Expert NFL mock drafts can get crazy, especially for the Seahawks
The world is full of mock drafts; we have our own as well. But at times, even the experts can get a little crazy. Especially in the case of the Seahawks.
It’s April, also known as National Mock Draft Month. We have contributed our fair share, of course. I’ll enter Colby Patnode’s latest mock draft into evidence. We love mock drafts. You’re reading this, so you clearly love mock drafts. But at times, they can get a little out there. A little crazy. Even the experts can lose it, especially when it comes to the Seahawks.
There has never been a better illustration of that than the projections for the Seahawks 2019 draft. I’ve written before about the odd blind spot so many mock drafts have; mainly that Seattle won’t just stand pat with four draft picks. They’ll trade down, like (almost) always. They did stay in the first round last year, but even then the Hawks traded down to add more picks. How anyone can think Pete Carroll and John Schneider will keep the 21st pick is beyond me.
Seattle has far too many needs to address to stay with four picks. The number 21 pick is their greatest asset, other than some of the players on their roster. So it would seem to be incredibly obvious the Seahawks will use that 21st pick to get more draft capital. I don’t think they’ve forgotten that their biggest stars, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, were drafted in the third and second rounds.
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Now we have even more evidence of the occasional insanity of the draft experts. The defensive line is one of the Seahawks major needs this offseason, no doubt. More than a few mock drafts show the team taking a D-lineman with their first pick, and that’s reasonable, assuming they trade down first. What isn’t reasonable is that Seattle would invest their most valuable draft asset on a player who has major on-field and off-field questions.
As reported by Liz Mathews for the Seahawks Wire, Todd McShay predicts the Seahawks will take Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. At first glance, it makes some sense. He’s the second-highest graded tackle on nfl.com, although both CBS Sports and Draft Tek show him as going sixth at his position. To be fair, CBS Sports still shows him as a first-round player. But there are still those nagging little issues.
Here’s the dual-edged problem. Simmons was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine due to a no-contest plea of simple assault. The incident occurred in his senior year of high school, but obviously, the league views it as a serious matter. The other issue with Simmons is that he tore an ACL in February. That’s this February, to be clear. McShay noted these issues himself.
"“There are off-field issues, and he’s recovering from a torn ACL, but Simmons is a high-end talent,” McShay notes. “I wouldn’t discount Seattle looking at a tone-setter safety like Johnathan Abram here to fill the Earl Thomas void, however.”"
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At least McShay was smart enough to give himself some wiggle room. I can’t see a team with four picks spending their most valuable selection on a player who likely won’t be taking the field in 2019. He has had zero off-field issues in college, so we can reasonably expect the assault was an extreme aberration that won’t be repeated. The ACL has to mend, though. I can absolutely see drafting him, just not in the first round. Not when you would have just three picks left to get players you need now. That would be…crazy.