One of my favorite sleeper picks and a guy I actually chose about a week ago in the MockThree twitter mock draft, the Seahawks have selected cornerback Richard Sherman out of Stanford. A wide receiver in his first two seasons with the Cardinal, he switched to corner his junior year and had a lot of success on the defensive side of the ball.
Here's what I said about Sherman about a week ago:
"Sherman is a 5th year senior that made the transition from wide receiver to corner in 2009 so he's very inexperienced at the position. Despite that, he's put up some very respectable numbers his last two seasons. He's got excellent size at 6'3, 195 and his speed is adequate (4.5 40). He had an 11 foot broadjump, a 4.33 short shuttle, 6.73 3-cone drill, and a 37 inch vert, all very impressive numbers for a DB his size. Before he made the switch to the defensive side of the ball, he registered 81 catches for 1340 yards and 7 TDs. As a corner in his senior year at Stanford, he had 49 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 6 pass breakups starting on the left side. His specialty is press man coverage so he could be on the Hawks' radar in the late rounds. He's very raw, but flashes the potential to help out in run support and has the ability to turn and run with receivers. Will be better in a man coverage scheme. Could be a very good flyer pick for the Hawks as he possesses ideal size and bulk and is a physical, hard working player out of Stanford."
Sherman stands out because of his size and athleticism and is an ideal man-press coverage corner. I'm assuming that they plan to start him at corner but he could also be very good at safety as well. I like this pick a lot - provides immediate depth at two positions in the secondary and the sky is the limit with this guy in terms of his potential to start at cornerback for the Seahawks. He's only had two years to learn the spot but has flashed a very good ability to break up passes and intercept the ball. The Hawks have had a frustrating lack of ball-skills from their corners the last two seasons so he could be a very solid playmaker.