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I started off this morning writing this up with the intention of responding to MontanaHawk05's excellent 17 Point Take on the draft. As I got rolling though, I decided to make this its own piece and just share my own personal take on the Draft and what I believe the Seahawks did this past weekend. I'd meant to take a look at everything, but time dictated that this will simply have to be done in 2 parts. So, Part 1 will focus on taking a look at the Hawks Defense (Post-Draft). Tomorrow, I'll crank out Part 2 which will focus on the Offense.
I’ll share a few of my own thoughts regarding several of these picks as well as the overall team as a whole. Before I get rolling, allow me to share some general thoughts that run through my mind when I judge NFL Drafts as a whole …
1] First of all, I have to kind of laugh a bit at the whole notion of grading these drafts right after the conclusion of the draft. I’ve been following the NFL Draft pretty closely since about 1990 and I’ve learned that you cannot truly evaluate how a team did for perhaps 2 or even 3 years down the line. Sure we can gain a sense based upon all available info up until this point, but until those players actually get on the field and steeped in an NFL system, you just can’t really come to any definitive conclusions.
2] When a team drafts a player, that has to be understood and evaluated in context. What does the team itself already look like? What pieces are already there? How is that player that the team just drafted going to use him? What’s his role going to be? What are that player’s strengths and weaknesses -- how is the team going to put that player in the best position possible to maximize their talents and mask their weaknesses in order to best help the team?
3] What are the greatest weaknesses of the team as a whole? Where are the holes … and how does that player help to fill those?
4] What system does the team run and what are their overall philosophies? For example, if I’m a team (like the Seahawks) that loves to run the football and values tough, smash mouth, ram it down your throat ball … it wouldn’t make any sense to draft an offensive linemen who was more of a finesse player who was more of a pass protector and not really up for getting bloody.
Here are a few thoughts on these picks, looking at the different position groups as a whole …
Defensive Line
I will fully admit that when the selection of Malik McDowell was announced, that it took me a bit by surprise. Like a lot of people, I’d spent most of my energies studying Offensive Linemen and Defensive Backs, as those appeared to me to be the biggest holes on this football team. So, I didn’t know a whole ton about McDowell, as I wasn’t all that focused on studying the Defensive Linemen. After studying his overall skillset, what he brings to the table, and looking at move in context, I’m actually now very excited about this pick. Go back to 2013 for a second and ask yourself, “How did the Seahawks win the Super Bowl?” If you go back and look at that team, one of the reasons is that team was DEEP along the defensive line.
First of all, Brandon Mebane was at the top of his game and the Seahawks were able to control the middle of line and bring pressure right up the middle. Seattle hasn’t really had that since he left. Secondly, the Hawks were able to generate consistent pressure by rotating guys in and out … limiting the snap counts of guys like Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, keeping them fresh and maximizing the opportunities that they did have. In Malik McDowell, the Hawks (I think) have potentially just added another Michael Bennett to the roster. The addition of Malik McDowell, who can play both inside at the 1 or 3-technique … or slide outside and play the 5-technique or even wide 9 technique, (in theory on paper) allows the Hawks to get back to a lot of what made them so successful in 2013. If you watch Brett Kohlman’s fantastic in depth breakdown of McDowell, you will quickly be able to understand what it is that Seattle saw in this pick.
Though McDowell is admittedly raw, I cannot think of a better situation for him than the Seattle Seahawks. As John Schneider would say, this is a potentially explosive “tilt the room” kind of player who could make a significant impact on this defense. If things break right for him, he has the chance to become the kind of interior presence that this team has not seen since the days of Cortez Kennedy. You take a guy whom in college regularly demanded double teams … and pair him up with an already dominant line that boasts Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Frank Clark (who is just starting to come into his own and to become a dominant D-linemen in his own right), and Jarran Reed – and suddenly that Hawks line begins to look downright scary. Add to that a Nazair Jones, whose specialty appears to be as a run stuffing 3-technique or even 5-technique (ala Red Bryant 2013) … and suddenly you get back to stonewalling opposing running attacks and making QB’s run for their lives the second they say, “hike”. That was the stuff of 2013 and what made this defense in all of football.
Secondary – Reviving and Re-inventing “The Legion of Boom” …
The signature – the very identity of this defense over the past several years has been its secondary. When people (be it 12’s, opposing fans, or national experts) think Seahawks Defense, they generally think, “Legion of Boom.” The essence of its toughness, its tenacity, and the embodiment of everything that the Seahawks Defense stands for can be found there.
