Experts agree: Seahawks crushed the NFL draft again

The reviews are in, and the experts agree that John Schneider and Pete Carroll nailed the draft for the second consecutive year. They addressed virtually every need of the Seahawks, even though the selections played out in some surprising ways. Don't take my word for it, read what the pundits said.

Draft day is fun again, isn't it, 12s! For the second year in a row, our Seattle Seahawks had one of the best - if not the best - drafts in the league. For the second straight year, we aren't looking at the Hawks first pick and wondering, or "Dude, why did they pick a fill in the blank when we needed this other fill in the blank?" Or better yet, the years we thought, "Who the heck is that guy?"

No, this year everyone knows the name Devon Witherspoon. You'd have a hard time finding a football fan who doesn't know who Jaxon Smith-Njigba is, either. The hits continued in the second round as the Hawks drafted the pass rusher they needed in Derick Hall and a critical addition to their running back room with Zach Charbonnet. Oh, I know there's been criticism of that pick, but if you'll recall, a lot of people said the same thing about the selection of Kenneth Walker III last year. You don't hear them bringing that up again, do you? There's not much dispute that the Hawks continued their high-value picks, all the way to their final selection of Kenny McIntosh.

The pundits agree, the Seahawks aced the draft

As I said, you don't have to take our word for how good this draft was. For one thing, you're a 12, a member of the most knowledgeable fanbase in the NFL. You don't need anyone else to tell you that Anthony Bradford will be a road grader at guard, or that Cameron Young will be a just as effective a roadblock. That's going to be a fun matchup at practice! Still, it's nice to see the press acknowledge the Seahawks when they get it so right. After all, if the consensus was always right, Walker and Woolen would have been the rookies of the year. Okay, enough grousing. Time to bathe in the glory of the praise the experts doled out for Carroll, Schneider and the Hawks scouts.

Let's start with the Grand Poobah of the draftniks, Mel Kiper. It's not like he's always right - he admitted that he got the Hawks' grade of B+ for last year wrong. Now he says it's an A+, largely because both Geno Smith and Tariq Woolen were such surprises. Sorry, but that admission is locked behind a paywall on ESPN+. For the real stuff, just check out Kiper and Todd McShay's recap of the draft via YouTube. Jump to 7:30, where McShay basically says he'd marry the Seahawks if he could, and Kiper agrees. The only team ahead of the Hawks in their opinion was the Eagles. I have to admit, they had a sweet draft, too.

Don't worry, 12s, we've barely begun the praise parade for Seattle. Bucky Brooks of the league's own show, NFL Total Access, stated it as clearly as possible: "The Seattle Seahawks won the draft." Bruce Feldman of The Athletic joined the chorus, saying "I love what the Seahawks did in the draft." Pro Football Focus gave Seattle an A for the draft, singing the praises of every single Seahawks selection.

The Associated Press, The New York Post, Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Network, ESPN, and USA Today all gave the Seahawks an A grade. DraftKings, Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, and nfl.com awarded the Hawks an A-. CBS, NBC and Fox all gave Seattle a B+. I assure you, those last three will be eating their words in another year or two, just as Mel Kiper did for his grade of the 2022 draft. We all know it's too soon to truly grade the Seahawks selections, but it's still fun to see all those "As', isn't it? I mean, it's not like we drafted Stetson Bennett.