Seahawks 2023 mock draft: Retooling the defense post-Wild Card loss

With the Seahawks’ 2022 season done, the team will now focus on which free agents to sign and who to take in the 2023 NFL draft. A lot of how Seattle’s draft shapes up might be predicated by what the team does in free agency, of course. By the time the draft takes place in April, whether Seattle has re-signed quarterback Geno Smith, for instance, will likely say if Seattle takes a quarterback in the first round.

But as we saw for most of the 2022 season, Seattle has issues that go well beyond quarterback. Geno Smith was actually really good for a lot of the season and Seattle likely does not go 9-8 and make the playoffs if not for the play of Smith. Seattle’s offense overall is pretty set, except for the interior of the offensive line and a third option at wide receiver.

Defensively is where Seattle struggled the most and has the fewest long-term fixes. There is a possibility that every inside linebacker spot could be upgraded. Even at outside LB, Seattle needs better players. The interior of the defensive line went from good in 2021 to bad in 2022. At least two-fifths of the secondary could be better.

Seahawks retool the defense in this 2023 NFL mock draft

Even if Seattle had a lesser quarterback than Smith on the team (again, assuming Smith is re-signed or franchise-tagged), it might be wise to draft high-quality players at other positions to make the team better for the foreseeable future. The Seahawks aren’t a bad team but unless they add a few impact players in the draft, they could be only slightly better than mediocre for years. That’s not a good place to be.

For this last reason, I don’t have Seattle taking a quarterback in this mock draft. As in previous mock drafts, I used Pro Football Network’s mock draft simulator. I like it because it offers trades but this time I just couldn’t accept any because the players available are ones the Seahawks needed. Here is what happened in the latest mock for the 2023 draft.