From 2010 through 2012, the Seattle Seahawks’ draft classes were the envy of the NFL. No other team had a similar knack for collecting talent, especially in the later rounds. The team that won Super Bowl XLVIII, and nearly won Super Bowl XLIX, was created to a large degree by picks outside of the first round. Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson… it was incredible how well head coach Pete Carroll, general manager John Schneider, and Seattle’s scouting staff was able to hit big on undervalued prospects.
But from 2013 through 2021 — a very long stretch for this to happen — Seattle switched its preferences from undervalued prospects to overvalued assets. Perhaps assuming that they had the major positions in the bag, and it was time for luxury picks, the Seahawks traded a lot of their first-round picks away, and they were awful at picking talent with those picks when they had them. Germain Ifedi, Rashaad Penny, L.J. Collier, Jordyn Brooks… these players were not first-round talents, the Seahawks clearly though they were, and the disconnect showed on the field, as it tends to do.
