looking back at this draft, i have to say i am incredibly pleased. we addressed all of our most glaring needs.
1. tight end - we got arguably the most solid tight end in John Carlson. he may not be the most athletically gifted but frankly we tried that experiment and it didnt work. good pick
2. depth at defensive tackle - with chuck darby gone and Marcus Tubbs injured all the time, a man eater like red bryant is a very very nice pick. at defensive end, Lawrence Jackson will at least challenge to start opposite Patrick Kerney. i love what ruskell has decided to do making this a swarming sacking defense. i think its great.
3. kicker - we got arguably the best kicker on the board in brandon coutu. he strong accurate etc. i dont think he missed an extra point in like some ridiculous number of attempts which is good. hopefully he'll help us forget Josh Brown
4. long snapper - after boone stutz, we got Jeff Robinson who served very well but was getting old. a bonafide long snapper will make the kicking game good and consistent.
5.fullback - this may not have been much of a need but i deem owen schmitt a serious upgrade over Leonard Weaver and we definently got a steal here. he's compared to larry csonka which is a great complement regardless of who it comes from. he is insane for lack of a better word. the man broke 10 facemasks in 3 seasons. thats the kind of player i want for the Seahawks
6. running back - i think justin forsett is the wildcard in the whole draft. he looked good in college, albeit under utilized in the jeff tedford pass happy cal offense. where he fits in the stable im not sure but i can see him either playing special teams as a returner or possibly getting a rep here or there and surprising everyone.
i think the seahawks are very set for now and the future. a lot of people are not happy we didnt draft a wide receiver. i think our corps is good and could potentially be very good, simply because we actually have a tight end now who can catch. if teams have to respect the tight end now, the wide receivers will have a little more cushion to work with. i think the future looks very bright. chime in with your thoughts.
Couldve had Limas Sweed, Mike hart, Steve Slaton and huge list of potential playmakers we passed on. im disapointed with the first pick. it was a total waste. shouldve gone for a star WR then TE, give Hasslebeck more weapons, but no. Ruskell is a douche bag.
just watch the Redskins and Steelers rookies in the next couple of years from this draft and then you'll see what we could've had instead of b rate WR's. wake up Seattle. your future isnt that bright.
In all honesty, there wasn't ANY WR's worth a 1st round pick.
John Carlson is a more than solid TE on the field, he's a great pass catcher, and almost like a 3rd tackle on the field, so the running game will be much improved with him and Owen Schmitt blocking.
Coutou and the other Schmitt will also form a duo on special teams, Lawrence Jackson could be an above average DE, and Forsett could be a great KR/change of pace guy.
feel free to follow sweed, hart, slaton if you want. they mean nothing to me now. i will put my support behind the guys that the hawks selected. I will trust the guys who get paid to put the best product on the field and not second guess them.
To be honest with you Ben, I don't want Limas Sweed, Mike Heart or Steve Slaton. Chances are none of them would have cracked the lineup as a starter this year if we got them. You can't just draft a WR and plug him into the West Coast Offense... it just dosen't work that way, so Limas Sweed would likely have been a slot receiver at best, which we have a damn good one in Bobby Engram. On top of that, he would have been competeing with Logan Payne, Courtney Taylor and Ben Obomanu for a spot in the WR corps, all of whom have more knowledge of this offense then he does, not to mention that Deion Branch isn't going to be injured all year long, he's going to return and be a starter in the WR corps.
As for Mike Heart and Steve Slaton? No draft pick is a guarantee and they would have had to compete with Julius Jones, T.J. Duckett, Maurice Morris and Leonard Weaver to even make the team, let alone contribute. If either one of them wasn't made a starter, how would he contribute? Even if they're good Kick/Punt Returners... We don't need one of those, we have Nate Burleson. No... The running backs we have should be fine... especially with the line being coached by Mike Solari this year... we didn't need a RB.
