Ted’s Talk: Themes of the Seahawks 2024 NFL Draft

Seattle’s 2024 draft class is complete. What conclusions can we draw now that the draft is over?

The 2024 NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror and the grades are in the book. Some people liked the Seattle Seahawks draft picks, some didn’t, and the rest were a mixed bag. Such is life. Regardless of people’s opinions on the picks themselves, there were some clear themes that played themselves out in Seattle’s draft room.

John Schneider hit the reset button for 2024

The first salvo of this approach came in March when the Seahawks released Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Will Dissly. While the releases themselves weren’t a surprise, the fact Adams was a pre-June 1 cut raised a few eyebrows as Seattle chose to eat over $20 million in dead salary for 2024 rather than pushing part of it into 2025.

Fast forward to the 2024 NFL Draft where the Seahawks were faced with a gaping hole between their picks at No. 16 in the first round and No. 81 in the third round. The prevailing thought was that Schneider would trade down and fill in the gap while still filling a need with their first pick.

Then, Seattle’s top rated defender in the entire draft, Byron Murphy II, fell into their lap. Reportedly, there were trade opportunities, but Schneider couldn’t pass up a potential game-wrecker for the middle of Mike Macdonald’s defensive line.

Still, there were plenty of reporters and armchair analysts playing mental gymnastics to show that Seattle could still trade into the void before their third-round pick, mostly dangling future draft capital or the preposterous idea of packaging a player like DK Metcalf.

Instead, the Seahawks held firm and waited it out to No. 81, grabbing a potential starting guard in Christian Haynes. I’m sure the wait was agonizing for Schneider, but he did the prudent thing by not sacrificing future draft capital. As with the dead money example above, he made a difficult decision and took one in the shorts to clear up 2025. With the likely comp picks, Seattle should have a full slate of draft picks, barring a midseason trade.

These moves were tough to swallow for 2024, but they pay dividends by resetting the team for 2025 when contention will be more of an expectation than a hope.

Consensus boards be damned, the Seahawks got “their guys” in the fourth round

After the brunt of free agency was over, I wrote an article about how Seattle’s additions opened up its possibilities in the draft. After listing out the young talent on the roster, I had a thought that I want to bring back around now that the draft is over.

This makes me wonder if Seattle will be more apt to target “their guys” this year, especially early in the draft. What I mean by that is to have a short list of realistic players that they feel they need to leave the draft with and use their picks to move around the board to secure them. Maybe it’s a year where Seattle selects less players but each one is more impactful.

It could include “sticking and picking” at No. 16 instead of trading back to acquire more picks, which is a popular refrain amongst mock drafters. Getting a true, game-changing talent is worth it in my opinion. Seattle still needs long term solutions at interior OL, S, and LB since the players added in free agency were on short term deals. These are positions where value can be found in the middle rounds.

Seattle clearly thought Murphy was worth staying at No. 16, but let’s focus on the first part of that quote. With the value of hindsight, I would argue that the Seahawks selections of LB Tyrice Knight and TE AJ Barner fit the bill of targeting certain players that they felt the needed to add to the squad considering their drafted value versus the consensus big board.

Now, it only takes one other team to have a high grade on that player to have the opportunity to draft them taken off the table. There were plenty of other LBs and TEs still on the board at each of these draft slots whom the general scouting community viewed as more talented. Yet, Schneider turned in the cards for Knight and Barner.

They may not have been the choices that you or I would have preferred, but it’s clear that the Seahawks scouts have a different opinion. You can view it as the Seahawks “reached” for them or take it that Seattle valued them more than the outside world. Schneider seemingly wanted these players, specifically, and took them earlier than expected to make sure he got them.

This was a fundamental, not flashy draft

Seattle drafted 4 players in the trenches and 1 TE known mostly for his blocking. That’s a lot of well-needed beef for a team that was pushed around at times last year.

The 3 OL drafted will be thrown into the competition with the returning players and free agent additions. May the best, and nastiest, man win.

Let’s look at how the new TE will fit in as a blocker, shall we?

Sealing an explosive future first-round pick to spring a TD run is a good sign.

At least our new-look OL won’t have to block Byron Murphy.

These guys aren’t Ferraris. They’ll bring their lunch pail every day and try to grind the opponent’s facemask into the dirt.

Focusing on the trenches isn’t always sexy, but it’s absolutely necessary to increase the toughness and set the tone. I’m sure none of us want a repeat of the games against the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers from last year. This draft class will hopefully help set the foundation for a bully mentality that will serve Mike Macdonald’s vision for years to come.