Seahawks 2024 7-round mock draft features two big trades and more steals than Ichiro

One edge leaves, another arrives with draft picks as day two continues

I haven't exactly made it a secret that I'm less than enamored with the performance of Darrell Taylor with the Seahawks. When I wrote the Hawks should trade Taylor before the first whistle of the 2023 season, some 12s scoffed. As it turns out, Seattle didn't think that was such a bad idea. They just waited too long to pull the trigger and felt compelled to keep him when Uchenna Nwosu was lost for the season.

For two games, it looked like they had made the right call. Taylor had 1.5 sacks against the Cards, the game in which Nwosu was injured, then added another the next week. He had three QB hits and two tackles for a loss and even broke up a pass in those two games.

Then he apparently remembered he was Darrell Taylor, not Nwosu or Boye Mafe. Over the next 10 games, he managed just three sacks, five QB hits, and four tackles for a loss. (stats per pro-football-reference.com). Yes, Mike Macdonald wants to see what Taylor can do, and he should. I think he's going to see the same thing most 12s have seen for three seasons: Taylor is a player who shows flashes of brilliance in the pass rush game but rarely shows up against the run or in coverage. I'll go into more detail another time, but for now, I'll just say there is ample reason I listed him as one of four players that won't make the Hawks season 53-man roster.

To that end, I sent Taylor across the continent to Tampa Bay, along with Seattle's third-round pick the 81st overall. In return, the Hawks received the Buccaneers' third-round (number 89 overall), plus picks 125, 220, and their 2025 fourth-round pick. I'd cut him anyway, so as I see it, I added two fourth-round picks in exchange for a player that never panned out. Moving down eight spots didn't exactly hurt either, as I grabbed UCLA's Gabriel Murphy there. PFF ranks him as the 81st overall prospect. NFL Draft Buzz sees him as another high-motor player who can line up in multiple alignments.

The 6'2" 247 lb Bruin checked into the NFL combine at 13 pounds under his collegiate playing weight, hoping to emphasize his speed and sheer athleticism. It worked, as his 4.68 40 time ranked at the 91st percentile for all edge rushers. His 10-yard split, vertical leap, and broad jump all ranked in the top ten percent. Of course, there's much more to football than a stopwatch and a tape measure. He had eight sacks and 13 QB hits as a redshirt senior at UCLA and added a phenomenal 40 hurries. In his last three seasons, he racked up 152 pressures, the third-most in college football (FBS, the big boys).

I'm sure you're crushed to learn I didn't pull off another trade here. I didn't really need to, as I had the 93rd pick I swindled - um, obtained fairly - from the Ravens on day one. To wrap up the second day of my mock draft, I went back to the position the Seahawks have to address, guard.

Just as I did with my earlier draft, I doubled up on first pick, Jackson Powers-Johnson, with guard Christian Mahogany. I didn't have quite as much luck in this draft as in the prior run. I pulled him on day three then, so he doesn't provide quite the same value in the third round. But he's still a great pickup for the Hawks, as I already covered. No, he's not a first-round guy, but he could certainly be a mainstay for the Hawks for several years.