Their Day 3 picks are the subject of some debate, but the Seattle Seahawks are getting near-universal approval for their first two picks in the 2024 NFL draft. With Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II and UConn guard Christian Haynes, the team added two highly-ranked, impactful prospects where the current roster is weakest compared to the NFL’s true contenders: at the line of scrimmage.
The latest acclaim for Murphy and Haynes comes from Pro Football Focus, where they have put together a list of takeaways from the draft, one for each team. In Seattle’s case the headline is that they nailed their first two picks, per Dalton Wasserman at PFF:
“Murphy joins Leonard Williams to form one of the better interior pairings in the league. He led the FBS in pass-rush grade and pass-rush win rate in 2023. He is also an extremely strong player in run support. On the offensive side, Haynes should compete for the starting right guard job. He is a consistent pass protector and arguably the best zone-blocking guard in this year’s class.”
If there’s a yellow flag for these two picks it’s their size in both cases. Murphy is listed at just 6-foot-1, 297 pounds and Haynes is 6-foot-2, 313 pounds. At least on paper both of them are athletic enough to make up for that relative lack of size. However, it shouldn’t come as a shock if they occasionally get bullied by bigger opponents lining up on the other side.
Adding these two and head coach Mike Macdonald has us bullish about the future at the moment. Still, the Seahawks are probably not a playoff team right now – unless they got something truly special in Macdonald – a young Xs and Os genius that can finally help them consistently defeat Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
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