2022 NFL Draft

[c_hawkbob]

The back is described as the best back in the draft

By who?

By PFF, Chris Sims and others, and almost all had him #2 (Hall was not #1 or #2 in some). Walker led all of college football with 89 broken tackles, called a "violent ball of muscle". Pete and John's comments about Carson didn't leave one optimistic about his return.

Alright, guess he was one I'd overlooked ... I'm liking what I'm reading about him.

[Oly]

Actually Cross and Lucas are from two different Offenses. Lucas’s last 2 years were in a more traditional
Offense where they ran the ball more than 45% of the time while Cross was in an offense that ran it about 20%
of the time. Leach was at Washington State but he left 2 years ago so Lucas has had better coaching in being
a RT in a style of Offense that’s much closer to what is played in the NFL. Lucas started about twice as many
games as Cross.

Thanks for the correction! I haven't followed college ball as much since the pandemic started so I missed the change in offense at WSU. I guess we'll see how they use the RT to see if it looks like smashmouth Peteball or if there is a change in philosophy that takes some concepts from the more movement-oriented pass-happy offensive schemes that have gotten popular in the last few years.

[NorthHawk]

I think Lucas is going to be very solid. He had a complete game in College but now has to take the next step to the NFL.
His Sr Bowl work against the best DL from College was real impressive and he had a very good Combine. He’s just going
to have to adjust to NFL power, speed, and technique.

[Oly]

Woolen in the 5th is a steal.

This draft just keeps getting better.

[NorthHawk]

Woolen in the 5th is a steal.

This draft just keeps getting better.

Yup.
Who does he remind you of?
Former WR
Tall CB
5th round pick

[Oly]

Yup.
Who does he remind you of?
Former WR
Tall CB
5th round pick

100%

Undervalued and still picked under that value? Check.

I just hope Woolen has the same chip on his shoulder as the last guy.

[TriCitySam]

Woolen in the 5th is a steal.

This draft just keeps getting better.

Not much experience on the D side, and a penalty machine, but so big and so fast, was always an intriguing prospect. Love it in the 5th.

[mykc14]

Yup.
Who does he remind you of?
Former WR
Tall CB
5th round pick

One thing that Woolen has that Sherm didn't is speed. Dude ran a 4.26 40!!

[NorthHawk]

This is a Pete Carroll pick. A tall and fast DB with good ball skills who needs to be coached up.
Huge upside if he develops.

[tarlhawk]

Another Edge...this one a rotational pass rush assassin...Tyreke Smith (6'4" 254lbs age 20) from Ohio State in 2021 had Pass Rush Win Rate of 20.2% and strong pass rush grade via PFF.

[tarlhawk]

Looks like we'll come away with 9 picks. We traded #145 to Kansas City for #158 and a 7th rd #233. So we have two 7th rd selections (#229 and #233)...where's a back-up center or WR?

[NorthHawk]

We’re still short at C so far, but there are 2 more picks and UFA so maybe we get one.
If not, with this being the first year of a rebuild we should be able to get a good QB along
with a good Center next year. With so many needs we can’t get everything this year.

[Aseahawkfan]

One thing that Woolen has that Sherm didn't is speed. Dude ran a 4.26 40!!

Sherm ran a 4.2 in football IQ. That is what made him great. He could read what was going on like someone put a book in front of him. One of the smartest CBs I ever saw who took moderate level NFL athletic talent and a long body and turned it into an amazing career.

[NorthHawk]

We ended the draft with 2 WRs.
Bo Melton is also a kick returner but he broke a bunch of tackles as a WR, so maybe he has that
kick returner “Waterbug” quickness.

the other is Dareke Young from D2. Apparently he was in for a visit earlier.

Edit:
He’s 6’3 220lbs.

[Old but Slow]

This was a good one. The team filled some needs, but didn't reach. Good value all the way through.

Now we can look at the next few days of free agent rookies signing on.

[Oly]

When my only gripe about a draft is the lack of mid-round depth at C and OG, you know it was a good draft.

Looking at the draft as a whole, it seems clear that the team knew it needed to improve its passing game on both sides of the ball.

