by Agent 86 » Fri Apr 28, 2023 10:34 am
Story this morning by Athletic Seahawks beat writer Michael Shawn Dugar.....
Seahawks go for premium talent over positional need during a ceiling-raising Round 1
By Michael-Shawn Dugar
Apr 27, 2023
RENTON, Wash. — These aren’t luxury picks. They’re ceiling-raisers.
That’s the best way to look at Seattle’s two first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. Yes, Seattle has a budding star at cornerback in Tariq Woolen, a 2022 fifth-round pick who finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, earned a Pro Bowl nod and received All-Pro votes. Michael Jackson, starting opposite Woolen, had a strong season as a first-year starter. Tre Brown is waiting in the wings.
But by adding Devon Witherspoon, which Seattle did with the No. 5 pick on Thursday night, the Seahawks changed the overall outlook of the cornerback. The combination of Woolen and Jackson has the potential to be good. Maybe even very good. With Witherspoon’s speed, patience, route recognition and ball skills, the pairing he and Woolen could produce has the potential to be great.
“Devon Witherspoon, he’s a rare player,” coach Pete Carroll said in a post-Round 1 news conference at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “We haven’t seen a guy like this. We have not drafted corners high just because we haven’t come across a guy of this makeup. It’s his athletic ability, it’s his speed, it’s his playmaking, it’s his mentality.”
Carroll gave an interesting player comparison when talking up Witherspoon’s instincts: former USC star safety Troy Polamalu.
“Troy Polamalu was a guy that had an extraordinary way about the way he played the game,” Carroll said. “I saw this connection between what Devon does and how he looks at the game and how he approaches it. It just knocked me out.”
Similar logic applies to Seattle selecting receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba with the No. 20 pick. Yes, Seattle has two stars in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Since 2019, Lockett is 10th among receivers in yards; Metcalf is 13th. They’re both top-five in touchdown catches. Metcalf is only 25. Lockett turns 31 in September.
But as the last four years have illustrated, merely having Lockett and Metcalf isn’t enough. That’s why the Seahawks acquired Josh Gordon in 2019. It’s why they signed Phillip Dorsett as a free agent in 2020. It’s why they drafted Freddie Swain in the sixth round of the 2020 draft, Dee Eskridge in the second round of the 2021 draft and Bo Melton and Dareke Young in the seventh round of the 2022 draft. On top of signing Marquise Goodwin last March.
Seattle plays with three receivers on the field more than 50 percent of the time. That has held true with each of the last three offensive coordinators Carroll has hired. A third receiving threat is essentially a starting position. Eskridge was supposed to satisfy that need. Young showed some flashes last season, but he didn’t catch a ball until Week 18.
General manager John Schneider watched Smith-Njigba put up 347 receiving yards in the Rose Bowl following the 2021 season and knew he’d be a top-10 pick when draft-eligible. The hamstring injury he suffered early in the 2022 season caused him to slip in the draft — right into the lap of the Seahawks, who feel he immediately makes the receiver room more dynamic than ever.
“This guy can play inside in the slot, right now,” Carroll said. “He’s got those kinds of skills. He’s shown us everything we need to see. We’ll still use the flexibility because we love Tyler in there as well. We do move our guys, but he really has a chance to be a big factor right there.
“That’s what we were in pursuit of in the draft. That’s why we’re so excited to have gotten him. We thought he was the best guy in the draft to fill that role.”
The Seahawks had more pressing needs entering the draft. They’re currently rostering just three interior defensive linemen and only two healthy inside linebackers with starting experience, neither of whom are under contract beyond this season. All three of their starting interior offensive linemen are on one-year contracts. Within those three position groups, Bobby Wagner is the only Pro Bowl-caliber player. There are fair arguments to be made that Seattle should have gone any number of different directions with their first two selections.
Seattle instead chose to address two premium position groups over those other spots. It’s basically the decision to potentially go from good to elite at corner and receiver rather than possibly go from subpar to adequate in other areas such as defensive line and linebacker. Both paths make sense for Seattle based on the current makeup of the roster. Time will tell whether Carroll and Schneider made the correct call.
