Seahawks have some extreme draft tendencies under John Schneider

Folks have probably heard about many of the Seattle Seahawks draft tendencies. Some are legitimate, others are a bit exaggerated.

Some newly-compiled research from Arjun Menon showcases the past 12 years of athletic testing scores by position. It’s a sort of large-scale objective look at any traits a team or GM might have over (or under) valued.

Cornerback

We’ll start with the obvious and most accurate of them all. Seattle almost exclusively drafts tall cornerbacks, they say. It turns out, they were right.

It makes the departure from the norm to take the 5’10” Tre Brown all the more interesting. Conversely, Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen both fall on the taller side of the average so John Schneider went back to usual on that one.

Defensive Tackle

Another interesting trend comes from the defensive interior, something that Seattle hasn’t had very much success drafting. The below is sorted from lowest to highest by weight. Seattle has taken among the smallest tackles for 12 years, both in weight and height, yet that 33.9 arm length puts them at fourth in the league. No other score was remotely good, placing them at league average or worse in their drafted athletic scores along the line.

If you’re short, small, not very fast, but with big arms - congratulations - there may be a spot for you not stopping the run in Seattle.

Linebacker

Here’s a fun one. Look at all these greens. Pete Carroll has been given some of the most athletic, big, tall, jumpy linebackers this league has seen all decade.

Here’s the thing though: Schneider’s only drafted six linebackers in the 10 years since K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner. One of them was Jordyn Brooks and one was Kevin Pierre-Louis (elite scores), so this one is just weighted heavily by a few good players.

Wide Receiver

Readers may or may not be shocked to learn that the Seahawks do not particularly value the three-cone time.

Center

Lastly, a position of interest to Seattle this draft, man is it hard to impress John Schneider as a center. Look at these freaks go!

They’re tall, they’re the heaviest in the league (even with Joey Hunt bringing down the average), they’re fast.

For those interested, common mock target John Michael Schmitz is only 300 lbs. Wisconsin’s Joe Tippman is 317, and TCU’s Steve Avila is 332.

Some cool stuff in here! Feel free to peruse the rest of Menon’s work and see what else stands out.

The consensus last year was that Pete and John broke with tradition for much of the draft, but that also had nearly everything to do with philosophy and positional need. It’s another matter entirely if they’ll buck trend on any specific athletic features they prioritize in the draft this year.