NFL Draft: Stars align for both Mike Macdonald and John Schneider

The chips fell differently than predicted, and at No. 16 overall the pick for the Seahawks is exactly someone their new coach should love.

The 2024 NFL draft promised to be very exciting and the first round has absolutely not disappointed.

With the first 14 players to come off the board from the offensive side before Laiatu Latu’s selection by the Indianapolis Colts led to the Seattle Seahawks having their choice of any other defensive player from this class. Troy Fautanu was also available, the most mocked player to Seattle for over a month.

The choice was interior stud Byron Murphy II from Texas, which accomplishes two things.

1) Gives the Seahawks a truly formidable defensive line, from side to side.

2) Postpones any hoped-for answer as to how the head coach influences John Schneider’s draft decision-making.

Because this pick is best of both worlds, nabbing someone that was legitimately in the conversation as one of the best three defensive players in the draft and best available. He’s also exactly who Mike Macdonald was looking for.

We’ll have to wait for our answer, but I’m stoked that this lined up so well. I didn’t want the Seahawks to trade back, but I also didn’t want them to take defense. However, that was under the assumption that Jared Verse and Byron Murphy were both gone.

This draft has been full of surprises, and Murphy is an incredibly pleasant surprise.

It gives Seattle something it hasn’t had since Michael Bennett was in town; two legitimate sources of pressure right up the middle. Two and a half depending on where they play Dre’Mont Jones.

All of this is while actually rostering two quality outside rushers at the same time in Moye Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu. That’s also something the team has struggled to obtain since the departure of Frank Clark.

The Mike Macdonald regime is off to a very on-brand start. It will be impossible to know based on this pick alone to what level Schneider aims to get coach’s preference, but undoubtedly this defensive tackle fits Macdonald’s scheme.

Coach was very candid about this element of his defensive philosophy this week:

But in general, we are trying to build a wall up the middle. Trying to stay square, trying to set hard edges, make the ball do that (go outside), make them throw the thing outside. You don’t want to get gashed up the middle of your defense, you’ve got to have the right guys who can play right there so you can get the job done.’

It’s as up the middle as it gets, and the benefit of Murphy is he’s so good as a three-down player it allows Macdonald to leave other positional rotations on the table. Leonard Williams is particularly moveable, while both Jones and sophomore Mike Morris have some movability as well.

Murphy tested extremely well at the combine, and this is a huge win for a unit that has just not lived up to potential for long enough. Macdonald hopes to end that drought.