I'm heading out on a hike, so I'm putting this in your hands. Here's the catch, no button clicking. Make an argument, all (rational) arguments held equal, but one player, one vote per person. I don't want the box stuffed for someone who won't fit the system, so I'm going to narrow the pool.

Early Doucet
Jamaal Charles
Tyrell Johnson
Andre Caldwell
Earl Bennett
Jeremy Zuttah
Josh Barrett
John Carlson
Jermichael Finley
Andre Fluellen
Fred Davis

If I'm an ignorant slut and ignoring someone perfect and you can explain why to me, write-ins are welcome.

I'm heading out on a hike, so I'm putting this in your hands. Here's the catch, no button clicking. Make an argument, all (rational) arguments held equal, but one player, one vote per person. I don't want the box stuffed for someone who won't fit the system, so I'm going to narrow the pool.

Early Doucet
Jamaal Charles
Tyrell Johnson
Andre Caldwell
Earl Bennett
Jeremy Zuttah
Josh Barrett
John Carlson
Jermichael Finley
Andre Fluellen
Fred Davis

If I'm an ignorant slut and ignoring someone perfect and you can explain why to me, write-ins are welcome.

Update: I count three for Carlson. Looks like the pick. Writeup mañana. Thank you everyone.

Today and Sunday are the last two days I'm really strapped for time before the NFL Draft. It's been a hairy week, so sorry if the posts have been less substantial than usual. Unfortunately, today I'm very short on time. So, here's my idea. Let's have an open discussion on the best Seahawks draft of all time. The ancillary discussion could be this: with more and more teams attempting to trade down, might Seattle want to trade up? A player like Glenn Dorsey or Sedrick Ellis could be available at 7, New England's pick. New England is known to want to trade down. It might take this and next year's 1st round pick, but I think you'll see two of Seattle's best drafts involved trading down. Grabbing Walter Jones and Lofa Tatupu cost Seattle depth, but both have become irreplaceable fixtures on their respective units. It'll be a longtime before a Glenn Dorsey is available at the Hawks' natural pick. The pick will be expensive, something to the tune of 6 years, $40 million, 17 million guaranteed (last year's #7 Adrian Peterson's contract). But, in a position to make a title push, and not in need of depth, one could argue Seattle's in the perfect place to grab that elite talent, that final piece that makes a good unit great. Anyway, as Linda Richman would say "Discuss"--though I always thought that sketch represented the worst elements of SNL.

Greatest Hawks drafts off all time after the jump. Here's a list of every Seahawks draft of all time.

Continue reading this post »

I'm very interested in everyone's thoughts about this incoming draft class. I've read a lot of love for Rashard Mendenhall recently, but am a bit perplexed. Medenhall looks decent, but a ton of his production came playing out of the option. Is Mendenhall or Jonathan Stewart truly head and shoulders above the bounty of backs sure to fall to the second round or later. Scout.com lists a full 12 backs as 4 star players or better, though many of those backs have endured a frightening workload--including 450 carries by Kevin Smith this last season. Given that depth and the extremely unpredictable trajectory or running backs, I can't figure a single good reason to draft a back in the first round, but I'm open to arguments to the contrary.

I'm very interested in everyone's thoughts about this incoming draft class. I've read a lot of love for Rashard Mendenhall recently, but am a bit perplexed. Medenhall looks decent, but a ton of his production came playing out of the option. Is Mendenhall or Jonathan Stewart truly head and shoulders above the bounty of backs sure to fall to the second round or later. Scout.com lists a full 12 backs as 4 star players or better, but many of those backs have endured a frightening workload--450 carries by Kevin Smith this last season. Given that depth and the extremely unpredictable trajectory or running backs, I can't figure a single good reason to draft a back in the first round, but I'm open to arguments to the contrary.

Looks like our mock draft pick is going to preempt my TE piece. Briefly, here's the lowdown: Zach Miller is an awesome route-runner and receiver who was hurt too much by his combine performance. Tight end is a "skill position" and therefore is less about a player's forty or bench and more about his ability to see holes in the zone and compete for jump balls. Miller is the best receiver in the draft and the Hawks might just be lucky enough to have him fall to them. Also, tight end has a vast middle class this year. The best of which is Kevin Boss. I would be elated to see Boss in Seahawk grey next year. But on to our pick...
For the next 60 minutes I will keep this thread open so everyone can discuss who we should pick. To narrow the discussion here is a short list of players I'm considering in no particular order: Paul Soliai, Baraka Atkins, Kevin Boss, Josh Beekman, Allen Barbre, Brandon Frye, and James Marten.

