The Seattle Seahawks pulled off quite a caper in this draft as they came away with three of the biggest steals of the draft. Now, this was a plot I could really get into!
You can be excused for thinking you were tuning in to Oceans 11 as you watched the 2022 NFL draft, 12s. Cast Pete Carroll as Danny Ocean and John Schneider as Rusty Ryan, and you can totally see the Seahawks pulling off the heist of the century.
I would have gone with The Usual Suspects or Heat, but there was a minimum of bloodshed in this entertainment. After all, this wasn’t on the field. Come to think of it, Pete does have that silver mane going…
Now when I say entertainment, I do mean entertainment. Man, this draft was fun to watch! Unlike so many other years, the Seahawks had a solid script and stuck to it.
The Seattle Seahawks may have stolen the 2022 NFL draft
Seattle came into the draft with several very pressing needs and answered those needs with every selection. They didn’t trade down 37 times to stockpile a bunch of players to fill the practice squad, either. In fact, Seattle traded down just once and that was on Day 3.
Yeah, I know running back Chris Carson and wide receiver David Moore were seventh-round picks. So were Kiero Small and Jared Smith and Ryan Murphy and Kenny Lawler and…well, you get the point. The fifth round though, now that spot has a very interesting history for the Hawks. That being said…
Seahawks hit it big again in the fourth round
Pete and John set the bar pretty high for themselves with late-round steals in their very first draft, way back in 2010. Yes, they draft Russell Okung and Earl Thomas in the first round, but they also nabbed the great Kam Chancellor in the fifth.
He was easily the best player taken in the fifth that year. His four Pro Bowl selections are more than any other defensive back drafted in 2010, with the exception of his teammate Thomas and another first-rounder, Chiefs star Eric Berry.
The Hawks hit the fifth-round magic again the very next year with Richard Sherman. Just as with Chancellor, Sherman was hands-down the best fifth-round pick of his draft. Sherman was named to more Pro Bowls than any other DB taken in 2011. Not too bad. Now, you know where I’m going with this, right? We’ll get there, but not quite yet.
First, let’s see what The Seahawks nabbed in the fourth round. They got a true steal, snapping up cornerback Coby Bryant. As Carson Schroer put it, no, he isn’t Sauce Gardner, but Seattle was fortunate to see him fall into their laps.
He’s 6’1 and ran 4.54 at the Combine, so he isn’t the physical specimen that we picked up later. But he’s more polished and has proven to be stout in run support, too. After all, he did win the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top DB, so we’re not the only ones who think he can play.
The fifth-round magic returns for the Seahawks (and seventh!)
Let’s jump to the seventh round for the Seahawks next gem. Rutgers isn’t exactly a football factory like Alabama, Ohio State, or Georgia (15 picks this year!), but that’s where Seattle found wide receiver Bo Melton. As our man Carson said, Melton brings a lot to the Hawks.
He was the Scarlet Knights top receiver for the past three years. He also got some time in the backfield and ran as the gunner on special teams. Expect him to make an immediate impact there, as Lee Vowell anticipated. He ran a 4.34 at the Combine – that’s Melton, not Lee; Lee runs about a 12.34. As we know, speed kills, especially in the NFL. In the seventh round, Melton is a total heist.
And here we are,12s. That’s right, I’m looking at the fifth round of this draft, and I love what I see. Tariq Woolen was an amazing steal at number 153. As Lee Vowell wrote, the comparisons to Richard Sherman can’t be ignored.
He’s 6’4″, runs a 4.26 40, and has the wingspan of a 767. Well, pretty close. He’s raw, sure, but his size and speed translate to Pro Bowl potential in a few years. You know Woolen and Bryant can’t wait to line up across DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett in training camp.
These were hardly the only great picks Carroll and Schneider made. I can’t exactly call Charles Cross a steal in the first round, as much as I like him. While Kenneth Walker III is a terrific pick, it’s hard to label anyone in the second round as a steal. But if he pans out as well as DK Metcalf, I’ll bow to the wisdom of Geoff Shull and add Walker to the list of the Great Seahawks Heist of 2022.