Seahawks trade down and select a center in The Athletic mock draft

Sliding down four spots and selecting a center may sound boring, but it may be what the team needs.

We haven’t even hit free agency and the mock drafts are already rolling in. With the Seattle Seahawks stationed firmly in the middle of the first round, many analysts and fans are postulating that the organization may elect to trade down from 16. This seems reasonable, as the team currently lacks a second round pick thanks to the Leonard Williams rental. With this in mind, it isn’t hard to imagine why the “trade down” scenario is likely to remain popular leading up to the draft. Accordingly, Dane Brugler of The Athletic just posted his first mock of the year, and you guessed it — the Seahawks are moving down.

Brugler lays out a scenario where the Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers could come to terms on a deal where Pittsburgh would receive picks 16 and 151 from Seattle in exchange for picks 20 and 84. And what did the Hawks do with this pick? Well they drafted a center, of course. The article is behind a paywall, so here is the Seahawk-specific piece.

20. Seattle Seahawks (from PIT)*: Jackson Powers-Johnson, G/C, Oregon

Since John Schneider took over as Seahawks general manager, 40 percent of his first-round picks have been offensive linemen. You could argue that center has never been a position he has targeted early in the draft, but Powers-Johnson has true center-guard versatility and the talent to quickly become the top offensive lineman on the roster.

Is this a fair trade? That depends, but according to the Rich Hill trade model, the Steelers would come out about ten points ahead in draft value, so it would be pretty comparable. The real question, in my mind, is whether or not Jackson Powers-Johnson would be the pick. He profiles similarly to Tyler Linderbaum, who the Baltimore Ravens selected with the 25th overall pick in 2022. Linderbaum came out of the balanced offense of the Iowa Hawkeyes, whereas Powers-Johnson is coming from the pass-heavy spread that the Oregon Ducks run. The Seahawks may have an entirely new prototype of what they look for in linemen, so I genuinely don’t know beyond this whether or not he will be on Mike Macdonald’s radar.

Anybody hoping for a non-Michael Penix Jr. quarterback will be disappointed to find out that Brugler has Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, and J.J. McCarthy all off the board within the first seven picks. Another player who some are dreaming of — Brock Bowers — is slated to be gone within the top half of the round. A boost at offensive line would certainly be positive, but what do you think about this one? Is this the best option for the Seahawks to improve their roster?