ESPN's Mel Kiper not overly happy with Seattle Seahawks 2024 draft

ESPN's Mel Kiper, Jr. is a well-respected man around the NFL. He has seemingly been commented on the state of the sport for the last 100 years and his mock drafts are a must-read for football fans. Kiper also is normally fair with the post-draft grades he hands out, and he was not a huge fan of what the Seattle Seahawks did with their selections in the 2024 NFL draft.

Kiper was iffy with Seattle taking defensive tackle Byron Murphy II with their first pick and Kiper would have liked it better had general manager John Schneider and his staff chosen to take Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu. However, the ESPN analyst felt better about the Murphy pick after Seattle added UConn guard Christian Haynes in round three. Haynes was Kiper's third-highest-rated guard entering the draft.

The pundit might have felt Seattle's draft went a bit off the proverbial rails on Day 3, however. Kiper is not overly clear about this. The issue is that he graded the Seahawks' draft a B- overall. Not bad, but just barely better than average (assuming a C is average). Seattle chose tight end A.J. Barner (probably as a direct replacement for Will Dissly who left in free agency) and Kiper sees him more as a blocker.

Mel Kiper, Jr. gives Seahawks relatively low grade for 2024 NFL draft

Kiper also might have been confused about why Schneider and Seattle double-dipped with Auburn cornerbacks. He liked D.J. James better than Nehemiah Pritchett, though Seattle got both. To be fair, both players were also not chosen until at least the fifth round so it is not like the Seahawks wasted a high-round choice on Pritchett or James.

Kiper wrote of his grade for Seattle, "This is not the most glamourous draft Schneider has put together, but there is talent throughout." So did he not grade the draft higher because it was not "glamorous"? Why care about that? If there is "talent throughout" then why not give the Seahawks a B+? Weird.

Kiper gave two NFC West rivals higher grades. He gave the Arizona Cardinals an A saying Arizona got a "super-talented class." Kiper gave the Los Angeles Rams a grade of B+. The San Francisco 49ers, like Seattle, received a B-. The team with the lowest grade overall was the Atlanta Falcons but with only a C. He was as confused as most were when the Flacons chose Michael Penix, Jr. 8th overall.

Chad Reuter of NFL.com, in contrast to Kiper, highly approved of Seattle's draft and gave the team an A. He especially liked the pick of Pritchett.

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports and Rob Maaddi both gave Seattle grades of B+. Maaddi thinks Murphy and Haynes could both be the best players at their respective positions that were available in the draft. Trapasso gave the pick of offensive lineman Sataoa Laumea in the sixth round an A+, but he did not care for the choice of linebacker Tyrice Knight in the fourth round as he gave that selection a grade of C+.

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