Seahawks Draft: Way-too-early stab at the Final 53 man roster

You know how everyone does NFL Draft grades mere minutes after the picks are announced (like this a-hole over at "SB Nation")? I'm going to harness the spirit of that and do a way-too-early guess at the Seahawks' final 53-man roster. At worst, it will be fun to see how horribly wrong I am once September rolls around.

Here goes...

OFFENSE (24)

Quarterbacks (2):

QB1 Russell Wilson 5'10, 215
QB B.J. Daniels 5'11, 220

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

QB R.J. Archer 6'2, 220

Russell Wilson will be the starter and will get re-signed (at some point) so stop worrying about it.

Otherwise, Tarvaris Jackson is still out there and will probably end up being the backup in 2015, but since he's not on the roster yet I'm going with B.J. Daniels as Russ' primary backup.

Running Backs (4)

RB Marshawn Lynch 5'11, 215
RB Robert Turbin 5'11, 220
RB Christine Michael 5'10, 230
FB Derrick Coleman 6'0, 245

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

RB Thomas Rawls 5'11, 215
RB Rod Smith 6'3, 231
RB Demitrius Bronson 5'9, 218
FB Mike Zimmer 6'1, 235
FB Will Tukuafu 6'4, 285

The Seahawks have a deep running back group still with Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin, and Christine Michael all likely to take carries in 2015. With Derek Coleman returning from injury, I expect that he'll re-earn his spot as the starting fullback over Will Tukuafu, because he's more athletic and is more valuable on special teams. That said, it will be an interesting competition, because Tuk brings a lot to the table as well, and can spot-fill on defense, giving him some value.

The other competition to watch here is between Demitrius Bronson and Thomas Rawls, and I'm guessing one will either land on the roster (if they keep five) or on the practice squad. I am a big fan of Rawls, but Bronson impressed in limited action last year too.

Rod Smith is the real darkhorse here. He has great size, is a former blue-chip recruit to Ohio State that didn't produce in college and had a series of off-field issues that eventually led to his dismissal from the team. However, he's big enough to play a fullback/running back hybrid role and he runs with authority. Would not surprise me if the Seahawks really like his style.

Wide Receivers (6):

WR Doug Baldwin 5'10, 189
WR Jermaine Kearse 6'1, 215
WR Kevin Norwood 6'2, 200
WR Chris Matthews 6'5, 218
WR Tyler Lockett 5'10 185
WR Douglas McNeil 6'4, 200

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

WR Paul Richardson 6'1, 183 [PUP]
WR Austin Hill 6'2, 215
WR Kevin Smith 5'11, 215
WR Ricardo Lockette 6'2, 211

My first stab at the wide receiver group may have a surprise or two, but I think that the team is high on Doug McNeil and I'm not sure that Lockette does enough to really distinguish himself at this point. Ricardo's main strength is on special teams, so we'll see if that wins him the sixth spot. Either way, the rest is fairly cut-and-dry: Matthews will be the fourth, Lockett the early-season punt and kick returner, and Paul Richardson will start on the PUP.

I'm guessing that Austin Hill will revert to the practice squad if no other team picks him up.

Tight Ends (3):

TE1 Jimmy Graham 6'7, 265
TE2 Luke Willson 6'5, 260
TE3 Anthony McCoy 6'5, 275

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

TE Rashaun Allen 6'5, 250
TE Cooper Helfet 6'4, 240

The third spot is up for grabs here and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it ends up being Allen or Helfet over McCoy. Right now, I'm just going with the most experienced player, and assuming he'll be healthy this year.

Offensive Line (9):

LT1 Russell Okung 6'5, 315
LG1 Alvin Bailey 6'3, 335
OC1 Patrick Lewis 6'1, 305
RG1 J.R. Sweezy 6'5, 320
RT1 Justin Britt 6'6, 325
T/G Gary Gilliam 6'6, 306
T/G Terry Poole 6'5, 315
G/C Mark Glowinski 6'4, 307
C/G Kristjan Sokoli 6'5, 300

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

OL Jesse Davis 6'6, 309
OC Lemuel Jeanpierre 6'3 300
OL Justin Renfrow 6'4, 305
G/C Drew Nowak 6'4, 300
OG Keavon Milton 6'4, 324
G/C Jared Wheeler 6'5, 315
G/C C.J. Davis 6'1, 303
OL Will Pericak 6'4, 296
OT Nate Isles 6'5, 330

Predicting the offensive line is difficult because I can almost guarantee you that they sign another veteran or two and then snipe a few waiver wire guys before it's all said and done. I went with nine offensive linemen here and included all three rookie draft picks, but that seems a little unlikely to happen. More likely, they'll keep two of their picks on the roster, practice squad one, and either roll with a veteran or one of the 2nd year guys in Nowak, Milton, Wheeler, or Isles. Jeanpierre is an x-factor -- he could be a ghost roster type, because he hasn't seen a lot of interest from other teams to this point.