Pass blockers on both sides?
Edge rushers?
CBs?
WRs?

Other than a QB -- and I don't think there were any worth drafting in the early rounds so waiting until next year made sense -- they stocked up at every position critical to throwing the ball. And the outlier --the RB -- looks to be a great player and will be the only RB signed for the 2023 season, so that means the team won't feel the need to overpay Penny if he doesn't come back from injury and stay healthy.

[NorthHawk]

Where was this type of draft the better part of the last 7 years?
They stayed disciplined and seem to have a plan, unlike previous years
when they traded past excellent players at positions of need. Maybe it’s because there were
so many needs and a lot of talent in the mid rounds they couldn’t mess it up.

The 2nd to 5th round picks seem to be what we need to start off the rebuild and if they
continue to follow this script maybe we can become competitive again.

Hopefully they can find a gem or 2 in the pool of Undrafted Free Agents.

[Aseahawkfan]

In our best drafts under Pete and John, we had about 4 players work out as starters with maybe a decent depth player or two. Should be interesting to see if we can match some of those best drafts with this one. And which four will have what it takes to make the NFL transition.

[Old but Slow]

Profootballnetwork reports that Seattle has signed two free agent QBs. Kaleb Eleby, W. Michigan and Levi Lewis from Louisiana-Lafayette.

[Hawktawk]

And we didn’t trade for mayfield either .great draft

[Old but Slow]

And more have signed: Shamarious Gilmore G Georgia State (36 reps on the bench press); Joey Blount DB Virginia; Tyrese Dedmon S Idaho; Deontai Williams S Nebraska; and Josh Onujiogu DE Framington State (I think that Framington State is in the SEC, or something).

[RiverDog]

Wow, what got into PCJS
No trade down
No reaches
No overthinking or getting too cute
Letting the draft come to them
Not selecting a QB

Excellent job so far! Looking forward to what today brings. My only nitpick is a 2nd round RB. I would have preferred a LB as I think there is good depth at RB. Again, minor nitpick.

With the exception of Obi, that seems to be the consensus amongst our little group. I saw a few picks that might be a little questionable, Cross for example, which is always going to be the case with nearly any selection, but I didn't see any Irvins, Carpenters, Pennys, McDowells, Ifedis, or any clear reach, nor did we senselessly trade down to accumulate picks that we had burned on in season trades, bypassing good talent in the process for long shots or training camp fodder.

Is it possible that Pete and John had some type of come to Jesus moment? Did the results of these past 7 years caused them to come to the realization that they can't arbitrarily spin straw into gold? It's an honest question, as so many of us that has followed them for these past 12 years are seeing and saying the exact same things. Have they finally learned their lesson and quit trying to be cute?

As a few of you have mentioned, I would have liked to seen us go after a center, and as I've said, I still don't like taking a running back so high in the draft, but that's just me. After reading some of the comments, this guy looks to be a pretty good value Overall, I think that this was a solid draft, and I'm anxious to see these guys in action starting this August.

I'm pleased that we didn't burn a pick on a quarterback. I don't want to bring in a rookie when we're in this rebuild mode. To do so would be to set them up for failure like so many young quarterbacks have experienced. We need to build around an offensive line and a strong defense then bring in our QBOTF. We have two #1 picks in our pocket that we can use to get ourselves in a position to select one if someone emerges next season as a must have.

[Old but Slow]

Eleby was fairly well regarded, another too short QB at 6'.

More signings:
Cade Brewer TE Texas
Elijah Jones CB Oregon St
Ellis Brooks LB Penn St
Matt Gotel DT W Florida
John Mitchell TE FIU. (former AG)
Rodney Coates WR UW
Bubba Bolden S Miami
La'okea Kaho'ohanohano-Davis LB Southern Utah
Josh Valentine-Turner DB FIU
Scott Nelson S Wisconsin
Jake Herslow WR Houston
Demetris Robertson WR Auburn

(edit) Correcting earlier reporting by my intrepid self, Eleby, Dedmon, and La'okea K-D are not signed yet but are minicamp invitees. Two other invitees are Paul Gratton OL UCLA and Race Porter P UW.

