Seahawks second-round draft picks: A history of huge hits and major misses

The Seahawks have drafted some of their brightest stars in the second round of the NFL draft. Unfortunately, they've whiffed badly on some of their picks as well. A look back at both may give us some clues to what we can expect from this year's second-round selections.

Listen, I'm not one to bury the lede. Okay, that's a lie, and those of you who've read even a bit of my work are already calling me out on Twitter. "Dude, sometime it takes you three paragraphs to even mention your so-called subject!" Then that's followed by a few choice epithets, and - oops, sorry, did it again. Not this time, though. That picture up there tells the story for the Seahawks. One of those men is a lock to get a bust in Canton, Ohio. The other will have to buy a ticket, just like the rest of us.

Both Bobby Wagner and Marquise Blair were taken in the second round by Seattle. Sure, all good 12 know that, But did you remember that both men were the 47th selections in their respective drafts? Don't lie, now. Okay, that makes me feel better, because I didn't remember either (yes, I feel the tweets coming already).

So how is it that Pete Carroll and John Schneider can make amazing picks on players like Wagner, and whiff on others like Blair? Let me clarify right now, I respect Marquise Blair for what he contributed to the Hawks. He went through position changes and battled injuries, and always played hard. But even he would tell you he's no BWagz. He's currently a free agent, and hopefully, he'll find a new football home.

Comparing those Seahawks second-round picks without getting our hands dirty

Back on topic. See, I'm getting better at this. The Seahawks drafted more stars than just Wagner in the second round. DK Metcalf joined Blair as a second-round Seattle pick in 2019. Just last year, the Hawks drafted the guy who should have been the Offensive Rookie of the Year, Kenneth Walker III, in the second round.

While it's certainly too early to write him off - believe me, I'm not - the Seahawks called Boye Mafe before Walker in that same draft. The parallels of the offensive player becoming a major star while the defender only made sporadic contributions can't be overlooked. It's just been one season, and Mafe could certainly explode in year two. I can think of another Seahawks player who had three sacks as a rookie, then blew up - in a good way - in year two. Fear not, I'll get to him soon enough. I'm just saying that for now, it's weird.

Alright, let's go back to the beginning. First, there was a formless void. Ah, too far back. Although it's also an apt description of the Arizona Cardinals. No, we'll just go back to the start of the Carroll-Schneider era, 2010, using the ever-reliable Pro-Football-Reference.com for the Hawks draft history.

This also provides us with a very handy tool to compare the relative value of each player. We'll look at their average value per year. In short, PFR's average value is a quick way to compare players at vastly different positions, like wide receivers to offensive tackles. You can find the site's formula here if you're interested. Or just take my word for it; it works. For our purposes, I divided career value by seasons, so the younger players can be judged on an equal footing to ten-year vets.