From 2012-2015, the Seahawks Defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed. Leading the league in points allowed for 4 straight seasons underscores the fact that this has been a historically good defense -- something this group has prided itself upon. After Earl Thomas went down in Week 13 though, cracks suddenly began to appear. The secondary, which for the most part had always shut down deep routes, suddenly began allowing big completions. The Hawks went from giving up an average of 16.2 pts/game before Thomas went down in Week 13 … to an average of 24.5 pts/game over the course of the last 4 regular season games. After DeShawn Shead went down with a torn ACL in the playoff loss to the Falcons, I think most of us would agree that the Legion of Boom was pretty much in trouble – IF serious reinforcements and/or revisions weren’t made.
AND after looking at this past weekend’s draft … coupled with the moves the team has made this offseason … I think we can safely say that the Hawks have done just that.
This past weekend, the Seahawks not only drafted a much needed CB with speed and quickness in Shaquille Griffin … but also amazingly drafted 3 safeties. To understand that last part in context, I think we have to go back in time to 4 weeks ago to the signing of free agent safety Bradley McDougald. Carroll was very excited about his addition. Carroll said that McDougald’s addition could give them a chance to get “creative” and “tweak things”, finding ways to get Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Bradley McDougald all on the field at the same time.
Moving forward, I’d surmise that we’re undoubtedly going to see Chris Richard and company employ a lot more of a 4-2-5 look this year. One of our fellow 12’s (I’m betting one of you fellow Seahawks.netters out there), has already surmised this and written an excellent piece, breaking down the 4-2-5 Defense at length and what that might look like this year. Here is a link to that article for your reading pleasure …
http://emeraldcityswagger.com/2017/04/09/seattle-seahawks-breaking-down-4-2-5-defense/
In brief, it looks similar to the traditional 4-3 Defense with the exception being of the removal of a linebacker which you replace with a defensive back. If the Hawks were to move to a 4-2-5 scheme, you would have your 4 down linemen and K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner as your 2 traditional linebackers. Since Kam Chancellor is as big as a lot of traditional LB’s anyway, he slides in and in essence becomes your 3rd linebacker. That then allows Bradley McDougald to get on the field and take Kam’s spot and provide extra help in run support and in short zones. In obvious passing situations, you can then pull McDougald and/or Chancellor and insert your Nickel and Dime cover corners as need be. With the NFL becoming increasingly more and more a passing league, a move like this on the part of the Seahawks to counter that was probably inevitable.
So in light of all of that, you can see that Seattle was in need of several DB’s who (besides having the physical traits/measureable they traditionally like) are:
-Aggressive/Physical
-Strong in Run Support
-Instinctual and possess strong coverage skills
Let’s start off by taking a look at these DB’s one by one and what they each appear to bring to the table. Shaquille Griffin has good size (6’0” 194lbs) and excellent overall speed (4.38 in the 40). He’s shown very good coverage skill (only 31.9% of passes thrown his way were completed) and is fairly strong in run support. He’s faster than Shead and with him being on the shelf to start the season anyway, I don’t think there’s much question he’ll start opposite Richard Sherman. Delano Hill is a big guy (6’1” 216 lbs) who played SS for the Wolverines last season. He’s known for his ability as a tenacious run defender and is pretty fast for his size (4.47 in the 40). The knock on him is below average play speed and range, so long term (over the next couple of years) I can foresee him eventually competing for either Chancellor’s or McDougald’s role. Filling in for Earl Thomas and playing CF is not going to be his forte. The Hawks may have however found someone who could. Though he only managed to run a 4.6 at the combine, the Seahawks may have arguably added the best coverage safety in the country this past season in Tedric Thompson. He has great football intelligence and instincts are off the charts. According to Pro Football Focus, opposing QB’s had a rating of just 21.3 when targeting him in 2016 (lowest in FBS among safeties). He’s certainly a guy who’s a strong candidate in a Nickel corner role or as an extra safety in dime situations. If Earl were to go down again (God forbid), Thompson is a guy who would be a strong candidate to hold down the fort there at FS. Lastly, in Mike Tyson, the Seahawks added another safety with good overall size (6’1” 207lbs) and speed for the position (4.56 in the 40). Tyson describes himself as being physical, competitive, and versatile. His highlight reel appears to testify to him being an aggressive tackler and to have decent coverage skills. The Seahawks have told him to be open to all positions and to be ready to compete at press corner. With Kelcie McCray and Steven Terrill still unsigned, I think that it’s highly likely that the Hawks desire to move in a new direction and hope that each of these young guys can nail down spots on the final 53 Man Roster.
