After the dust has settled from last night's dramatic trading and maneuvering by teams, we have all had a chance to take a look at who was taken and who is still on the board and begin to plan what happens next.
I wanted to point to a few mock drafts and see what people have the Hawks doing.
To start off, I wanted to point out Todd McShay's 7 round mock draft from yesterday. In it, he has our own James Carpenter being picked with the 1st pick of the 2nd day by the Patriots. In that selection, he has Carpenter listed as a guard, which just further illustrates his versatility. In an interview with Danny O'Neil last night, Carpenter mentioned that the Hawks told him he'll likely be playing right tackle but expects he'll compete at other spots as well. In a pinch, he play play the left tackle position as well, which makes him that much more valuable. O'Neil followed up with a great interview with Tom Cable and here's what Cable had to say about the pick:
"James was a guy I thought from Day One, I thought gave us the most in terms of his ability to play all four spots," Cable said. "I thought he could play either guard or play tackle. He was a left tackle at Alabama, but he's a guy we'll start the process with at right tackle, knowing that he has the ability to move around if we need to.
"But I like a lot of things about this guy. A big massive guy, 320 pounds, with a lot of length and a lot of power. I think that we've upgraded ourselves in terms of toughness and getting some mass in here on the offensive line, which I think we needed to."
Q: Was there a point where he jumped out at you, or was it an example that the first time you saw him, you liked this guy.
Cable: "Yeah, I think it was right from the very beginning. I didn't see anything that deterred me along the way. The more you looked at his background, and really did your research on the guy, you just coming up that this is the right guy for what we're going to try and do."
Q: One of the analysts tonight on the draft, referred to him as a finesse left tackle. How would you describe him?
Cable: "Yeah, I wouldn't have drafted him if he was finesse. That's not my style. At left tackle, I thought he was a very physical presence at Alabama, playing in a tremendous league against a lot of very talented defensive ends in that league. I think they have a fine left tackle here in Russell Okung. This will give us a chance to kind of build with two blocks on the edge and move forward. Now we can work on the inside and see where we go from here."
Though you may disagree with how early this right tackle was taken, I have to think it's hard to underestimate how important a guy that can play four positions on your completely decimated line really is. Having top-tier, round one talent on your line is not a bad thing, and although it may be viewed as a luxury for teams that already have the pieces in place, the Hawks have obviously taken the stance that they want to build from the lines out.
We have yet to see what they'll do with the quarterback position but the addition of Carpenter will be a quick upgrade to the run game and help to improve pass protection.
McShay then went on in his mock draft to have the Seahawks selecting Randall Cobb, the WR out of Kentucky. I really don't see this happening. Cobb's a great talent, but when I was chatting with Brandon from 17Power, who didn't seem super enthused with the selection, he brought up the point we still have no presumptive starting 3-tech or cornerback opposite of Marcus Trufant. I can see one of these two positions getting taken now that the offensive line has been addressed with our first pick.
Josh D of Mocking the Draft put together a Round 2 prediction and has the Hawks taking cornerback Brandon Burton. This is a pick that is much more likely to happen. I have to think the Hawks will be addressing the position in the next few rounds, and Burton is a good prospect for that. He's 6-0, 185 and excels in press-man coverage. He can turn and run with the receiver and has good reaction instincts as well. Other corners to keep an eye on are Ras-I Dowling and Davon House.
Finally, Brian Galliford of our own SB Nation has the Hawks selecting QB Ryan Mallett with #57. While this seems like a big stretch, if he falls that far the Hawks really have to at least consider it. I wouldn't have been disappointed to see them take Mallett with #25 and it's looking more and more likely that he could continue to fall a bit. If he lasts that long, despite the rumors he's not even on the Seahawks' radar, he would represent a huge value and it could really get interesting in the Hawks draft room.