An additional signing is Vi Jones OLB NC St

[Hawktawk]

Hey River Penney was never a reach . Ever . He got hurt : we swindled Belichick out of him and he tried to trade for him the moment he was picked .Schneider says he’s never heard of such a thing and rejected it. The guy got hurt . He averaged 6.1ypc when given ten or more carries in his career . Last 6 last year 671 yards , 2 NFL records . tell me it isn’t generational talent with a straight face , forget worth a first round pick . So tired of the ragging on Pete and john . It will be fun to watch them shut the mouths . It’s not whether someone got hurt . It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with talent evaluation . Is it an NFL starter ?

[Aseahawkfan]

Hey River Penney was never a reach . Ever . He got hurt : we swindled Belichick out of him and he tried to trade for him the moment he was picked .Schneider says he’s never heard of such a thing and rejected it. The guy got hurt . He averaged 6.1ypc when given ten or more carries in his career . Last 6 last year 671 yards , 2 NFL records . tell me it isn’t generational talent with a straight face , forget worth a first round pick . So tired of the ragging on Pete and john . It will be fun to watch them shut the mouths . It’s not whether someone got hurt . It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with talent evaluation . Is it an NFL starter ?

I will tell you Penny is not generational talent with a straight face without a second thought. If you think Penny is generational talent, you don't even know what generational talent is. A major part of being generational talent is elite durability and performance out of the gate as in year 1 that doesn't stop or slow down until the end of their career. You're some cherry picker using stats to pump up busts that already have stats over a period of time proving you wrong. If Penny were generational talent, Pete wouldn't have taken an RB in the 2nd round of the draft and Penny would be enjoying a contract befitting generational talent. It's such a ridiculous assertion.

Pete and John ain't shutting anyone's mouth unless they do something that has never been done before by any coach or GM I have ever heard of and that is have a second Super Bowl Era with a different QB with the same team.

The only person that will finally have to shut up is all the people that get hyped on drafts without every realizing if you get four starters from a draft, you've done an amazing job. Which means of these 9 we picked, only four are likely to perform at a high enough level to start and even fewer will be elite. On top of that It will take years to find out if the four from this draft class can perform.

Reality will set in soon enough for the offseason yappers that like to cherry pick and write fiction about generational talent and back up QBs who are "super stars."

[Hawktawk]

You may be more bipolar than me . Penney has generational talent . His physical skills and his actual performance as an NFL player with more yards after contact last 6 than Johnathan Taylor had yards . While Taylor was rushing for 75 yards in a season ending loss to the jags Penney was hanging up 190’on an 11 win team with a good defense . Outrunning a pro bowl safety to the spot all day long .Short sample but yes generational type talent obviously .Gayle sayers was pretty good don’t you think ? He had a short career due to injury but it ended his career when it happened . Penney’s career was stunted by injury in 2019 when he seemed ready to become the feature back . He took time to come back and it’s remarkable how much of the speed and explosion is still there. Looks like all if it . Maybe he wants to shut the same mouths I listen to all the time . Gonna shock the world baby .

[obiken]

Hey River Penney was never a reach . Ever . He got hurt : we swindled Belichick out of him and he tried to trade for him the moment he was picked .Schneider says he’s never heard of such a thing and rejected it. The guy got hurt . He averaged 6.1ypc when given ten or more carries in his career . Last 6 last year 671 yards , 2 NFL records . tell me it isn’t generational talent with a straight face , forget worth a first round pick . So tired of the ragging on Pete and john . It will be fun to watch them shut the mouths . It’s not whether someone got hurt . It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with talent evaluation . Is it an NFL starter ?

Yeah what made PC and JS think that he was going to be a better back than Nick Chubb out of Georgia!!

[obiken]

When my only gripe about a draft is the lack of mid-round depth at C and OG, you know it was a good draft.

Looking at the draft as a whole, it seems clear that the team knew it needed to improve its passing game on both sides of the ball.

