Seahawks second-round draft picks: A history of huge hits and major misses
A superstar, disappointments, and a work in progress for the Seahawks: 2019-2021
2018 gave us no second-rounders, although there' s no shortage of stories in the draft that brought Rashaad Penny and Michael Dickson to the Seahawks in the first and fifth rounds, respectively. That's for another time, though. We forge ever onward to 2019 and the other guy in the photo heading. No, not Najee Harris; I'm talking about Marquise Blair! You know about him, so a quick summary is in order. He has 25 career games, 22 of those with Seattle, and more than half of those in his rookie season. Blair's average points per season sits at 1.3. It's safe to say, that doesn't stand out as a great selection.
As for the guy the Hawks took after Blair in 2019, well, yeah, he's pretty good. DK Metcalf has averaged 77 receptions, 1,055 yards, and just under nine touchdowns per season since he bolted into Seattle with his spectacular rookie season. I cannot verify, nor will I deny, that he will appear in this summer's The Flash, taking the baton from Barry Allen in the anchor leg of a race to save the world.
By the way, James Gunn, I really really doubt you're reading this. But since you're recasting the DCU, and you guys are doing that whole alternate timeline thing, and your lead actor is - hmmm... yes, problematic is again the right word - DK Metcalf is built like a superhero, is hella charismatic, and would save you millions in VFX. Oh, yeah, stats. Metcalf has averaged 9.7 average value points so far, and will likely improve that number for the next few seasons. By the way, Megatron averaged 9.1 over his first four seasons. You're welcome.
Next up is 2020 and another special case. Darrell Taylor. As you know, his career was put on hold until 2021 as he recovered from a stress fracture in his lower leg. While he contributed 6.5 sacks and seven tackles for a loss in 2021, he could have doubled those numbers with better technique. He was extremely athletic, which is what the Seahawks expected, but he was also extremely raw.
He was still maddeningly inconsistent last year. While he bumped up his sack total to 9.5 to tie for the team lead, 4.5 games in the last three games of the season. Yes, it's good to finish strong, but it would be even better to play somewhere close to that level in every game. Let's hope year three is the magic one for him. So far, Taylor has averaged just 3.0 average value points per game, and that feels very much on the nose.
Now we've reached the year and more specifically the player that got this started for me. The draft year is 2021 and the player is Dee Eskridge. Geno Smith made a point of saying he believes this will be Dee's year. I'm not about to doubt Geno; he knows a little bit about taking time to reach your potential in the NFL. But clearly, Pete Carroll's never-ending font of optimism has filled Geno Smith to the brim.
I expected Eskridge to be great with the Seahawks. Well, if not great, I believed that at the least, he'd be a reliable third target for the Hawks. That has not been the case. To date, he has 17 receptions for 122 yards and one touchdown. Freddie Swain was a sixth-round pick in 2020 and nearly tripled Eskridge's production. For his career, Eskridge has created 1.6 average value points per season. That is not good.