ESPN Mock: A new DL, while Seahawks skip over two QBs

With two quarterbacks still available, Schneider opts to take a rising defensive lineman in ESPN’s latest draft.

ESPN’s latest two-round mock draft, put together by analyst Jordan Reid, had some fun wrinkles that are worth discussing. Diverging somewhat from much of what’s become common assumptions about the front of the draft, let’s take a look at both the Seattle Seahawks pick, and the fallout in the top 60.

Top-5 Overview

The first few picks went exactly chalk, with the three QBs and Marvin Harrison Jr. kicking things off. After that, we had a surprise trade up from the Chicago Bears to take Malik Nabers at five. J.J. McCarthy didn’t go until No. 11 to the Minnesota Vikings.

Seahawks and their options

Unsurprisingly, Reid had Seattle taking a defensive lineman at No. 16. Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn’t Byron Murphy, Jared Verse, or Johnny Newton. The first two were already off the board here, while Newton fell to 29.

The pick ended up being DT Darius Robinson from Missouri. Robinson’s name has been growing in popularity lately, and is the one who called out the NFL combine for poor setup after he was disappointed in his bench press.

Robinson is a tough sell for me for two reasons. One, it’s a classic example of a strong senior season suddenly getting a guy first-round hype. 8.5 of Robinson’s 13 college career sacks came last season. The conversation around him has been slightly different than say, Boye Mafe, of whom people raved that his progression was real and was only the beginning. The lack of four-year production is always a bit concerning.

Secondly, Robinson was taken while combine standout and position of equally great need – O-line Troy Fautanu – was still available. Here, Fautanu lasted all the way until 24 to the Dallas Cowboys. If Schneider doesn’t like where the board has gone in regards to defensive line, then I’d much prefer going with someone who projects closer to a sure-fire starter on the offensive line.

I do think the return of both Uchenna Nwosu and Mike Morris alongside Mike Macdonald’s leadership should not be forgotten, and unless Leonard Williams walks, offensive line is a bigger need this season to me than the defense.

Quarterbacks

The other nugget that Reid’s mock draft revealed is again how polarized the opinions have been on the second half of this bunch of quarterbacks. While McCarthy went 11, far earlier than some suggest, both Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr were available in the middle of the second round.

If these guys really fall out of the first round, and survive a few more picks – especially Penix into the 40s – you gotta believe John Schneider is on the phone, right? I know there’s not a ton of firepower yet, as the Seahawks own a couple of thirds, maybe next year’s second, plus a package of later picks. But as Day 2 progresses, if this were the case, I can just imagine that Schneider would be itching to jump in on one of these guys. Whether they’d be able to or not is another question altogether, but this would be an agonizing watch on Friday to be sure.

Nix, McCarthy, and Penix remain fascinations, as they’ve been projected to go as high as No. 8, and all over the place beyond that.

Does Schneider have a plan to find his next Russell Wilson, his next QB steal, from this class?