5 worst Seattle Seahawks draft picks under Pete Carroll and John Schneider
By Lee Vowell
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Head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have built the Seattle Seahawks into one of the winningest franchises in the NFL over the last 13 seasons. They've done this by usually making the correct personnel moves. This includes, of course, drafting well.
Where would Seattle be even today had Carroll and Schneider not decided to choose Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner in the 2012 NFL draft? In the two drafts prior to that, Seattle picked up players like Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor. The bedrock of one of the best defenses in the history of the league - the Seahawks defense from 2012 through 2015 - was built quite a bit from the draft.
And while the 2022 Seattle draft looks like a success and the 2023 version could do almost as well, Carroll and Schneider have blown a few picks as well. Some of these have even set the franchise back a year or so. But here are the five worst choices made by Carrol and Schneider.
No. 5 - Seattle Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny (2018)
I really hate having to put Penny on this list. He's an extremely likable guy who wasn't consistently good in Seattle because he didn't want to be good. He just got injured a lot. Whatever a person can hurt, Penny did. He was like a modern-day C.J. Prosise. But Penny clearly wanted to play and after beginning the 2022 season fairly well, he once again (of course), got hurt. He cried tears of disappointment and many of us felt like crying right along with him.
But Penny did have his temporary moments. He was so explosive in the final five games of 2021 that he led the NFL in yards-per-rush even though he only played in 10 games and only ran the ball 119 times. He had 360 yards rushing in the last two games of the year combined. Penny could have been a spectacular running back with the Seahawks but when it came time to re-sign him again this offseason, Seattle took a hard pass.
Penny is now with the Philadelphia Eagles and will probably have a tremendous season. To be honest, the man deserves it as he is a good dude. That's why putting him on this list is difficult, but also a must. Penny was taken at number 27 overall in the first round of the 2018 draft and the team simply needed Penny to be more available in his five seasons in Seattle.