We had an awesome draft this year, with the exception of possibly drafting our guys alittle too high. But you know what? People said we took Tatupu too high when we moved up to get him... 3 pro bowl seasons later, Im glad we didn't risk him not being available to us and moved up. Fact is... each guy we drafted has a legitimate chance to break the starting lineup... you can't ask for more than that in the draft.
I agree with you RedDevil. I was shocked we drafted a long snapper, not that I'm dissapointed with the pick, I was just surprised.
Everybody thinks...you draft FLASHY names you have a good draft...and if you don't draft these FLASHY names you have a bad draft. Time will tell what type of draft you will have. But I can honestly say I'm pleased with the draft picks we made.
Right on, Drackor --- you hit the nail on the head. We picked the players that we thot were the best on the board at the time, and if TR and MH, thot that Jackson was the best, who am I to argue that point...but, his credentials certainly seem very good and playing a positions where he can slide over and rush the passer from different angles is almost like playing a different player. I like this pick and I will really like the LS pick if he is as good as his stats in college and can give the P/K time to do their thing. Don't know much about the FB Schmitt, but, from what I hear and read, he should be big too. I really can't see a fault in the draft that we made any big mistakes...yet. I also think we got a real steal in J Jones. Talked to a Dallas fan on the plane trip back home and he said he thot that Jones was better than Barber. Thing is with Jones, when they drafted Barber, they didn't give Jones a chance after that. I am very happy with the way things went. Did you guys see the list of college FAs that the Seahawks are targeting? Look pretty good too. You may want to check them out too.
sea_fan8: "John Carlson is a more than solid TE on the field, he's a great pass catcher, and almost like a 3rd tackle on the field,"
Everybody is a gamble. That's a reality that you just have to live with. You make your pick and hope it was the right one.
If they had selected Keller or one of those other guys then they might have gained a little better route running and pass catching right out of the gate but then they would be forced to run a lot of spread formations to accommodate their H-Back. There also would be a need for more substitutions, and da da, da da. I think it was the smart selection. Carlson gives you a lot less need to adjust your offense to fit his strengths. If (big if) all of the top tight ends in this years draft go on to have big careers I think Carlson will be the one who will provide the most value for his team. I just don't like the way they got him. Seattle didn't need to surrender their third round pick to draft John Carlson.
"so the running game will be much improved with him and Owen Schmitt blocking."
I wonder when this love affair is going to end. Come on now. Do you all really think that Weaver is suddenly yesterday's trash and Owen Schmitt is going to step right in and take over where Mack Strong left off? The draft is over and the prospect fantasies are done. From this point on every single player drafted, from Jake Long down, is nothing more than a rookie who is about to learn some hard lessons on the differences between college football and the NFL.
Is Carlson that much better than what we already have? No,I thought we would have thought we would have went for more speed to strech the field. Next Owen Schmitt or Weaver I would have to go with Weaver because he's bigger and faster and may even be stronger and the hands are debatable the pick should have been Payton Hillis. Great hands(by that I mean I believe he lead Arkansas in receptions), 4.5speed,this kid played running back in the Sr.Bowl and did a good job,and blocked for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Wrong player with this pick.
on paper, i'm a little disappointed with the draft. i don't know the "ins" of the war room, but personally, i thought the Seahawks could have gotten Carlson a little later. The loss of the 3rd rounder is probably what sours me some on this draft. but, meh, i have no idea if another team targeted Carlson at/near that spot.
Come on peoeple, open up your eyes. Carlson played in a offense coached by one of the most briliant minds in football, Charlie Wies. He is definately going to pan out. Jackson started 55 of 56 games for a stacked USC defense and recorded 10.5 sacks last year. Owen Schmitt was lead blocking for Steve Slaton, Pat White, and Devine in a spread offense. The success of the players Schmitt was blocking for speaks loudly enough for himself. None of these three players were reaches, and I think they will all start for the Hawks this season. Bryant even has a chance to start at d-tackle. This was a great draft by the Seahawks.