I’ll share a few of my own thoughts regarding several of these picks as well as the overall team as a whole. Before I get rolling, allow me to share some general thoughts that run through my mind when I judge NFL Drafts as a whole …
1] First of all, I have to kind of laugh a bit at the whole notion of grading these drafts right after the conclusion of the draft. I’ve been following the NFL Draft pretty closely since about 1990 and I’ve learned that you cannot truly evaluate how a team did for perhaps 2 or even 3 years down the line. Sure we can gain a sense based upon all available info up until this point, but until those players actually get on the field and steeped in an NFL system, you just can’t really come to any definitive conclusions.
2] When a team drafts a player, that has to be understood and evaluated in context. What does the team itself already look like? What pieces are already there? How is that player that the team just drafted going to use him? What’s his role going to be? What are that player’s strengths and weaknesses -- how is the team going to put that player in the best position possible to maximize their talents and mask their weaknesses in order to best help the team?
3] What are the greatest weaknesses of the team as a whole? Where are the holes … and how does that player help to fill those?
4] What system does the team run and what are their overall philosophies? For example, if I’m a team (like the Seahawks) that loves to run the football and values tough, smash mouth, ram it down your throat ball … it wouldn’t make any sense to draft an offensive linemen who was more of a finesse player who was more of a pass protector and not really up for getting bloody.
Here are a few thoughts on these picks, looking at the different position groups as a whole …
Defensive Line
I will fully admit that when the selection of Malik McDowell was announced, that it took me a bit by surprise. Like a lot of people, I’d spent most of my energies studying Offensive Linemen and Defensive Backs, as those appeared to me to be the biggest holes on this football team. So, I didn’t know a whole ton about McDowell, as I wasn’t all that focused on studying the Defensive Linemen. After studying his overall skillset, what he brings to the table, and looking at move in context, I’m actually now very excited about this pick. Go back to 2013 for a second and ask yourself, “How did the Seahawks win the Super Bowl?” If you go back and look at that team, one of the reasons is that team was DEEP along the defensive line.
First of all, Brandon Mebane was at the top of his game and the Seahawks were able to control the middle of line and bring pressure right up the middle. Seattle hasn’t really had that since he left. Secondly, the Hawks were able to generate consistent pressure by rotating guys in and out … limiting the snap counts of guys like Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, keeping them fresh and maximizing the opportunities that they did have. In Malik McDowell, the Hawks (I think) have potentially just added another Michael Bennett to the roster. The addition of Malik McDowell, who can play both inside at the 1 or 3-technique … or slide outside and play the 5-technique or even wide 9 technique, (in theory on paper) allows the Hawks to get back to a lot of what made them so successful in 2013. If you watch Brett Kohlman’s fantastic in depth breakdown of McDowell, you will quickly be able to understand what it is that Seattle saw in this pick.
Though McDowell is admittedly raw, I cannot think of a better situation for him than the Seattle Seahawks. As John Schneider would say, this is a potentially explosive “tilt the room” kind of player who could make a significant impact on this defense. If things break right for him, he has the chance to become the kind of interior presence that this team has not seen since the days of Cortez Kennedy. You take a guy whom in college regularly demanded double teams … and pair him up with an already dominant line that boasts Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Frank Clark (who is just starting to come into his own and to become a dominant D-linemen in his own right), and Jarran Reed – and suddenly that Hawks line begins to look downright scary. Add to that a Nazair Jones, whose specialty appears to be as a run stuffing 3-technique or even 5-technique (ala Red Bryant 2013) … and suddenly you get back to stonewalling opposing running attacks and making QB’s run for their lives the second they say, “hike”. That was the stuff of 2013 and what made this defense in all of football.
Secondary – Reviving and Re-inventing “The Legion of Boom” …
The signature – the very identity of this defense over the past several years has been its secondary. When people (be it 12’s, opposing fans, or national experts) think Seahawks Defense, they generally think, “Legion of Boom.” The essence of its toughness, its tenacity, and the embodiment of everything that the Seahawks Defense stands for can be found there.
From 2012-2015, the Seahawks Defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed. Leading the league in points allowed for 4 straight seasons underscores the fact that this has been a historically good defense -- something this group has prided itself upon. After Earl Thomas went down in Week 13 though, cracks suddenly began to appear. The secondary, which for the most part had always shut down deep routes, suddenly began allowing big completions. The Hawks went from giving up an average of 16.2 pts/game before Thomas went down in Week 13 … to an average of 24.5 pts/game over the course of the last 4 regular season games. After DeShawn Shead went down with a torn ACL in the playoff loss to the Falcons, I think most of us would agree that the Legion of Boom was pretty much in trouble – IF serious reinforcements and/or revisions weren’t made.
AND after looking at this past weekend’s draft … coupled with the moves the team has made this offseason … I think we can safely say that the Hawks have done just that.
This past weekend, the Seahawks not only drafted a much needed CB with speed and quickness in Shaquille Griffin … but also amazingly drafted 3 safeties. To understand that last part in context, I think we have to go back in time to 4 weeks ago to the signing of free agent safety Bradley McDougald. Carroll was very excited about his addition. Carroll said that McDougald’s addition could give them a chance to get “creative” and “tweak things”, finding ways to get Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Bradley McDougald all on the field at the same time.
Moving forward, I’d surmise that we’re undoubtedly going to see Chris Richard and company employ a lot more of a 4-2-5 look this year. One of our fellow 12’s (I’m betting one of you fellow Seahawks.netters out there), has already surmised this and written an excellent piece, breaking down the 4-2-5 Defense at length and what that might look like this year. Here is a link to that article for your reading pleasure …
http://emeraldcityswagger.com/2017/04/09/seattle-seahawks-breaking-down-4-2-5-defense/
In brief, it looks similar to the traditional 4-3 Defense with the exception being of the removal of a linebacker which you replace with a defensive back. If the Hawks were to move to a 4-2-5 scheme, you would have your 4 down linemen and K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner as your 2 traditional linebackers. Since Kam Chancellor is as big as a lot of traditional LB’s anyway, he slides in and in essence becomes your 3rd linebacker. That then allows Bradley McDougald to get on the field and take Kam’s spot and provide extra help in run support and in short zones. In obvious passing situations, you can then pull McDougald and/or Chancellor and insert your Nickel and Dime cover corners as need be. With the NFL becoming increasingly more and more a passing league, a move like this on the part of the Seahawks to counter that was probably inevitable.
So in light of all of that, you can see that Seattle was in need of several DB’s who (besides having the physical traits/measureable they traditionally like) are:
-Aggressive/Physical
-Strong in Run Support
-Instinctual and possess strong coverage skills
Let’s start off by taking a look at these DB’s one by one and what they each appear to bring to the table. Shaquille Griffin has good size (6’0” 194lbs) and excellent overall speed (4.38 in the 40). He’s shown very good coverage skill (only 31.9% of passes thrown his way were completed) and is fairly strong in run support. He’s faster than Shead and with him being on the shelf to start the season anyway, I don’t think there’s much question he’ll start opposite Richard Sherman. Delano Hill is a big guy (6’1” 216 lbs) who played SS for the Wolverines last season. He’s known for his ability as a tenacious run defender and is pretty fast for his size (4.47 in the 40). The knock on him is below average play speed and range, so long term (over the next couple of years) I can foresee him eventually competing for either Chancellor’s or McDougald’s role. Filling in for Earl Thomas and playing CF is not going to be his forte. The Hawks may have however found someone who could. Though he only managed to run a 4.6 at the combine, the Seahawks may have arguably added the best coverage safety in the country this past season in Tedric Thompson. He has great football intelligence and instincts are off the charts. According to Pro Football Focus, opposing QB’s had a rating of just 21.3 when targeting him in 2016 (lowest in FBS among safeties). He’s certainly a guy who’s a strong candidate in a Nickel corner role or as an extra safety in dime situations. If Earl were to go down again (God forbid), Thompson is a guy who would be a strong candidate to hold down the fort there at FS. Lastly, in Mike Tyson, the Seahawks added another safety with good overall size (6’1” 207lbs) and speed for the position (4.56 in the 40). Tyson describes himself as being physical, competitive, and versatile. His highlight reel appears to testify to him being an aggressive tackler and to have decent coverage skills. The Seahawks have told him to be open to all positions and to be ready to compete at press corner. With Kelcie McCray and Steven Terrill still unsigned, I think that it’s highly likely that the Hawks desire to move in a new direction and hope that each of these young guys can nail down spots on the final 53 Man Roster.