Give your overall draft grade

B. This was a BPA draft due to the overall lack of talent. Adding a 24 year old proven playmaker with the Harvin trade could really push this a little higher. I like the fact that we should be set at RB for a while. If one of them develops quickly, you potentially added trade material. Love the DT picks and the CB pick up. Overall, a draft that you can't be too mad at.

A.

The Harvin trade looks better now than it did at the time (and it looked good then).

Addressed the interior defensive line. A great need as we had only a single viable starter and 4 depth guys. People are down on the Jordan Hill pick but forget we play a hybrid scheme where he fits better on our team than in a conventional 4-3 3 tech spot. He could be a back-up at both Red and Mebane's positions while Williams would basically play where Branch did last year.

Filled offensive depth needs at every skill position (except QB). We would have to get in a lot of injury trouble on offense for it to be very noticeable - which was not the case before (think of an injury to Marshawn, M-Rob or Zach Miller) - there would be a very noticeable drop in talent.

Grabbed value in the 5th and 7th rounds.

Snuck in Browner's replacement and K.J. Wright depth for good measure.

The only thing this team is missing right now is a good FS back-up for Earl. Besides Wilson, he is our most important player without a truly viable back-up.

Too soon to tell.

Christine Michael was flying up the draft boards and a lot of teams were really excited with his abilities. Some mock drafts had him going late in the 1st round and I almost thought for sure he wouldn't make it past Detroit in the 2nd. I honestly didn't think he'd make it to our pick, unless we traded up for him. Well... We got him and he's in the perfect situation. With Lynch and Turbin, Michael can be a light-duty back and completely rehabilitate his injuries before stepping into a feature role. I look for him to really press the issue for at the RB position in a year or two.

Jesse Williams and Jordan Hill will shore up our defensive line with Mebane and Scruggs. Williams is another guy I honestly thought we wouldn't land in the 2nd round, much less pick him up in round 5. Jesse Williams will prove to be the steal of the draft. He's a monster that can really create problems for offensive lines. Jordan Hill went about where I thought he would, but I think he's going to make a big impact in the NFL as an interior pass rusher.

Chris Harper... Well... If he can be productive with Collin Klein throwing to him, he'll have a field day with someone like Russell Wilson throwing to him. I'm sorry, but Klein has one of the most inaccurate arms in the draft and a receiver has to make some impossible adjustments at times to catch his passes, which Harper did on a regular basis. Iowa also has one of the most run oriented offenses in the college ranks, so his lacking statistics don't bother me that much. Look for Harper to surprise the NFL when he has a real QB throwing the ball to him.

Tharold Simon... Sounds a lot like Richard Sherman... Converted WR with great ball skills. His drill numbers might not be that impressive, but he's a guy that's real hard to complete passes against on the field and he will make quarterbacks pay if they try to target him on a consistent basis. While his press and footwork could improve, he doesn't give up big plays. This kid could have a lot of teams kicking themselves for not taking him.

Luke Willson - Good god... How does John Schneider and Pete Carroll find these guys. This kid just may give Zach Miller a run for his money. His performance at his pro day was absolutely outstanding and he's been a primary receiving target at Rice for the last 3 years. If he gets comfortable at the NFL level, he could be a pro bowl caliber TE in the mold of Gronkowski and Gonzales.

These 6 guys will, most likely, be solid to superb starting players in a couple of years, if not sooner, and this is the reason why I give PC and JS an A on this draft. Adding Bowie, Powell, Ware and Smith in the late rounds was just frosting on the cake.

On edit: Also notice a trend with PC and JS... They like guys that've converted and played multiple positions at a high level at the high school and college level. In other words... They like football players, not one dimensional players that've been stuck at one position their entire football life.

I've learned my lesson, I'm not even trying to attempt a draft grade this year, they can just have a default A+ until proven otherwise. Every year they make picks that make me go "huh?", then they turn out to be Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, KJ Wright, etc.

The fun part is knowing that there's at least one Sherman/Kam/KJ in this class that's going to blow us away...so who is it?

First - let me say that this front office is as good at drafting as any in the league. With that said, let me put on my "I know better than them" hat.

Short-term, I see lots of roster spots but minimal contributions. Michael will get some carries and DTs will see the field. Outside of that, I think it will take injuries and ST for this group to contribute in 2013.

Mid-term. There are oodles of potential starters. I think it will take a couple years for this group to grow into its skin a bit, but in a few years, I think there are 4+ legit, long-term starters from the group.

Pro-Bowlers. This group has a ton of upside, and the huge collection of picks means that we could throw the dice lots of times. I expect to hit on 1-2 as a Pro Bowler.

Filling Needs. Although I don't see big contributions this year, I think those contributions will be where we need them - DL rotations, spelling Lynch, and warm bodies at a few other spots.

Trades/Moves. Don't sleep on that trade-down in the second! I think that was a small, subtle, but important move... and let us throw the dice a few more times.

Overall: B+ (not considering Harvin or the 1st).

It's an easy A.

In three seasons we went from probably the worst roster in the entire league to everybody's favourite preseason Superbowl pick and most of that rebuilding was done through the draft.
I think PC&JS have earned the right to go through this draft without a single pick being debated or questioned.
They drafted multiple pro bowlers in their first draft and have drafted at least one pro bowler in every other draft, they've drafted guys in the 5th round that are All-pro. Last year they took two guys who SHOULD have won offensive and defensive rookie of the year and neither one cost a first round pick. In fact, of all the guys drafted in the three previous drafts only about 5 or 6 aren't on our über talented (25 seconds from the championship game) squad and yet I'm still reading comments by morons on this board who dont understand some of the seletions and think we could have had done better with this draft.
PC&JS are in charge so you don't have to understand, all you need to know is that this team just got better, book it.

Grading the draft now is like reviewing a movie based on its cast before filming has even begun.

BirdsCommaAngry":8k2tz4kd said:

Grading the draft now is like reviewing a movie based on its cast before filming has even begun.

Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty good analogy.

BirdsCommaAngry":30mcn15k said:

Grading the draft now is like reviewing a movie based on its cast before filming has even begun.

Click to expand...

There's never a shortage of opinions on this board!!

BirdsCommaAngry":34e3715l said:

Grading the draft now is like reviewing a movie based on its cast before filming has even begun.

Click to expand...

Very good point.

Compared to what I wished would happen, I give it a C, not factoring in Harvin.

PC and JS have much more knowledge of schemes, team need, and individual players available then I do, thankfully.

In 3 years, I doubt this draft will hold a candle to the mother of all Seahawk drafts in '12, but PC and co. will probably reap significant reward and leave me looking dumb.

Not really down on this draft haul, just out of the loop and hoping all this ends with a super bowl win.

A++

C+.

I loved the Christine Michael pick. Based on the PC/JS press conference, I think I'm actually higher on that pick than they were themselves.

I like Jordan Hill. Thought better DTs were available and I thought they could have gotten Hill later. JS himself intimated that it was a bit of a panic pick.

I did not like the Bryce Harper pick. His tape is terrible. I like his physical upside, and in some other drafts I'd be okay with a flawed project like him in the 4th, but there were more polished WRs with better tools that they passed on to take him. Headscratcher. Maybe Harper ends up great regardless, but I still didn't like the value/decision.

I love Jesse Williams the player but I wasn't keen on drafting another Red Bryant super early. Early 5th seemed like a good place to get one, and Williams is easily a 1st round talent for that type of role. Easily. Everything about him other than football is awesome, too (mullet-hawk, facepaint, Aussy, whole family got tattoos in his honor). Pick grew on me.

I really like the Tharold Simon pick. He's a much more exciting prospect than Jeremy Lane or Byron Maxwell were the last couple years. Simon's on a totally different level. I had a 2nd round grade on him. A lot of people did. He's got some character concerns, but I love his fit in our system and his tools are some of the best in this draft.

