Seahawks Draft 2015: Reviewing Seattle's pre-Draft visits to VMAC

If Seahawks headquarters (VMAC) visits had no relationship with who the Seahawks actually draft -- I would imagine only one visitor would be drafted per year on average (considering there are 30 visits) and 32 NFL teams.

Schneider says they did use all 30 visits, and we were able to capture 26 of them on the list attached.

The Seahawks drafted four of the 26 tracked VMAC visits (15%) which suggests that these VMAC players are -- in general -- players they are indeed targeting.

When you include Tory Slater as a Priority Free Agent, and Jesse Davis, who had a private workout -- the Seahawks drafted or took in Priority UDFA, six players off this list.  This is a remarkable figure, again, considering the NFL has 31 other teams also competing for these players.

When you factor in the redundancy factor (once they took Ty Lockett for instance, Ty Montgomery was not necessary) I believe this further sheds light on the various options the Seahawks laid plans for. Could Ty Montgomery be a fallback if the Seahawks missed out on Tyler Lockett? Was Frank Clark a fallback for another player? Were Terry Poole and Glowinski fallback players for another highly rated OL? Tom Cable said he had 7-8 guys on his list and three of them were still alive by Day 3. The Seahawks got two of the three guys remaining on his list on Day 3 (Poole and Glow).

I hope we don't diminish the value of the "fallback" player -- this is a player the Seahawks are indeed very interested in, but my hunch from compiling these lists year after year is that the "Top Guy," the "Tyler Lockett" if you will - doesn't actually get visits. The way the draft falls, you probably end up with more "fallback" players than top guys.

Again, that does not mean you don't like the players you draft. I believe the Seahawks were more clandestine on their desire for Russell Wilson and Bruce Irvin in 2012. They did not want to raise attention there.   

As a review, the players the Seahawks selected in the Draft that took official visits to the VMAC are Terry Poole, Mark Glowinksi, Frank Clark, and Kristjan Sokoli. John Schneider was personally on-hand and on-site at the Oregon State Pro Day -- where he could see Obum Gwacham and Ryan Murphy "on the hoof."

My guess is that there was a strong interest in Ty Sambrailo, but he went much earlier than the Seahawks pick.

Cornerback was the most veiled position group the Seahawks scouted -- and with their success in this area -- I expect this to remain the process. I was only able to dig up one cornerback visit to the VMAC in the entire process -- Tray Walker. 

I will be compiling this list again in 2016!