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The Seattle Seahawks have been one of the more interesting teams in the NFL over the past half-decade. It’s been a while since this team was bad, and they’ve been able to stay afloat in the NFC playoff race for quite some time now.

Seattle traded Russell Wilson before the 2022 season, which marked the end of an era for them. The Seahawks found themselves contending for the playoffs almost every year with Wilson, but after trading him, the future seemed a bit cloudier.

Then, Geno Smith stepped in, and has become much better than expected for the Seahawks. With Smith at the helm, Seattle has gone 9-8 in each of the past two seasons, making the playoffs in 2022, and narrowly missing them in 2023.

Now, their long-time head coach, Pete Carroll, won’t be on the sidelines anymore. Seattle now has Mike Macdonald in charge.

This season truly is the beginning of a new era in the pacific northwest, and the team knew they had to ace the 2024 NFL Draft. Seattle had eight picks, and made each of them count. With that in mind, here is the Seahawks’ best pick, their worst pick, and their biggest steal from this year’s draft.

While many suggested the Seahawks could trade back from this spot due to their lack of a second-round pick, they made the right decision to stay and select Byron Murhpy in the middle of the first round. Murphy was considered to be one of, if not the best defensive tackles in the entire class, and he’ll go to a team that badly needed help in the interior of their defensive line.

 

That part of their defense was one of Seattle’s most glaring issues heading into draft day. While the Seahawks did have multiple trade offers to move down, they decided to stay put. By doing so, they filled one of their biggest needs, and took one of the best players remaining on the board at the same time.

Seattle addressed a need, grabbed one of the best prospects at his respective position, and didn’t reach, making this their best all-around draft pick in the class.

Byron Murphy II Scouting Report

Murphy has a smaller build than most defensive tackles, standing at 6’1″, 297 lbs. However, he makes up for his lack in size with explosiveness and overall quickness. Murphy has a very quick get-off, and can cut in front of guards’ faces with ease. Although he’s smaller in stature, strength isn’t an issue for him. Murphy can beat a lineman with his strength alone, and rarely allows himself to get manhandled.

Because of his lack of size, Murphy does have shorter arms. He also could be better with his hands, as he sometimes allows guards to get a latch onto him, and from that point on it can be tough for him to escape. Finally, once Murphy does get into the backfield, he could do a better job of finishing the play back there, as he occasionally misses tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

The Seahawks used the last of their three sixth-round picks to select Michael Jerrell out of Findlay. The last two rounds of the draft are largely a crap-shoot, but this pick initially feels like a reach. That feels hard-to-say about a guy selected in the sixth round, but Jerrell just doesn’t seem ready for the NFL, at the moment.

The Seahawks did need help in the trenches, but they had already used three picks before him on players who could block. It’s not as if Seattle was filling a need here, and while this is nothing against Jerrell, there were some other, more NFL-ready players the Seahawks could have looked at.

At the moment, Jerrell seems like a depth piece, and the Seahawks will look to develop him over the next couple of seasons.

Michael Jerrell Scouting Report

Jerrell is athletic, and has a good frame for an offensive tackle. He used to play basketball, which helped him become flexible at the knees and hips, helping him against more athletic pass-rushers. He has good range in pass-protection, and can get to the outside when run blocking. These are all key traits that can help Jerrell along in his development.

However, while he has the athleticism to be a difference-maker in the running game, he will need to be more consistent with his technique. Jerrell also struggles to position himself at the end of blocks to finish them off. He has a bit of a forward lean, which makes him susceptible to counter-moves from pass-rushers. Finally, Jerrell will need to keep his hands and feet in rhythm to be more consistent in pass-protection.

Biggest Steal: Christian Haynes, OG, UConn

Selected round three, pick 17 (81st overall)

The Seahawks found their biggest steal of the draft in the middle of the third round. That’s where they made their first move to beef up the offensive line, selecting Christian Haynes out of UConn. Haynes was projected to be one of the best lineman in the class, yet fell into the third round.

The interior offensive line was one of their biggest needs heading into the draft. Luckily for them, they found a starting-caliber guard in the third round, without needing to trade up at all.

One of the reasons Haynes was so sought after is his positional flexibility, as Haynes can play both guard positions, and center as well. This makes him an excellent depth piece, especially for Seattle, a team which lacked depth in the trenches.

Christian Haynes Scouting Report

Haynes brings the perfect balance of athleticism and technique to the guard position. He excels in pretty much any blocking scheme, but especially in zone blocking, where each of those two traits really show themselves. This makes him an excellent fit for Seattle, with their offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, who uses zone running schemes heavily. Haynes is great at pass-protection, with a solid anchor, good footwork and good hands.

The main concerns regarding Haynes come with his size. He is a little smaller, at 6’3″, and 317 lbs. Because of this, he will be limited to the interior-offensive line positions. As a result of his lack of size, his arms are a little bit shorter as well, which could hurt him against NFL pass-rushers.