The other day, a story came across the AP Wire about the earnestness with which the Seattle Seahawks are pursuing the option of trading out of their #25 pick. Danny touches on it a little bit below (ew), but I wanted to take some time and look at some of the things GM John Schneider says about draft position.
This particular article focuses primarily on comments from Schneider and his desire to compile a greater number of middle-round picks.
"Personally, I’d like to move back," (Schneider) said. "Because I have confidence in our ability in those middle rounds to do some good stuff, and have a coaching staff that a) they’re good teachers and b) they’re excited to have these guys."
Schneider later states that depth is a high priority for the team as they move forward from last season's end-of-year success.
"I would like to be younger. I think the way we finished the season was great philosophically for (coach) Pete (Carroll) and his staff and the culture of the team and the culture of the locker room and people buying into his philosophy," Schneider said. "But we didn’t have that much depth and obviously you saw how many transactions we made just to try to add quality depth and we got to a point in the season where we started getting hit hard with injuries and we kind of just ran out of guys and had to add some veteran types, so we kind of got older."
I was actually pretty impressed with this particular comment, and not because I'm necessarily eager for the 'Hawks to trade out of the #25 pick. Rather, I'm impressed because I like the way Schneider acknowledges the cultural effect that winning a division and a playoff game can have, without brushing over the fact that this team still has a lot of holes to fill.
The article concludes with Schneider discussing how it's more difficult to move back in this year's draft than it is to move up.
"I think there’s a number of teams that would like to go back right now," Schneider said. "Not having a third round pick, I’m not excited about that."
It's pretty clear the boys upstairs are looking to add a third-rounder, as they are apparently unsatisfied with having to wait 42 picks between their second-rounder and their next selection.
Obviously, the decision to move out of a late-first round pick is not as simple as pressing a "Trade Down" button and seeing what pops up. If there is a player available to Seattle at #25 that they value highly enough, they'll probably keep the pick and take the guy they want. However, it sounds like Schneider and Co. aren't anticipating such a guy being available and would rather have a greater quantity of lower-round picks.
So, let me ask y'all this: If the 'Hawks were hypothetically offered a top-third 2nd-round pick (480-580 points on the Trade Value Chart) and a top-third 3rd-round pick (220-265) in exchange for their #25 pick (720), would you take it?
Chances are, that answer depends on who is still available at #25, so let me refine the question: Who would still have to be on the board at #25 in order for you to keep the pick instead of taking the fairly-high 2nd and 3rd-rounders? Anyone? Bueller?