Seahawks All-Time Fantasy Draft (36)

by John Morgan on Jul 17, 2008 5:08 PM PDT Comment 12 comments

With the 36th overall pick in the first ever Seahawks All-Time Fantasy Draft, the Skid Row Sliders select...

Lawrence Jackson, USC

  
via Seattle Times

Of the remaining Seahawks defensive ends, only Philip Daniels and Michael McCrary reached or surpassed 20 sacks. Daniels was a steady player, never dominant. The type you might call "championship caliber"-as a compliment and a subtle derision. Daniels never earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod. He never topped twenty sacks. Seattle lined him on the right, but he was probably better suited for the left. Daniels was big, 290, and would batter his way to the ball carrier. McCrary, well...

Why do I mention McCrary and describe Daniels when I'm drafting Lawrence Jackson? Because when you take a rookie, with no career to speak of over two veterans with established levels of performance you're going to raise some eyebrows. But Seattle sports fans should know better than most, prospects are undervalued.

When Seattle does sign Jackson it will likely be for five years. Five years would give me a year over Daniels and McCrary. If we look at the first five seasons for all defensive ends drafted in the first round from 1994-2003, we'll see they collectively average 19.5 sacks. Hitting that average would put Jackson in the same ballpark as McCrary and Daniels. 4 sacks a season isn't going to earn any awards, but at this point in the draft, it's a reasonable expectation.

Then again, if L-Jack only grabs 19.5 sacks over the next 5 seasons I'll be pretty disappointed. That's because Jackson is 6'402", athletic and with the kind wide/long frame he should grow into. He's strong like an athlete, head to toe and through his core. Jackson repped 31 on the bench, but doesn't have that fresh out of the weight room look. Jackson was a four year starter at the so-called 33^rd NFL franchise, USC. He's brainy, dedicated and shows great awareness on the football field: Always looking where the ball is going, never taking blind shots and efficient to the ball carrier. The final consideration, and the reason I took Jackson over Darryl Tapp, is Jackson is strong enough to hold the point. Teams won't simply run at Jackson to avoid my monstrous pair of tackles.

Based on nothing but potential, I'm comfortable picking Jackson as my Seahawks All-Time left defensive end.

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This seems like quite the reach, to be honest

In terms of all-time Seahawks, do we really want to draft based on nothing but potential? Admittedly we’re at the point where there are some stretches to consider, but it does seem to kind of defeat the purpose of an all-time fantasy draft. Of course, I hope Jackson becomes everything we want him to be, and if he does, he would definitely be a fairly high pick in this, just more in the 2011 draft than the 2008 version.

Anyways, obviously this is just for fun, so it’s not like there’s a set of rules that have to be followed. Just my two cents.

"Hey, guess what? Nobody cares who would win in a crazy fantasy fist-fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden." The Monarch

by crushedoptimist on Jul 17, 2008 6:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

For my part

if you can’t post a picture of the dude in a ‘Hawks uni, I don’t think they qualify in this draft . . . but I’m not running it, so my $.02 doesn’t matter much.

by The Ancient Mariner on Jul 17, 2008 8:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was kind of expecting a rook to be taken...

but I was thinking Carlson might be the first one off the board, given the absolute lack of depth at TE that we’ve had. Lo-Jack kinda surprised me, but I can see some reasoning…

I’m wondering when Sam Adams is gonna go… or the Norm Johnson vs. Josh Brown vs. Todd Peterson battle (although looking at the numbers, Johnson doesn’t look so hot). Or Bootin’ Tuten vs. Jeff Feagles, the master of the coffin corner.

by Strang on Jul 18, 2008 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I have to agree with Ancient Mariner. Seeing as LoJack has never played a snap for us, in fact we haven’t even signed him yet. Sounds like a bit of a reach. Whats next, the Seahawks as yet undetermined 2009 first round pick?

Also, wheres the love for Tapp? I guess you’ve already decided that LoJack beats him out for the starting job this year?

Tapp just had a monster second season for us:
16 G, 49 T, 7 sacks, 8 PD, 1 INT, 3 FF

I will grant that these aren’t sophisticated aggregate statistics and are generally misleading. FO’s metrics do suggest we were weak against the run in Tapp’s direction (10th and 20th against left tackle and end respectively). However, Seattle is ranked 30th in 10+ yards runs allowed so theres reason to believe a lot of this has to do with big runs coming from blown tackles by linebackers, and more likely Jennings, Babineaux, and Russell.

