Seahawks 2018 Draft look back: Rasheem Green in Round 3

Tuesday we took a stab at grading the selection of first round draft pick Rashaad Penny with the benefit of a season of hindsight, and today it’s off to the Seattle Seahawks second selection in the 2018 draft. Due to the trade for Sheldon Richardson on the eve of the 2017 season, the Hawks did not have a second round pick, so the team’s second selection of the draft came in the third round.

Having traded their own third round pick to the Houston Texans in the Duane Brown trade, following the Texans’ refusal to accept Jeremy Lane as damaged goods, the Seahawks had a third round pick thanks only to having traded back in the first round. Thus, as some noted in the comments on Monday, the value that the player Seattle selected with the third round pick they acquired by trading back from 18 to 27 may be considered in the value of the Penny selection.

However, all my goal here is to evaluate each of the picks individually, so however one wishes to allocate value is fine, but all today’s exercise is attempting to do is to look at what Rasheem Green did for the team in 2018 and what that performance means to the team. Thus, let’s jump right into his performance, which, frankly, does not take a long time to discuss.

For starters, Green played rather sparingly in 2018, seeing only 201 defensive snaps on the season, which represents barely twenty percent of the 991 snaps for which the Seahawks defense was on the field this season. On those 201 snaps he was credited for 16 tackles (7 solo), one tackle for a loss and a lone sack, but oh what a beautiful sack it was, as Frank Clark so immortalized.

Green obviously scores big points from Hawks fans for sacking Aaron Rodgers late in a close game that the Hawks ended up winning by a field goal, however, there is not a whole lot else to talk about. After shining in the preseason against the backups for the Indianapolis Colts and the San Diego Chargers, his regular season performance seemed to kind of come up short of expectations. Not only did he record three times as many sacks during the preseason as he did during the regular season, he did not even play as much on the defensive line as other members of the 2018 rookie class.

The Seahawks sixth round draft pick, Jacob Martin, played 225 snaps during the 2018 campaign and undrafted free agent Poona Ford played 231 snaps. Those are minor differences in playing time, but the question remains whether or not Green’s 2018 performance warranted a third round selection.

As the majority of fans know, Green is extremely young. At just 21 years of age, and not turning 22 until the middle of the offseason in May, Green has the potential to be a significant player for several years to come. The team knew at the time they drafted him that he was a raw, developmental player who could require some seasoning before being an every down player, so a slow start is not the worst thing possible. That said, the team has been patient with other developmental players drafted in recent years, and there’s no reason to believe that the plan of action will change when it comes to Green.

So, we come to the point where it’s time for your input on the team’s use of its 2018 third round pick.