For now, they undoubtedly have two talented prospects, arguably the best at their respective positions. Witherspoon was the No. 2 cornerback on The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s big board. Smith-Njigba was Brugler’s top-ranked receiver.
“Devon, arguably one of the most physical players in the draft, regardless of position,” Schneider said. “Jaxon, big-time production and arguably the best receiver in this draft class. Well, in our opinion, he was the best.”
Quarterbacks Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud were drafted by the Panthers and Texans, respectively, with the top two picks. Then Houston traded back into the top three and swapped spots with Arizona to select edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. The Colts then drafted quarterback Anthony Richardson. Schneider said he wasn’t surprised at how the first four picks went and he didn’t come close to trading back.
“We had two players we definitely weren’t going to leave for,” Schneider said. “Devon was one of them.”
Carroll didn’t name-drop Polamalu lightly. The comparison just speaks to how blown away he was by Witherspoon’s instincts on tape, and how the 22-year-old cornerback was able to break down some of the decisions he made in a one-on-one meeting with Carroll at the VMAC.
On tape, he saw the ball skills of a player who had 26 passes defensed over his last two seasons at Illinois. Witherspoon also had 10.5 tackles for loss in his last 22 starts. He took chances and was able to read and react in ways that reminded Carroll of strong safety Jamal Adams.
“We had a tremendous visit,” Carroll said. “Talking about really specific stuff that had to do with the choices he was making. I was trying to figure it out, where’s it coming from? After we were done, I was hitting him, man. I was getting after him in meeting to challenge him and to get to what he was really seeing and feeling. I came out of there thinking, ‘This is one of those guys. A special, special guy.’”
Smith-Njigba played the 2021 season next to star teammates Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, so Seattle imagines he’ll have no problem complementing Metcalf and Lockett. Schneider didn’t get to see Smith-Njigba play live prior to the pre-draft process, but he went through position drills at the scouting combine and again at his pro day where both Schneider and Carroll were in attendance. That’s also where Smith-Njigba ran the 40-yard dash, another important piece of the evaluation because teams hadn’t seen him much since that Rose Bowl performance.
Smith-Njigba is also regarded as the best route runner in this draft class, a sentiment Schneider affirmed Thursday night.
“He’s got a lot of power in his lower body,” Schneider said. “Ton of body control. Elite hands. Really good eyes. He’s going to be a fun guy.”
Seattle used 12 personnel (two receivers, two tight ends) and 13 personnel (one receiver, three tight ends) at the second-highest rates in the league last year, according to TruMedia. Those numbers represent room for growth in 11 personnel and in the depth of the tight end room. Carroll said Thursday that drafting Smith-Njigba isn’t about increasing the 11 personnel rate as much as it’s about having more success in that grouping, particularly when it’s time to move the sticks. When teams can bracket Metcalf and rotate coverage toward Lockett, someone must be able to uncover and get a first down or find the end zone. With his lower-body power and suddenness, Smith-Njigba should be the answer Seattle has been looking for.
“We’ve got two guys who we love the way they play in Tyler and DK,” Carroll said. “We needed another guy to fit in with them.”
Carroll later added, “It’s not to try to get to three receivers (more) — we want our three-receiver play to be better. We need to be better on third down.”
Schneider and Carroll twice passed on drafting interior defensive linemen. Jalen Carter went to Eagles with No. 9 pick. Mazi Smith went No. 26 overall to the Cowboys, and Bryan Bresee went to the Saints at pick No. 29. Schneider said it wasn’t hard to take a corner and a receiver instead of addressing the team’s thinnest position group. But with picks No. 37, 52 and 89 on Friday, Seattle is in position address the trenches.
“We had an order set up and we were ready to rip,” Schneider said of bypassing the defensive line prospects. “There’s things that are pretty tempting but you gotta stay true to what you’re doing. That’s what we did.”
So, was this a matter of talent being more urgent than pushing a player up the board to fill a specific need?
“Absolutely,” Schneider said. “We recognize we need help on the defensive line.”
