My 2012 Seahawks Shadow Draft

Don’t know what a shadow draft is? Don’t feel bad. It’s almost never used in the NFL. It’s mostly a baseball thing. Still, shadow drafts can be really fun. What we’re talking about here is what players I would have picked for the Seahawks if I had been the GM.

The fun part of this was that I made the picks at the same time the Seahawks did. No extra days to think things over. No hindsight based on people who were available 3 rounds later. It’s about picking the players as the draft unfolds. Can you see why I think that shadow drafts are fun? Oh, but that’s not even the best part. The Best part is looking back at the shadow draft a year or 2 later, and ealize jsut how bad the draft would have turned out. Lets just say that we should all be glad that John Schneider is in charge and not me.

Overall, I liked my draft a lot more before I wrote it out for this article. I never got a backup RB or a CB. I didn’t get OL until the very end, and thus neither would be much help this season. I also ended up with 3 LBs, and 2 DEs, though 1 of each was my versatile first round pick. Clearly you can see that my draft grades for those 2 positions were high because of how much of a need they were going into the draft.

Round 1, 15th overall: Seahawks picked Bruce Irvin. My pick: Melvin Ingram, OLB/DE South Carolina

Ingram went 3 picks later to the Chargers. i had him rated above Irvin at the time of the draft in part because I had a poor read on Irvin’s criminal history. Turns out its not the big deal I thought it was. I also had Ingram rated higher because I thought he could be an every down player right away. Irvin’s ceiling is higher, but I thought Ingram would be more production in the first couple years.

Round 2, 47rd Overall: Seahawks picked Bobby Wagner. My Pick: Lavonte David, OLB, Nebraska

David wasn’t picked until #58, so clearly I overvalued him. To me though, David might be the most complete 4-3 OLB in the draft. He’s not a flashy pass rusher that would excel in the 3-4, but he can play the run and cover in the passing game like no other OLB in this draft. He also has the speed that I thought would interest Pete Carroll. I don’t have a problem with the Wagner pick at all. To me this was just a judgement call and I went with the player from the bigger school.

Round 3, 75th Overall: Seahawks picked Russell Wilson. My Pick: Mohammed Sanu, WR, Rutgers

By now I’m sure you’ve read my thoughts on the Russell Wilson pick, so I wont go into that here. Instead, I would have taken Sanu who went 8 picks later to the Bengals. Sanu is a a tall, speedy receiver who would have been a good fit to play Split End. I’m not convinced that Mike Williams is going to even make this team in 2012, and with his speed Sanu would have been a good upgrade at the spot.

Round 4, 106th Overall: Seahawks picked Robert Turbin. My Pick: Jered Crick, DT, Nebraska

Turbin is a great fit for the Seahawks. I really liked this pick. I had him rated about this spot, but chose Crick instead. The Seahawks didn’t need a DT, but Crick is a guy who can create an inside pass rush on third down, a lot like Jason Jones. This pick was made with the idea of pairing Jones and Crick at DT on passing down, trying to get some pressure on the QB from the inside. Crick went a full 20 picks later to the Texans, so clearly I didn’t get value here.

Round 4, 114th Overall: Seahawks picked Jaye Howard. My Pick: Adrien Robinson, TE, Cincinatti

The Seahawks need a TE, and Robinson was the best on the board at the time. I didn’t think it was a very good pick, but I had a lot of linebackers and short CB on my board that I didn’t want to draft and Robinson was the next viable player. I was actually shocked when the Giants took him just 13 picks later at 127.

Round 5, 154th Overall: Seahawks picked Korey Toomer. My Pick: Johnathon Massaquoi, DE, Troy

I really wanted Josh Norman, and then Senio Kelemete here, both both came off the board right after I mentioned them in our live chat that day. Having both of them taken left me scrambling and so I chose Massaquoi. He would have provided the pass rush opposite Clemons on passing down, and filled a need, even thought I was hoping to get DB or OL help in this round. He went 10 picks later at #164.

Round 6, 172th Overall: Seahawks picked Jeremy Lane. My Pick: Audie Cole, ILB, North Carolina St.

This is where my draft starts to really look clueless. Cole went a full round later (210 overall) to the Vikings. I clearly had Cole overrated, and thought I was getting great value here (wrong) Cole isn’t a starter right way, but appears to have enough upside that he could develop into a David Hawthorne type LB. I guess we’ll see.

Round 6, 181th Overall: Seahawks picked Winston Guy. My Pick: Brandon Washington, OG, Miami

Finally got my offensive lineman. I like Washington as a run blocker, but he has a lot of development to do before he’s ready for playing time in the NFL. The Eagles drafted him 200th overall, so again I’m picking a guy way too early.

Round 7, 225th Overall: Seahawks picked JR Sweezy. My Pick: Matt Reynolds, OT, BYU

Reynolds went undrafted, so clearly I missed on this pick too. I liked his footwork in pass protection when I scouted him. That’s all I had on him, but it was positive and this late in the draft my notes didn’t have many positives about any player. I was also busy writing up recaps and not watching the draft as closely as I should of been, so I was scrambling to find someone who hadn’t been picked yet.

Round 7, 232th Overall: Seahawks picked Greg Scruggs. My Pick: Sean Cattouse, FS, California

I was down to my last pick and I hadn’t managed to pick up a DB. Cattouse is 6-2, and was productive in the Pac-12, and thus he was my pick here. He went undrafted too.

Of the UDFA, I didn’t get into that too much. I did notice that I hadn’t picked a RB, so I would have tried to sign Chris Polk out of Washington and Marc Tyler out of USC. I also probably would have brought in Austin Davis out of Southern Miss to compete with Josh Portis for the 3rd string QB job. And finally I’d have looked at Boston College CB Donnie Fletcher to provide another body at that position since I never drafted a corner.

Other than that, I’d picked a players from just about every position group so I didn’t look into who else was available. Instead I finished up my way-too-early 2013 Mock Draft.