Pass blockers on both sides?
Edge rushers?
CBs?
WRs?

Other than a QB -- and I don't think there were any worth drafting in the early rounds so waiting until next year made sense -- they stocked up at every position critical to throwing the ball. And the outlier --the RB -- looks to be a great player and will be the only RB signed for the 2023 season, so that means the team won't feel the need to overpay Penny if he doesn't come back from injury and stay healthy.

Good points Oly but I agree with your first point, we needed Pass rushers. RB was not a major need for us. Grabbing Cross was okay but a better pick was Johnson out of FSU we need a Pass rush. Prediction: The kid outta WSU ends up being better than Cross. I am okay with this draft I give it a B but most experts give it a C/C+.

[Hawk Sista]

I agree this has the appearance of a very nice and appropriate draft for where the Hawks are right now. (I say appearance because we won’t really know for a few years). They made solid additions in the trenches w/ a very good RB (I’m afraid CC’s neck issues seem a permanent limitation) + CBs & WRs with loads of potential. I was actually relieved when Sauce and Stingley went early so we could nab a top biggie (both in that one was there & that PCJS wouldn’t be tempted). 9 feels early for a CB during this retooling & it went the way I hoped. I believe Cross will be very good for us, & I don’t share the concern about him that others do. And I’ll add that quality DEs were attainable later, but the drop at tackle was steep after Cross, or so it seemed.

The pundits and casual fans will find this a middling draft w/ no QB (thank god), and that it was generally unsexy. I find it plenty sexy. I also appreciated seeing Jody there and showing excitement over the Cross pick. Well done!!

[RiverDog]

Hey River Penney was never a reach . Ever . He got hurt : we swindled Belichick out of him and he tried to trade for him the moment he was picked .Schneider says he’s never heard of such a thing and rejected it. The guy got hurt . He averaged 6.1ypc when given ten or more carries in his career . Last 6 last year 671 yards , 2 NFL records . tell me it isn’t generational talent with a straight face , forget worth a first round pick . So tired of the ragging on Pete and john . It will be fun to watch them shut the mouths . It’s not whether someone got hurt . It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with talent evaluation . Is it an NFL starter ?

Sorry, man, but Penny was by all accounts a reach. The fact that you think it was a good selection doesn't trump those, including nearly everyone in here except you, that say he is/was not. None of the major analysts had him as a first round pick. As others have pointed out, the consensus best back available at the time we selected was Nick Chubb out of SEC Georgia, not a mid major like SDSU, and history has proven that analysis to be correct as Chubb has had many times the better career than Penny has had, at least to this point. Penny was not, and is not, a generational talent, a term I reserve for players like Adrian Peterson or Ladanian Tomlinson, not some random back that has rushing yards in 4 years what would amount to a good season for a generational running back.

As you are so fond of saying, those are facts that you can't spin or rationalize.

[RiverDog]

Good points Oly but I agree with your first point, we needed Pass rushers. RB was not a major need for us. Grabbing Cross was okay but a better pick was Johnson out of FSU we need a Pass rush. Prediction: The kid outta WSU ends up being better than Cross. I am okay with this draft I give it a B but most experts give it a C/C+.

RB was a major need for us. Both of our current backs have been injured more than they have been healthy, especially Carson, who suffered what could be a career ending injury. I just don't like burning high draft choices on a two down player at what is by far the most injury prone position in the game.

However, considering this guy's body type, he might not be as subject to injury as other running backs, so that somewhat negates one of my concerns, and the fact that we had multiple 2nd round picks that we could use to take the BPA at the time we chose somewhat alleviates the other concern, so I'm not breaking any furniture over it.

[NorthHawk]

I agree this has the appearance of a very nice and appropriate draft for where the Hawks are right now. (I say appearance because we won’t really know for a few years). They made solid additions in the trenches w/ a very good RB (I’m afraid CC’s neck issues seem a permanent limitation) + CBs & WRs with loads of potential. I was actually relieved when Sauce and Stingley went early so we could nab a top biggie (both in that one was there & that PCJS wouldn’t be tempted). 9 feels early for a CB during this retooling & it went the way I hoped. I believe Cross will be very good for us, & I don’t share the concern about him that others do. And I’ll add that quality DEs were attainable later, but the drop at tackle was steep after Cross, or so it seemed.

