John Schneider drafted the Seahawks back into relevance

John Schneider became famous for three of the best consecutive drafts in NFL history.

The Seattle Seahawks, currently 3-2 and looking like a contender this season, are led largely by recent draft picks. After an excruciating drought, the future of the Seahawks is strong.

Here are the players that Schneider has grabbed - on the active 53-man roster - who’ve seen real playtime this year.

The All-Draft Team

LB Jordyn Brooks

*LB Bobby Wagner

DE Boye Mafe

DE Derick Hall

DE Darrell Taylor

DT Cam Young

*DT Jarran Reed

CB Tre Brown

CB Devon Witherspoon

CB Riq Woolen

S Jerrick Reed (Special teams only)

*P Michael Dickson

OL Charles Cross

OL Damien Lewis

OL Anthony Bradford

OL Abraham Lucas

OL Stone Forsythe

OL Olu Oluwatimi

*OL Phil Haynes

**Jake Curhan

*WR DK Metcalf

*WR Tyler Lockett

**WR Jake Bobo

WR Jaxon Smith-NJigba

RB Kenneth Walker III

RB Zach Charbonnet

RB DeeJay Dallas

*TE Will Dissly

TE Colby Parkinson
*asterisks denote a player drafted by Seattle but not on rookie contract.
** denotes undrafted free agent

There’s obviously a number of injured players such as Kenny McIntosh and Dareke Young, who have been left off this list. Only Coby Bryant would have qualified for meaningful snaps this season.

No quarterback, effectively no safeties, but check these numbers:

• The Seahawks have 20 players on rookie contracts, 37.7% of their total roster.
• They have 27 players total that John Schneider drafted. Two of them left and returned, five have been extended and exclusively played for Seattle. 51% of the Week 6 active roster were drafted by Seattle.
• 7 out of 5 starting offensive linemen are homegrown, all except C Evan Brown.
• The above is a sad joke about the state of this season’s offensive line health.

This is a remarkable ratio, considering in 2017, 18, 19, and 21, the Seahawks retained 0, 1, 1, and 2 players from the draft. 2020, 22 and 23 have been the big hits, with 17 players having seen meaningful playtime this year.

In fact, after the initial cutdown day back in August, the Seattle had the fifth-youngest roster in the NFL. Fortunately, they’ve primarily been hits lately.

This is a core that’s set the Hawks up for big sustainable success. Nice to be back on the fun side of the draft hit rate.