DEFENSE (26):

Interior DL (5):

3T Tony McDaniel 6'7, 310
NT Brandon Mebane 6'1, 305
NT Ahtyba Rubin 6'2, 325
3T Jordan Hill 6'1, 305
3T Jimmy Staten 6'3, 311

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

3T/5T Tory Slater 6'4, 290
3T/NT Jesse Williams 6'3, 320
3T/NT Greg Scruggs 6'3, 285
5T/DE David King 6'4, 290
3T D'Anthony Smith 6'2, 300

The Seahawks may only go with four interior defensive linemen, and that would give them the ability to add one player to the secondary or linebackers. Either way, for this, I went with five. Staten makes the cut here, even though we essentially know absolutely nothing about  him. His spot could easily be one of Williams, Slater, Scruggs, King, or Smith.

Edge DL (5):

LEO/DE Cliff Avril 6'3, 260
3T/DE Michael Bennett 6'4, 275
3T/DE Cassius Marsh 6'4, 260
LEO Frank Clark 6'3, 271
LEO Obum Gwacham 6'5, 245

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

5T/DE Demarcus Dobbs 6'2, 280
5T/DE Ryan Robinson 6'5, 255
5T/DE Julius Warmsley 6'2, 285

Dobbs is the only real question mark here -- will he make it over Gwacham? It's definitely possible, if not probable. Gwacham seems like a good practice squad type of guy, if they can get him there.

Off-ball Linebackers (6):

OLB1 K.J.Wright 6'4, 246
MLB1 Bobby Wagner 6'0, 241
LEO/DE Bruce Irvin 6'3, 255
OLB Kevin Pierre-Louis 6'0, 232
MLB Brock Coyle 6'1, 235
SLB Mike Morgan 6'3, 226

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

LB Alex Singleton 6'2, 242
OLB Mike Taylor 6'2, 222
SLB Brendan Kelly 6'5, 255
WLB Mister Alexander 6'3, 227
LB Quayshawn Nealy 6'0, 236

This group of players is key to special teams, so the Seahawks tend to keep a lot of them -- they ran with six, seven, sometimes eight last year at different times. I don't know enough about Singleton, Taylor, Kelly, Alexander, or Nealy to feel comfortable projecting them to the roster, but for now I've got their numbers on the low side. Would not be surprising if one of those ends up making the final roster.

Defensive Backs (10):

CB1 Richard Sherman 6'3, 195
CB2 Cary Williams 6'1, 190
FS1 Earl Thomas 5'10, 202
SS1 Kam Chancellor 6'3, 232
NB Marcus Burley 5'10, 189
NB Will Blackmon 6'0, 204
CB Tye Smith, 6'0, 190
FS Steven Terrell 5'10, 197
FS/SS DeShawn Shead 6'1, 225
SS Eric Pinkins 6'3, 225

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

CB Tharold Simon 6'2, 205 [PUP]
CB Jeremy Lane 6'0, 190 [PUP]

SS Dion Bailey 6'0, 215
FS Ronald Martin 6'0, 200
DB Trovon Reed 6'0, 191
FS Triston Wade 5'11, 185
SS Keenan Lambert 6'0, 209
SS Ryan Murphy, 6'3, 214

I've got Pinkins listed as an strongside safety, but there's just such a log-jam (with Bailey, Murphy, Shead, and Lambert) at that spot, that it's certainly possible he'll move to cornerback again or perhaps to weakside linebacker. Ultimately, Pinkins' real "position" is mostly irrelevant -- whether he's playing Kam's role as a box safety or playing on the weakside as a linebacker, his positioning up in the box with the linebackers won't change and his style won't be a whole lot different.

Either way, despite the losses of Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane (to injury), the Hawks will have a very competitive group to field in training camp and the preseason. Dion Bailey has a shot at the roster, as does Parks, and who knows what we're getting from Murphy -- can he play right away? We'll see.

Tharold might not start out the year on PUP -- not sure how quickly he'll heal from his labrum surgery -- but to be conservative I have him on that list to start out.

Specialists (3)

P Jon Ryan 6'0, 217
LS Clint Gresham 6'3, 240
K Steven Hauschka 6'4, 210

Practice Squad, PUP/IR, and Cuts:

LS Nate Boyer, 5'10 215

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Ok, that's my guess. Now you go.