The pundits and casual fans will find this a middling draft w/ no QB (thank god), and that it was generally unsexy. I find it plenty sexy. I also appreciated seeing Jody there and showing excitement over the Cross pick. Well done!!

I generally agree with you, Sis outside of the Cross pick, but I've always said the draft is about selecting potential and we won't really know how good it is for a few years.
I do like that we used the picks to solidify areas and I'm happy JS didn't do his usual trading down stuff for more but lower value picks, but I think that if Stingley was
taken he has the possibility of shutting down one side of the field in a pass happy league which could have been a huge boost for the Defense.
But overall, it looks like a solid draft with some players that might be stars in time or at least deserving of 2nd contracts.

[Hawktawk]

Hey River Penney was never a reach . Ever . He got hurt : we swindled Belichick out of him and he tried to trade for him the moment he was picked .Schneider says he’s never heard of such a thing and rejected it. The guy got hurt . He averaged 6.1ypc when given ten or more carries in his career . Last 6 last year 671 yards , 2 NFL records . tell me it isn’t generational talent with a straight face , forget worth a first round pick . So tired of the ragging on Pete and john . It will be fun to watch them shut the mouths . It’s not whether someone got hurt . It hasn’t got a damn thing to do with talent evaluation . Is it an NFL starter ?

Yeah what made PC and JS think that he was going to be a better back than Nick Chubb out of Georgia!!

And Belichick who was reportedly also fooled by chins doll Penney ? Penney has more skills than Chubb . Penney set 2 NFL records in 6 starts . Injuries don’t count and oh by the way Chubb’s been hurt too , just lucky enough it’s not been devastating . Ask Derrick Henry about that . Penney has been very unlucky and for as good as Carroll is as coach he didn’t recognize Penney’s upside was far above Carson’s . He was figuring it out in 2019 and then Penney got hurt on an explosive catch and run 20 yards downfield . Asea likes to say well who ever heard of a guy doing nothing for 4 years then doing this ? Who cares ? How many snaps does history take ? It’s like saying Pete can’t win any more because nobody ever did after this many years blah blah blah . Rashaad Penney housed 7 kick returns as a senior and 2 were vs power 5 conference teams including Auburn .I’ve been on his jock since draft day and I’m
Not getting off now . If he gets hurt again he was simply the most unlucky most talented back I ever saw . It he comes back slow and averages 4 ypc I was wrong . If he’s healthy he will be a 1500 yard 15 TD minimum
Running back next season .

[curmudgeon]

Is it possible that Pete and John had some type of come to Jesus moment? Did the results of these past 7 years caused them to come to the realization that they can't arbitrarily spin straw into gold? It's an honest question, as so many of us that has followed them for these past 12 years are seeing and saying the exact same things. Have they finally learned their lesson and quit trying to be cute?

Perhaps it was Jody Allen sitting between them in the war room. “Get it right boys. Your time here is on the clock.”…….

[tarlhawk]

Perhaps it was Jody Allen sitting between them in the war room. “Get it right boys. Your time here is on the clock.”…….

Funny you mention what I thought after hearing John and Pete talk about her presence with them during the early draft process...I did however expect that this draft might reflect similarities to their first draft in 2010 in that they have it easy to make "high in the round" draft selections. I heard pre-draft banter that their would be 75 "top 50" players available in this draft due to covid allowances allowing a college return.

[NorthHawk]

There weren’t many “exceptional” players in this draft with the lack of QB talent, but it was good for teams
like us who need to restock the base level talent. They tipped their hand by not even trying to address the
OT positions in FA prior to the draft making it a necessity to take at least one early. We can quibble about
who was selected but the main thing is they’re finally accepting the need to build the OL and DL. I’m a little
concerned about LBs with us going to use more 3-4 formations but next year that might be a focus. I think
maybe the general plan is to get the Offense right then address the Defense more next year along with
finding a QB. Perhaps they ascribe to the school of thought that Offense takes more time to build than
Defense which some Front Offices believe which makes sense.

In all though this draft was full of players we need to improve for the longer term so it would have been
hard to mess it up completely. It’s going to be interesting to see how well these new players perform.

[Hawk Sista]

North said…

…. If Stingley was taken he has the possibility of shutting down one side of the field in a pass happy league which could have been a huge boost for the Defense.

I agree with this. The league is evolving and so must the value we place at each position. Stingley was enticing for SURE & even I wanted him. I was relieved the temptation wasn’t there at 9. That said, the Hawks were woefully undermanned at T, particularly w/ Shell and Brown not being signed, and if there is any offense to be had for Seattle, they simply had no recourse but to address the position more than once over the last few days. Whether or not Cross is the best of this class (and a few maintain he was) or the third best (very few had him outside the top 3), I think it was very wise to get him and not dink around with trading down hoping for him or another later (he was projected top 5 in most mocks I saw).

I understand the system fit argument, the “needs to gain a few pounds” argument, etc., but 2 sacks in 700+ drop backs is pretty damned impressive. I’m no NFL scout, but I admire his body of work. We agree that time is the only element that will allow us to see this clearly.

And hey yourself, my friend.

[Hawk Sista]

Even with 9 picks, there simply were not enough to address every concern. There are still FAs out there plus June 1 cuts. I expect PCJS to keep going to add LBs, more Oline (center in particular) etc…

[NorthHawk]

The 700 drop backs with 2 sacks might be deceiving as the Air Raid Offense is a 1 2 and fire style and the DL basically
just have to get in a defender’s way to not take a sack. This means that he’s going to be under more pressure than he
ever had in college with the need to maintain his block much longer. This is where experience and technique comes
into play and why he might have a huge learning curve.

[Hawktawk]

Sorry, man, but Penny was by all accounts a reach. The fact that you think it was a good selection doesn't trump those, including nearly everyone in here except you, that say he is/was not. None of the major analysts had him as a first round pick. As others have pointed out, the consensus best back available at the time we selected was Nick Chubb out of SEC Georgia, not a mid major like SDSU, and history has proven that analysis to be correct as Chubb has had many times the better career than Penny has had, at least to this point. Penny was not, and is not, a generational talent, a term I reserve for players like Adrian Peterson or Ladanian Tomlinson, not some random back that has rushing yards in 4 years what would amount to a good season for a generational running back.

As you are so fond of saying, those are facts that you can't spin or rationalize.

He may have been considered a reach by the pundits, I wasn't paying attention. But he clearly possesses first round talent and generational skills with that blend of size and speed and power which has always been my point. Injuries count zero to me unless the guy was a china doll in college which would describe Carson. Injuries happen and more to Seattle than anyone it seems the last 5 or 6 years. 6.1 career average per carry given 10 or more in the league over 4 years. 3 games of 100 yards before hurt picking up the scraps that fell off the table with Carson starting. Those are all pro stats.


And for all you chubbies out there he WASNT THE NEXT BACK OFF THE BOARD ANYWAY!!!!!!!. That would be Sony Michelle to the PATRIOTS WHO ARE WIDELY BELEIVED TO BE THE TEAM THAT OFFERED A TRADE THE MOMENT THE SEAHAWKS MADE THE PICK. So the 2 most successful coaches of the last decade both blew it right? Or...…..they both saw the potential and then the guy got hurt after Carroll picked Carson to start due to his jackhammer style or he would have a hell of a lot better resume right now. That was on Pete. Of course Carson was out for the 2019 postseason( as usual) after Penney got a cheap shot to the knee. If Penney had been healthy and forced into the starting role who knows how the 2019 postseason might have gone. if like the last couple last year maybe another title.

I notice Michelle is a Ram now. Chubb's missed some time and Penney would beat him by 5 yards in the 100 at least. Hes healthy with less than half the mileage as Chubb .

Dude was a reach by the pundits, Not Carroll or Belichick. He was definitely good enough to go late first round.