Seahawks Draft Grades: Full Draft Class and Analysis Links

The Seahawks traded back until they couldn’t trade back anymore. Between the 26th pick and the 35th pick, they acquired four draft picks they used in the later rounds. How did they do overall at the NFL Draft?

The Seahawks came into the NFL Draft with a measly seven picks, but by the end of Day Three Saturday, they had drafted 11 players. General Manager John Schneider traded back three times to take Michigan State defensive tackle Malik McDowell at 35. As usual, the Seahawks seemed uninterested in pretty much every name Mock Drafted for them around the Internet.

Head coach Pete Carroll and Schneider have a gameplan for every draft, a top-secret strategy that only a handful of people in the world know before each NFL Draft starts.

Because the holy JS&PC were so out-the-box with their picks this year, eschewing popular Mock Draft picks like Forrest Lamp and Cam Robinson (Jacksonville drafted C-Rob with Seattle’s 34th pick), no one really knows how to grade the Seahawks draft. Pretty much every major sports media outlet gave JS&PC a ‘B’ + or – for their 11 picks. Lee Vowell of 12th Man Rising has pick-by-pick grades.

Perhaps bold draft grades like this famous rant following the 2012 NFL Draft are now discouraged out of fear of looking foolish:

"After one of the worst picks in the first round I can ever remember, the Seattle Seahawks didn’t draft any positions of need or draft for the future. Pete Carroll is proving why he didn’t make it in the NFL the first time. Not only was Bruce Irvin a reach at No. 15, the Seahawks proved they were oblivious to their madness by celebrating their selection. As if the day wasn’t bad enough, Seattle selecting Russell Wilson, a QB that doesn’t fit their offense at all, was by far the worst move of the draft. With the two worst moves of the draft, Seattle is the only team that received an F on draft day."

More from Emerald City Swagger

We can all laugh at this now, but the above incredibly wrong draft grade only shows the truth: that no one knows what they’re talking about before and immediately after any NFL Draft. The teams that succeed get the most out of the draft every year, and they do that by acquiring as many picks as possible. Every team has a proprietary scouting system they use to appraise players, some systems are successful, some aren’t.

The 2017 NFL Draft saw a bizarre scramble in the first round for quarterbacks. Three teams, the Houston Texans, the Chicago Bears, and the Kansas City Chiefs all paid hefty prices for unproven passers.

I’ll be reviewing each Seahawks rookie throughout the week, but for now, here’s a list of all the Seahawks picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, and their undrafted free agents: