POLL: Way Too Early Draft Grade

[AROS]

What say ye?

 

[kidhawk]

I give it a B+. We turned 4 picks into 8 guys and I can easily see 4 of them playing out their rookie contracts and possibly being starters at some point.

I could argue that it was an A due to lack of starting capital but I think you have to rate it with what you have and picking so late with so few picks makes it hard to get an A draft for me.

 

[Atradees]

Solid C plus from me. Kilgore, Haulcy, and. Zion were all available at many draft positions. We passed on them. Wow. We are the champs. We have the qb, offensive/ defensive lines. We are gonna be even better. Go Hawks. Looking forward to Jadarian becoming the next great Seahawks RB. It will take 3 years to really judge this draft. I predict the last 4 picks won't be on the roster.

 

[Jegpeg]

I don't feel qualified to make a draft grade who am I to say JS and the team made good or bad decisions when I know so much less than them.

I was surprised we took Price at 32, I was expecting us to either trade down or take a DB, but then what I heard from the talking heads totally changed during the draft. Pre draft consensus seemed to be Price (average overall rank 52) wasn't that much better than Washington (67) and Coleman (89) and in a couple of my mock drafts he was available at 64. When we were on the clock however the commentators predicted we would go for Price as he was the only RB left likely to be good enough to start. Interestingly the next RB off the board was Black who noone seemed to rate.

Clark and Neal were also drafted higher than consensus draft boards but they can take no account of how players will fit into our team and are based on less knowledge, for example there are concerns about Clarks injury history and ability to take hits but I assume the Seahawks medical staff have looked into this far more than the media writers.

Ask me in a year or two to grade the draft.

 

[AROS]

I don't feel qualified to make a draft grade who am I to say JS and the team made good or bad decisions when I know so much less than them.

Oh, just play along for pete's sake. It's a football fan forum. What else do we talk about?

 

[Ruminator]

Any year where John Schneider's player preferences endure and don't get overruled by a less qualified evaluator of talent by a guy like, say, Pete Carol, is an automatic A in my book.

 

[THE TABS]

I went with "B", which is probably a little too high, but this is WAY TOO EARLY after all, and I did give JS the benefit of the doubt. I'm so glad he has roster control now instead of Pete. I feel so much better about our roster construction now, and going forward.

I'm sure Jadarian Price was not our "plan A", and it was common knowledge that we wanted to trade back, but I felt all along that we'd have a hard time finding a trade partner. Allegedly, they all wound up trading up ahead of us, so that plan was ruined. I also thought there were a lot of guys on our radar that JS figured would be available but weren't, like Lawrence going to Dallas, Coleman going to Houston, Johnson going to Miami, and then Faulk going one pick ahead of us to Tennessee. So, I think under the circumstances, Price was definitely the best option, if we had to stay put. We definitely need a RB, and considering all our needs, this did make the most sense. The ball security and pass blocking issues are a big concern to me, especially since Walker and Charbs were both so reliable with their ball security. If Price doesn't put the ball on the ground, I'll be really excited to see what he can do.

The two picks that really got my attention were Julian Neal and Beau Stevens. Neal isn't too good in man, but that's no big deal, since we play mostly zone. I like his size and he's not afraid to hit someone, which I love. The trade for Stevens was a good move. Schematically, he's a great fit, and his zone and passing blocking metrics were so good, it makes you wonder why he lasted so long. Trading the future 4th was a good risk, since we'll make that up with comp picks next year anyway. I'm really interested to see if he can legitimately challenge Bradford to not only win the job, but also upgrade it as well. It's so nice to have finally turned the offensive line into an area of strength, and I love the fact that it only took one year and the right system to do it.

Finally, I just want to say that, the thought of facing Brock Purdy, Ty Simpson, and Carson Beck six times a year for the next ten years is giving me some sleepless nights, and by sleepless nights, I mean laughing until I wet myself while we stack Lombardi trophies!

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Someone on another thread said "worst draft ever" but I don't see that vote

/sarcasm

 

[Rat]

We need to end this crap where we credit every good pick of the past 16 years to Schneider and impute every bad pick to Pete. It's an embarrassing insult to our legendary coach who helped build an all-time roster. Schneider's record stands on its own well enough where we don't need to gratuitously rip on his former partner to prop him up. Not to mention that John has been open about having made mistakes and learning from them. The fact that he was able to adapt his style and build another Super Bowl team is more admirable in my mind than if he had never made a mistake in his life.

As for this draft, I'll give it a solid B. I wish they had targeted some pass rushers, but the players they got all seem to be at least good value and made sense. Certainly a commendable effort for only having four picks initially, which were all at or near the end of their rounds.

