Predicting what the Seattle Seahawks will do in the first round of any draft — when they haven’t traded those first-round picks away for your Percy Harvins and Jimmy Grahams and Jamal Adamses and whatnot — tends to be a fool’s exercise. Head coach/shot-caller Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider tend to march to the beat of their own orchestra for better and worse, so if you’re assuming that Seattle, with needs all over their defense and Geno Smith signed to a fat new contract, wouldn’t take a quarterback with one of their two first-round picks… well, I don’t know what to tell you.
In fact, I think it’s entirely possible that the Seahawks could take a quarterback with either the fifth pick (from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade) or the 20th pick, sit him behind Smith for a year or so, and see how things go from there. Carroll and Schneider were on hand for the pro days of Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis, and Florida’s Anthony Richardson over the last two weeks, and they for some reason made sure to take selfies with all four quarterbacks.
Maybe Carroll intends to use these selfies in his legendary pre-draft Twitter clues; or maybe the Seahawks just wanted new art for the walls of the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. We at Touchdown Wire are football analysts, so we’re here to analyze. Based on Carroll’s excitement level in each of the four selfies, here’s how we think the Seahawks rank the top four quarterbacks (by most measurements, though I’d put Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker above Levis on my board), and how they might fit in the Emerald City.
1. C.J. Stroud
Meeting of the minds. pic.twitter.com/odlysE3Shf
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) March 23, 2023
Well, “Meeting of the Minds” certainly has us thinking, and here, Carroll looks as happy as he can be after watching Stroud’s outstanding throwing session. Seattle would likely have to trade up from even the fifth pick to get Stroud, but as we have seen, these people are unafraid to go all-out to get the people they want.
2. Anthony Richardson
Hold it up high, @GVOaant. 🤳 pic.twitter.com/wmVgoUomId
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) March 30, 2023
You cold say that Pete doesn’t look quite as happy here; perhaps he was flummoxed by Richardson’s Thursday throwing session in which he hit the top of the building, making his high ceiling all too literal. If the Seahawks gave Richardson the opportunity to sit behind Smith for a year and get the hang of the nuances of the position, they could be rewarded by an upside at the position we’ve never seen before.
3. Bryce Young
The Young and the restless pic.twitter.com/mBJo8ZDPtR
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) March 23, 2023
If there were any doubts about Young’s ability to spin magic with a football in his hand, they were obliterated during his pro day, when the ball just exploded all over the place with touch, accuracy, and velocity. The Seahawks aren’t afraid to select smaller quarterbacks and turn them into premiere starters, so maybe Pete’s relatively reserved demeanor here is based on the idea that he knows Seattle would have to give up too much draft capital even for them to get this thing done.
4. Will Levis
Just a couple cats. 😏 pic.twitter.com/LcLHyu5kPP
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) March 24, 2023
This is just me, but it looks like Pete is thinking of something else in this picture from Levis’ pro day last week. Maybe it’s something like, “If I want to draft a quarterback with preposterous tools and the need to sit a year, I’ll just go get Anthony Richardson, thank you very much.” Schneider, however, looks like he’s got a serious football crush on the alleged Next Josh Allen. Perhaps Pete is holding John back from trying to stuff Levis in his suitcase.