Still, Tapp’s abilities against the run are definitely part of the problem and it is something that will be under the microscope in training camp and the preseason. Obviously the front office were not 100% confident that Tapp could improve this facet of his game. He’s only 23 and just finished his first full season as a starter admirably. I imagine he could improve against the run. Still, if he is only used as a situational pass-rusher than he won’t really get the opportunity for said improvement. I know that John has said that he does not see Tapp as ever being more than a speedy pass-rush specialist, and that 2007 may have been his peak since it is unlikely he’ll be getting any quicker.

It should be an interesting position battle. Both will probably see time this year with Tapp taking over in pass-rush downs. Jackson may stay on the field as a tackle in those situations. There are a lot of talented guys in this DL this year.

I am not ready to enshrine LoJack just yet.

by michaelfox99 on Jul 18, 2008 11:05 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It must be noted that 4 of those 7 sacks were achieved against Milford Brown.

I’m not really down on Tapp, but I wouldn’t use him outside of a rotation. I think Tapp is underrated for his disruptive ability. Even when he couldn’t convert the sack, he did force some bail out passes.

by John Morgan on Jul 18, 2008 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I do agree with JM's Tapp assessment

Although Tapp appeared to be an above-mediocre type player as an every down end, he would get pushed out of the running lane rather easily. LoJack definitely has the strength to hold the line better so our backers can run free. I hope in training camp that Jackson establishes himself as the starter, and I also hope that the defensive staff remembers their promise to use him like Justin Tuck on 3rd down situations.

"Hey, guess what? Nobody cares who would win in a crazy fantasy fist-fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden." The Monarch

by crushedoptimist on Jul 18, 2008 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

I am so damned excited to watch the defense this year. With the exception of Brian Russell, it’s just a bunch of frigging studs. Barring significant injury, I think this unit has a legitimate shot to be the best in the league.

If we blitz one LB on third down, these are quite possibly our pass-rushers: Kerney, Tapp, LoJack, Terrill, Peterson. Those are some guys who can get after the passer. Should be sweet.

by jeager on Jul 18, 2008 11:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Justify my thu--pick.

I respect people’s criticism, and I agree with some of it, but FWIW I wanted to explain my thinking.

In the planning stages of this, the only criteria we decided was player not player season, and that the player must only be judged on their time with the Seahawks. So no Rice in his dotage, etc. At the same time, I think we all agreed tacitly that this went on to mean that a player that left after 3 or 4 seasons would still leave after 3 or 4 seasons or whatever. We couldn’t change time.

So, Jackson has never taken a snap with the team, yes. But he’ll sign to a 5 year rookie contract, so we can be pretty certain he’s going to be with the team for the next 5 seasons. That gave him an advantage over McCrary and Daniels. And, moreover, I thought it justified my basic idea that he would play for Seattle and did therefore qualify as an All-Time Hawk.

And we already established through the draft itself that potential matters. Over his career, Trufant can’t compete with Shawn Springs. Springs has more picks, more passes defensed, more starts—for the Seahawks. But Trufant is staying with the team and there’s a good chance his Seahawks career, inevitably, will be better than Springs.

I wanted a left defensive end. Just my prerogative. I didn’t want to put Tapp at left defensive end, and I didn’t think McCrary qualified either. Both are smaller, quicker but not really able to hold the point. Daniels had a good little run for Seattle, but I when I thought about Daniels and I thought about what I see as Jackson’s potential, and I really like Jackson--seemingly moreso every day—I decided Jackson was undoubtedly the better overall talent. Now, that’s risky for sure. Especially in this rather odd scenario where we actually know how a player will perform. There’s zero risk in taking Daniels because Daniels time with Seattle is history. It’s done. Except there’s the risk that Jackson will prove this next season he’s simply a superior player. Daniels, then, has downside in the sense that he can be bettered and upside in the sense that Jackson can be worse. That’s sort of a shit bet. No fun. Jackson, meanwhile, can suck and that hurts but sucking is active, it happens. But he can also go out and kick butt. It’s putting my faith in the future and potential. So I put my faith in the future and potential.

by John Morgan on Jul 18, 2008 12:08 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I guess I understand what you're saying

but when you write, “must only be judged on their time with the Seahawks”, and pick a player who has yet to play one single snap in a Seahawks uni as your LDE, I mean, buh-buh? I understand there might be not that many great DE’s left, but that’s the reason why other people drafted DE’s SOONER in this draft. You lose out on the good ones, you are left with McCrary or Daniels as your DE.

We do this draft next offseason, and Jackson is (hopefully, barring injury) right there. But this offseason???

"Why is it every time I need to get somewhere, we get waylaid by jackassery?" - Dr. Venture

by Eegah on Jul 18, 2008 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs