolles would be the next best option in my humble opinion for this Mock Draft. I am not a big Cam Robinson fan out of Alabama. He seems to have peaked and is a bit slow for my taste. Bolles ran a 4.95 40-yard dash with a 4.55 shuttle drill. That’s faster than Robinson’s 5.15 and 4.82 respectively.
He could be ready to start at left tackle for the opening of the 2017 season with some coaching. If anything, he could give Luke Joeckel some competition and provide some depth. He’s a people-mover and has played in multiple offenses at the college level. Some people don’t like his age. Age is not as crucial for linemen as it is for running backs or cornerbacks. He served a two-year Mormon mission which is a great way for young men to mature. It seems like he has been a model citizen since he returned from his mission.