Soliai is the best talent. Atkins could be a force at defensive end. Both have shown that most deadly character flaw, though, lack of motivation. Boss is a second round talent who suffered a shoulder injury that has pushed his stock way down. I think he is far and away the best available talent of the remaining tight ends, but, again, it's a deep class. Beekman is severely undersized for the guard position and is probably more of a center prospect in the NFL. Barbre, Frye and Marten are all quality guards, but one is almost certainly going to slip to the second day.

Boss fills the most pressing need, but if Marcus Tubbs fails to return healthy, Soliai could be godsend for a team that couldn't stop the long run in Tubbs' absence. Atkins is a nice combination of need and value, the kind of third rounder with first round talent. Truthfully, I'm not too worried about his character concerns. He's very smart player and one that could take off under the right coaching.

So, roughly, I'd rank them: Atkins, Boss, Soliai. Now it's your turn. Take it away.

Poll

The Pick?

• Baraka Atkins
• Paul Soliai
• Kevin Boss
• Josh Beekman
• Allen Barbre
• Brandon Frye
• James Marten

  9 votes | Results

Looks like our mock draft pick is going to preempt my TE piece. Briefly, here's the lowdown: Zach Miller is an awesome route-runner and receiver who was hurt too much by his combine performance. Tight end is a "skill position" and therefore is less about a player's forty or bench and more about his ability to see holes in the zone and compete for jump balls. Miller is the best receiver in the draft and the Hawks might just be lucky enough to have him fall to them. Also, tight end has a vast middle class this year. The best of which is Kevin Boss. I would be elated to see Boss in Seahawk grey next year. But on to our pick...
For the next 60 minutes I will keep this thread open so everyone can discuss who we should pick. To narrow the discussion here is a short list of players I'm considering in no particular order: Paul Soliai, Baraka Atkins, Kevin Boss, Josh Beekman, Allen Barbre, Brandon Frye, and James Marten.

Soliai is the best talent. Atkins could be a force at defensive end. Both have shown that most deadly character flaw, though, lack of motivation. Boss is a second round talent who suffered a shoulder injury that has pushed his stock way down. I think he is far and away the best available talent of the remaining tight ends, but, again, it's a deep class. Beekman is severely undersized for the guard position and is probably more of a center prospect in the NFL. Barbre, Frye and Marten are all quality guards, but one is almost certainly going to slip to the second day.

Boss fills the most pressing need, but if Marcus Tubbs fails to return healthy, Soliai could be godsend for a team that couldn't stop the long run in Tubbs' absence. Atkins is a nice combination of need and value, the kind of third rounder with first round talent. Truthfully, I'm not too worried about his character concerns. He's very smart player and one that could take off under the right coaching.

So, roughly, I'd rank them: Atkins, Boss, Soliai. Now it's your turn. Take it away.

So after working on a piece I wanted to post for about an hour I sort of lost my motivation like, say, Calvin Johnson or Amobi Okoye might have today. Go figure. Instead, I thought we could open up the discussion about what we should do with our 85th selection in the third round. It's increasingly looking like it will be our next and last pick in the SB Mock draft, and having taken a running back in the second we are not without our needs. I'll leave the discussion without commentary, but I'm interested to see who everyone comes up with.

Before I present the beta test for my Mock draft, here's the how a couple marquee offensive linemen's Pro Day's look when translated through the The System.

Ben Grubbs

Thrust	Burst	Bench	Shuttle
115.70*	176.70	35	4.78

Joe Staley

Thrust	Burst	Bench	Shuttle
124.92	174.92	27*	4.40

*Combine Performance

First I would like to say that Pro Day stats should be slightly discounted because unlike the combine the environment is not standardized. Not surprisingly, those stats are both pretty dang awesome. Grubbs' in line power is by far the best I've recorded, besting Justin Blalock's by as much as Blalock bested Allen Barbre. Grubbs also really improved his bench, moving from MOR to lower elite. A pretty big cause for concern, though, is Grubbs continued poor performance in the shuttle and cone drills. For a guy touted as being an excellent athlete, his agility has yet to show up in any measurable fashion.

Staley's performance was also very impressive, but while his bench was merely good, his absolutely excellent Thrust rating makes me feel confident that he would be able to stand up rushers and effectively hold the pocket. Staley also excelled in the criminally underrated shuttle and cone, putting Joe Thomas to shame. Both of these guys are first round talents, the upshot for the Hawks is that my man Blalock just got a little more attainable in the second round.

