At some point the grading system to me seemed rather dated and irresponsible.
Seahawks hit on 3 of my most drafted players in a lot of my mocks: Price, Clark, and Stephens.
They picked up a CB in Neal that I had on my shortlist of boundary corners. They also drafted not two but three CBs when I wanted at least 2.
Fuller was not on my short list, he barely missed out with 76 3/4 WS when 77 was the criteria although I had squeezed Devin Moore in at 76 7/8th. But Fuller had much better run defense strengths than two guys on my list in Davis and Payne, both of whom had crazy wingspans and tested well athletically that I had overlooked their okay to poor run defense opportunities.
They took a big DT, WR (or WR type RB) which I also wanted them to do but it was both guys that I didnt have on my radar.
By all means I should love what they did, and they did well, but not being able to trade down and then take Price still lingers as it would have been the most ideal scenario. Dont get me wrong i fully understand the situation and Buffalo and SFO monopolizing the opportunities. And fully aware that Price might have snatched up but that was always dependent on who drafted Love. But an additional late 3rd/early 4th would have been a game changer as it almost feels they lucked into the Stephens pick that honestly kicked this draft class up a notch.
And that is what this draft was to me very solid, they did what they needed to do, to not necessarily get better but stay the course and give them an opportunity to defend their ‘ship.
Now we wait to see what post draft free agency brings and honestly that might be just as exciting theres two guys that I think make tremendous sense and one guy that I just want even though I kind of dislike him personally but is talented and fits the scheme although he’s probably destined to be an Eagles after a certain trade.
Clowney, Wagner, and then Juaun Jennings.
Clowney just cuz he’s worked with Macdonald before and his run defense is the most solid out of the options. Believe 9.5 sacks last year, too. So he still got juice. And I honestly want to Lawrence and Clowney on the field together. But he’s probably the most expensive option so its likely Dante Fowler which looking at his numbers the last two years is still solid enough.
But it also leads me to why Im looking at Wagner.
Wagner just makes tremendous sense to me even though I’m back-tracking on previous statement earlier in free agency where I said, no and just let the young guys play.
Mostly this thought process churned while studying the edge group where each guy seemingly has a fatal flaw. Plus, the fact looking more into Wagner’s numbers saw him become one of the better pass-rushing options the last 4 years with 16 sacks after like only 12 in his other seasons.
He also make sense as Seahawks do lack a big bodied downhill interior thumper that would tremendously help in short yardage situations and he’s quality in that aspect of his game. Perfect depth hedge as a rotational player that can sap plenty of snaps from both Jones and Thomas to keep them fresher and stronger, and step-up as a full time starter if needed. But more importantly and doubling down on what I said about this class they can utilize Wagner on the edge and get better results than most of these prospects or it perhaps frees up Knight (which Id admit kind of keen on) to broaden his horizons, add at least 10 pounds of functional mass, and explore an edge type role. Data agrees as they both are highly graded pass rushers the last two years from the inside but it gives Seahawks opportunities to formulate endless possibilities which is right in Macdonald’s wheelhouse.
Fowler + Wagner are good additions to the finality of defensive needs.
And obviously Wagner only needs 60 tackles to break the all-time record which even though I don’t necessarily envision him as a full-time starter is still achievable. He probably has the capability to play all LBing positions as well as edge, like honestly I feel his overall ceiling can just be in the very least just as good as Mafe last year and also be a designated cleaner in mop-up duties during blowouts, its less than 4 tackle per game. It would just be icing on the cake for his career to do it in this uniform and maybe win another Superbowl.
Juaun Jennings, like 3 years maybe 15 per plus void years for reasonably small 2026 cap hit. Just feel like he has a similar skillset not exact or as good in some aspects but better in some, would kill it in our Cooper Kupp role. Yet my money is that he signs with Eagles after they trade AJ Brown. Like us they are protecting 4 comp picks.