And grading a draft before they play is really no different than predicting season records in August. They're not meant to be final. It's weird how often some people need to be reminded of that.

 

[Jac]

We need to end this crap where we credit every good pick of the past 16 years to Schneider and impute every bad pick to Pete. It's an embarrassing insult to our legendary coach who helped build an all-time roster. Schneider's record stands on its own well enough where we don't need to gratuitously rip on his former partner to prop him up. Not to mention that John has been open about having made mistakes and learning from them. The fact that he was able to adapt his style and build another Super Bowl team is more admirable in my mind than if he had never made a mistake in his life.

As for this draft, I'll give it a solid B. I wish they had targeted some pass rushers, but the players they got all seem to be at least good value and made sense. Certainly a commendable effort for only having four picks initially, which were all at or near the end of their rounds.

And grading a draft before they play is really no different than predicting season records in August. They're not meant to be final. It's weird how often some people need to be reminded of that.

Yep, two grades are always going to be valid. You can absolutely grade a draft the next day based on the information available when the decision making too place. It's also valid to grade it three years later with a retrospective lens on how things actually worked out. Both are important grades when evaluating a GM.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

We filled positions of our wish list and back filled those positions that we felt we want to backup on for the future. Very solid B in my opinion.

 

[onanygivensunday]

I voted for a B+.

I believe John did an admirable job of 'restocking the shelves' with tough, fast, smart and reliable players in our top 5 picks based on what I have read by some of the more-respected draft talent evaluators.

Can't wait to see Price and Shaheed ready to return kicks together. Pick your poison, b1tches!

Clark and Neal have legitimate starter potential... and I believe that Emmanuel Henderson Jr. was super high on Jay Harbaugh's wish list as a top-notch gunner to replace Dareke Young.

And I believe that Beau Stephens along with last year's holdovers on the Ready Squad are going to push Bradford out of his RG starting role.

I really like this draft.

 

[Wsumatt1982]

I love the picks, especially the 1st 4 but not one has even been to an NFL practice yet, let alone play any games. C draft

 

[glenwo2]

I say "B".

Would've been an A- if it wasn't for 2 things :

1.) The Emmanuel Henderson pick (Not a fan of wasting draft picks on Gunners)

and

2.) Logan Fano was right there to be had at even our final pick of the draft in the 7th round and we chose to go with Eastern who is not better. This annoyed me.

Oh btw, The Browns signed Fano as an free agent.


Aside from those two, I'm good with the Hawks draft.

Pleased that we got Price even though JS was kind of forced into it by drafting him at #32.

Content with Bud Clark and Julian Neal.

ECSTATIC with getting Beau Stephens when we got him. Outstanding value!

Getting Fuller was a solid get.

Dansby? eh...I'm lukewarm on him but I don't hate it.

 

[glenwo2]

The ball security and pass blocking issues are a big concern to me, especially since Walker and Charbs were both so reliable with their ball security.

You mention that and then say both (Walker and Charbs) were both so reliable with their ball security.

Nice job sweeping Walker's piss-poor pass-blocking issues under the rug there.

We are basically going to be in the same situation we were with Walker in terms of pass-blocking and we did fine last season, didn't we?

 

[Rat]

Are we sure Henderson is going to be a gunner? 6'1" 185lb seems light for a gunner. Dareke Young was 6'2" 224lb.

 

[glenwo2]

Someone on another thread said "worst draft ever" but I don't see that vote

/sarcasm

I wonder what that Niners fan (Muffin or something we call him?) is thinking right now?

 

[Aircrew]

Solid B. Not a B+ because I think we could have used and Edge, but we'll see what happens between now and camp. Really, really like the Beau Stephens pick and he's my favorite out of the entire draft with Bud Clark being a close second. Really nice work by John, Mike and the entire scouting staff.

 

[Dallashawksfan]

B

Maybe a couple starters/significant contributors down the road. I don’t see any star material but wasn’t expecting any considering where they drafted

 

[LeveeBreak]

Considering they started with 4 picks and the last pick of the 1st 3 rounds...I gave it an A. Price was an exceptional pick and will grow on the fanbase over the next year. Our secondary is replenished and our new OG has a legit chance to beat out Bradford.

I know some are pissed about not getting an edge. We have a couple of untested edge players they kept on the 53 all last year but didn't get to see the field much (Ivey & O'Toole). We will probably be active in trades and/or the FA markets now that the draft is over and they won't factor into comp picks. Fowler and Clowny are available and Thibodeaux could be had for a day 2 pick next year.

JS has developed into an NFL master of his craft. The partnership between JS & MM is incredible to watch.