Unlike my alpha test, where I was just feeling out some players I have a good feeling about, this time I'm using a specific methodology to determine who I draft. In short, I'll pick players based on the percentage of NFL starters at their position chosen at that round. In other words, 88% of RBs were picked in the first three rounds, so unlike in my alpha test I won't wait until the seventh round for a rusher. Also, the NFL has announced its supplemental picks and Seattle has gained a 6th rounder that I will account for. I got a lot of excellent feedback on my last mock, I would be thrilled to get that kind of community participation again. Thank you.

This time, we send D-Jack along with a fifth round and conditional 2008 pick packing to San Diego for their first round pick.

1. Greg Olsen TE: I love everything about this guy, including the fact that he decided his exceptional Combine performance wasn't quite good enough, adding two inches to his vert at his Pro Day. Agility, check, strength, his 23 reps at the bench were better than offensive tackle Doug Free, and perhaps best of all, his separation speed (20 yard dash minus his 10 yard dash) was a wonderfully round 1 second. 1st round TEs almost never flop and Olsen should be no exception. I have my doubts he will fall this far, but if Green Bay and Cincinnati pass, the Hawks have a shot.

2. Marcus McCauley CB: The Hawks are set for starting cornerbacks, but could really use a developmental DB with good upside. McCauley has the size/speed combination that makes scouts drool and he can offer depth at safety right away. Players who can be starting cornerbacks in the NFL rarely escape the first two rounds and virtually disappear after the fourth. He's certainly a few years away, but could get some time at Dime right away.

3. Chris Henry RB: Need a running back? Don't wait until the second day. 88% of starting running backs in 2006 were picked in the first three rounds. Henry has very little ware on his legs, a huge plus for a grueling position, great initial burst (don't underestimate the force it takes to project 230 pounds 10 yards in 1.54 seconds), but about a thousand question marks. One can't ignore the fact that his college coaches didn't think he was fit to start. May be a late bloomer, may be a complete bust.

4. Allen Barbre OG: Played tackle, but showed the upper body strength to play guard. Real sleeper who was hardly on the radar before his excellent combine performance. It's safe to say, I like this guy a lot. Guards can be acquired throughout the draft, starters were nearly equally as likely to come from any of the first four rounds.

6. Brent Curvey DT: High character pick who fits the system well. Undersized. Good motor, is able to pressure the QB from the tackle position. Seems like a Ruskell guy.

6. Selvin Young RB: When you take a risky pick, it's smart to grab insurance. The world seems to disagree, but I think Young has the makings of a solid NFL running back. Should be able to step in as a 3rd down back immediately.

7. Dallas Sartz OLB: Super reader WAB mentioned Sartz and upon looking into the lanky man from SoCal, I tend to agree. Great initial burst, toughness and instincts. Will take a few years to develop into an NFL regular, but can definitely contribute on special teams right away.

So there you go, lots of small school guys; this time I picked guys I think can definitely fit within Seattle's system and have a chance of getting drafted. What do you think?

Here's an example of a quickly assembled mock for the Hawks. It took about a half an hour to assemble and is just meant to focus the discussion a little bit. I want to know what people like about this plan and what or who they don't like.

This draft assumes that the Hawks move Jackson and a 4th round pick for Minnesota's 2nd round pick.

2. Justin Blalock--I figure this guy is a sure thing. Perhaps the only real mauler at guard in this year's draft.
2. Brandon Meriweather--Good coverage guy, versatile. Can fill in at CB or S.
3. Paul Soliai--Run stopper who can pressure the QB in a pinch. Incredible potential.
5. Kevin Boss--Will he fall this far? Maybe. Fast, big and more agile than Michael Allan.
6. Dwayne Wright--Good receiver and blocker; good cut-back runner. Should play well in short yardage situations.
7. Justin Durant--Not sure this guy will fall this far, but if he does, he could be the type of player to effectively spell Hill on passing downs. Quick, undersized.

I'll run two more tester drafts before unveiling my full, detailed mock draft on Thursday. My NFL knowledge >> my college football knowledge and that's one of the big reasons I'm calling for some help on these picks. I've never seen any of these players play, that makes this sort of tricky, but with enough research and everyone's collective opinion I think we can make a respectable mock. I missed the geek off, but allow me to say I was the debate team captain for two years; I'm looking for thoughtful well reasoned arguments.