I know that a lot of you guys don't put much stock into Mel Kiper and Todd McShay's mock drafts but since we're so close to the draft I'm going to start highlighting some of the more well-known draftniks' choices for Seattle. At worst it will give us something to argue about and debate what kind of players we really want coming to Seattle.
Todd McShay's mock 5.0 has Seattle taking Washington QB Jake Locker in the first round and Miami G Orlando Franklin in the 2nd round. He has this to say about Locker:
Jake Locker, QB, Washington
Locker is worth a late-first round pick in my opinion but there are some questions about whether he is a fit in Seattle's West Coast offense, which requires accurate throws and quick decisions in the pocket. However, new offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell comes in from Minnesota and brings a scheme that showed a lot of variety in recent seasons depending on the quarterback and also used the running game to set up play-action/bootleg packages. Bevell is capable of tweaking his offense to get Locker working on the run outside the pocket, where he is at his best. The ideal situation would be to bring free agent Matt Hasselbeck back on a short-term deal to help mentor Locker and give him time to develop.
I actually like the argument that McShay uses here for the Hawks' selection. It's true that both Bevell and Carroll have used different types of QBs in their different offenses, and any team will adapt to the types of players they have at their disposal. Though I doubt Locker would get much playing time in his first year or two if the Hawks were to draft him, he would be a dangerous weapon on bootlegs and play action down the road. Locker's legs make him a pretty dangerous option - and with what Carroll has said about working the quarterback position into the running game, Locker makes sense on paper. If he can make the throws necessary, I don't think he'll fail in the NFL - but that's a big if.
Now, do I think that the Seahawks will take Locker? Not really. We'll see. As for the second round pick - I think it makes sense to take a guard there if they think that guard can come in and start immediately. I'm not sure if Franklin is one of those guys - he might be, but I'm not sold. FIrst off, he's tall - 6'7, 315. This seems a bit tall for a guy you're going to put at guard. If he were to work out though, getting a talented guard to put next to Russell Okung to shore up the left side of the line for the next 5-7 years would be great. He had good games in his college career against top-level players like Chris Long and Jason Paul-Pierre though, so he might be worth a look.
To recap - I wouldn't be sad if the Hawks took a QB and a G in the first two rounds - I'm just not completely sold on either Locker or Franklin.
Mel Kiper took a different route than McShay - oh wait, no he didn't. Kiper too has the Hawks taking QB Jake Locker at #25. He says:
Jake Locker, QB, Washington
Locker has worked hard to help scouts forget about a bad season of tape, and did enough at his recent pro day to get more positive vibes attached to his stock among evaluators. As we've said before, Locker has a big-time arm, a great attitude, elite athleticism for the position, but has unfortunately lacked accuracy, the one trait most of us believe is the most innate. But I wouldn't put it past him to improve that, given the kind of kid he is, and his range of talent. This isn't an endorsement of Locker as a guy who should step in and start for the Seahawks if Matt Hasselbeck isn't back in 2011, but even if Seattle makes a move for a short-term answer at quarterback, Locker could be hard to pass up if Pete Carroll thinks he's a solution for the long run.
In the 2nd round, he has the Hawks selecting Miami CB DeMarcus Van Dyke, a player that I honestly haven't heard all that much about. He's 6'0, 175 lbs and extremely fast - he ran a 4.28 at the Combine, the fastest time for any player this year and the fastest since Chris Johnson ran it a few years back. This speed is good, but by some reports, he's raw in coverage and lacks size for the position (175 is pretty light). Still, if he can bulk up a bit and develop better coverage skills, his speed is rare. Before the combine he was being projected in the 6th round by some sources, so this sudden 2nd round consideration must be due to his Combine performance, and I don't like that. If you could get this guy in the mid to later rounds, great, but using a 2nd round pick on a guy like Van Dyke could be a mistake.
Now let the Kiper/McShay bashing begin.