2017 NFL Mock Draft: Seahawks go CB-WR-OL on days one and two

Chris Burke of SI.com posted a three-round mock draft on Friday. Let’s take a closer look at his picks for the Seattle Seahawks.

26. Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama

In many mock drafts, you won’t see Humphrey get out of the top 10, let alone top 25. However, the cornerbacks in this class do seem to be a bit divisive. I’ve seen Marshon Lattimore go as high as 2 to the 49ers, and he goes 16th in this one, after Quincy Wilson, who went 13th. So much of this should become clearer after the combine though. For today, we can imagine Humphrey on the Seahawks.

PFF loves him and here’s what they said about his coverage:

Tough to throw on, Humphrey allowed just 31 receptions from the 62 passes thrown into his coverage, going for 539 yards and two touchdowns, while breaking up seven passes and picking off three more. Even better, he improved as the year went on, allowing just 80 receiving yards over the final five games of the year, including just 28 yards in two playoff games.

He also seems to love playing on special teams, which fits with Seattle’s other defensive backs.

Humphrey has the pedigree of going to Alabama, but strangely Alabama cornerbacks don’t tend to do well in the NFL. Recent examples include Dee Milliner, Dre Kirkpatrick, Kareem Jackson, Javier Arenas, and last year, Cyrus Jones went 60th overall to the Patriots. However, everyone is their own player. It’s going to come down to how he measures out. Humphrey is noted as having great length, but if he doesn’t have 32” arms, it won’t matter. Perhaps he has arms much longer than that though, and he does fit the mold, but it’s a catch-22: If Humphrey has a great combine, he won’t be available at 26. If he doesn’t have a great combine, why are they taking him at 26?

Here’s a concern from his NFL.com draft page:

SOURCES TELL US

"There are some things on tape that really worry you. If he has trouble playing the long ball it is going to be bombs away against him and his team might have to change how they cover because of that. Those issues usually don’t go away." -- Scouting director for AFC team

Overall, it’s a nice idea, but let’s see what the combine tells us about this class of cornerbacks.

58. Isaiah Ford, WR, Virginia Tech

Another day two receiver? It’s interesting. I can’t say I don’t understand the inclination to do this despite the fact that it seems like Seattle could have maybe more receivers than they need right now? Especially given the needs at other positions. However, who here is going to disagree with the idea that Pete Carroll has it in him to pass on a fast offensive weapon? He loves guys like this. Golden Tate, Paul Richardson, Tyler Lockett, CJ Prosise ...

Ford’s caught 154 passes in the last two seasons, scoring 18 times. He has the ability to make really difficult catches, like a Richardson-type, which is important given that Russell Wilson tends to A) hit really difficult spots where only his receiver can get the ball and B) overthrow a lot of passes. I don’t know how much A and B are actually related but the Seahawks need players who can make the “Wow” catch. What team doesn’t want that though?

Seattle needed offensive linemen when they drafted Lockett. They needed them when they drafted Prosise. Is anybody reading this upset that Lockett and Prosise are on the team? If Ford is taken by the Seahawks, I’m probably fine with that. If he runs a sub-4.4 at the combine, which he might, he may not be available on day two.

90. Avery Gennesy, LT, Texas A&M

There are some interesting similarities between Gennesy and some recent Seahawks draft picks. For one, he replaced Germain Ifedi at left tackle in 2016 after Ifedi was drafted by Seattle. Second of all, he transferred there from East Mississippi Community College, aka “Last Chance U,” where he was teammates with Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed for two seasons.

It’s fair to say that if Pete Carroll and John Schneider have seen all the college film on Ifedi and Reed, they’ve seen plenty of Gennesy. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they liked what they saw though or that he’ll do what he needs to do at the combine to qualify for Seattle’s offensive line. (Should be a pretty low bar at this point.)

NFLDraftScout lists Gennesy with a 40-low of 4.97. If he can actually run that, things will get very interesting. Jason Spriggs ran the fastest 40 among tackles at the combine last year, clocking in at 4.94. A 4.97 would’ve been the second-fasted. The third-fastest was Jack Conklin at 5.00. However, he may also compare to Caleb Benenoch, a guard at UCLA who ran a 4.98 and has similar size to Gennesy and was projected to play tackle in the NFL. Benenoch, a native of Nigeria, went in the fifth round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and didn’t play much as a rookie.

We’ll see if Gennesy is still available at 90, or if he ends up going much later. If the Seahawks don’t take a tackle before day three, I’m sure there will be plenty of fans protesting outside of Carroll’s office.