Even though Seattle technically traded up for Williams, in Schneider's mind he was trading up for Simon because if not for the trade up they would have just taken Jesse Williams with that early 5th. Schneider had a Freudian slip during his conference, saying that the trade up was for Simon and not Williams.

I liked the Ty Powell pick, but on the downside, I'm guessing he's more likely to be a PS guy than make our roster.

Spencer Ware is growing on me, FAST. He's a monster pass blocker, a great receiver, and, as crazy as this sounds, I think his balance, agility, and resilience are all at least as good as Marshawn Lynch, maybe better. He's got a ton of power, too. Only thing he lacks is speed. If he ran a 4.40, he'd be a megastar. I figured he had to be good when Seattle spent a SECOND pick on a RB, and after watching him, I totally get it. He's a special player, though he's currently roster fringe, obviously. I think he's very similar to Chris Ivory, but I personally like Ware even more.

The rest of the picks I didn't care for. Felt like wasted picks, but lets see what kind of magic Tom Cable works.

I liked the LBs they got in UDFA, particularly Craig Wilkins.

The reason I didn't give a higher grade despite them having some players I like is because I see a lot of backups, rotational players, and specialists in this group. The only player of the bunch that I feel really excited about as a potential megastar is Christine Michael, and he's got some hurdles to overcome before he gets there, not to mention he's part of what I think is the best group of running backs in the NFL, so there's a lot of competition for him to beat. I really like Tharold Simon too, but he's probably going to be buried treasure on our roster the same way that Walter Thurmond is.

And FWIW, Pete and John seemed a little downtodden in their draft press conferences the last two days. Not a lot of excitement. Schneider looked downright bummed at times. I'm thinking there were some frustrating close misses for them in the draft that we don't know about. I think even John Schneider would probably grade his draft well short of an A, if his body language was any indication. In 2012 and 2010 they were beaming with excitement during and after those drafts. Not this year.

FWIW, this was how I graded the last three drafts they day they finished, and how I'd grade them in retrospect:

2010: A / A+
2011: C- / B-
2012: A+ / A+

Those were the grades I had after the draft the last 3 years. I think 2011 is better in retrospect, though if you take Sherman out of the mix it looks pretty bad right now. Sherman really saved that draft. Wright's the next best player and he's just barely above average when you factor his coverage issues, IMO. Baldwin, Johnson, and Portis were nice UDFA additions, but people usually don't count UDFA as part of draft grades. Overall I'd say my draft day grades have been pretty much right on, although in 2011 being a minor exception.

Great analysis kearly! My only question is no mention of the first round pick(Percy Harvin) and his impact. Did you factor him into your grade?

This draft to me, feels similar to 2011 in as much as it's one we'll really need to be regrading a couple of years from now rather than at the end of the season.

One thing that seems to have been overlooked regarding Ware is how important MRob is as Lynch's lead blocker. I don't see MRob going anywhere this year, but given how important the run is to this teams identify, if we have Michael/Ware ready to go as replacements for Lynch/MRob in a couple of years, I think that's huge.

Sure, there are players/positions we'd all like to have seen taken, I'd like to have seen a QB in the 7th for instance, but right now, it's a solid B for me.

The guys on the NFL network just said we made the most improvement before the draft but the least improvement in this draft. They graded our picks at the bottom but added that that they weren't sure what our goals were.

brimsalabim":e6nbmchh said:

The guys on the NFL network just said we made the most improvement before the draft but the least improvement in this draft. They graded our picks at the bottom but added that that they weren't sure what our goals were.

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That was Tom Waddle that said that. He is a Chicago Bears homer and knows nothing about the Hawks or the draft. I wouldn't put much stock into anything he says.

Since OP said to include Harvin I gave it an A. But, without including Harvin, it's about a C+/B-. Don't know why we drafted 2 RB's. Hopefully these OL 7th rounders or some UDFA's are diamonds to get some depth there. I don't want to relive 2011. Competition should be interesting at a lot of positions.