The first round of the NFL draft concluded on Thursday and while the Seattle Seahawks didn't get to make any picks, that doesn't mean that they weren't affected. It's important to know where you stand in your division and all three of their division mates had picks, including one in the top 10.
You already know by now who those guys are but here's a closer look at how these picks will affect the NFC West standings, if at all, in 2015. Welcome back to The Lookaround.
St. Louis Rams -- Running back Todd Gurley, Georgia, 10th overall
Anyone who listened to the Field Gulls draft commentary on Thursday knows how I feel about the Gurley pick. I love it ... because I'm a Seahawks fan. The Rams may have gotten a great running back, but in 2015, that's simply something you do not need to add with the 10th pick in the draft.
For the last seven drafts that statement has become more and more obviously true, culminating in no running backs being drafted in the first round in 2013 and 2014, but we all know that there would be two teams that could not resist Gurley and Melvin Gordon. It turned out that the first of those teams would be St. Louis (the other would be San Diego, who felt that Gordon would not be the mistake that Ryan Mathews was) and I am having a hard time believing that this is the move that helps them go from 6-10 to a threat in the NFC West.
More: Why the Gurley pick was bad, and some others were good via Rolling Stone
Of the last 15 running backs drafted in the first round, there are five that have made the Pro Bowl (Chris Johnson is the only one who has made it more than once, and we know what happened there) (It should also be "easier" to make the Pro Bowl as a running back than it should for maybe any other position besides wide receiver) and five who are no longer in the NFL. That number should only be growing.
Johnson is a free agent and doesn't seem like he'll be going anywhere any time soon, despite only being 29. He's on the same open market as Knowshon Moreno, who can't find a job less than two years after rushing for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Darren McFadden is getting one final chance, now with Dallas.
Trent Richardson will be gone if he can't do better in Oakland than McFadden did.
The Colts picked Richardson only three years after they spent a first round pick on Donald Brown, who is now apparently backing up Gordon in San Diego.
Mathews is now the backup in Philadelphia behind DeMarco Murray, a third round pick.
C.J. Spiller is now the backup in New Orleans to Mark Ingram, another disappointing first round pick.
Doug Martin has played in 17 games in the last two years. He went one pick before David Wilson, who retired after 33 games.
The ones I have not mentioned yet are Beanie Wells, Felix Jones, Rashard Mendenhall, Jonathan Stewart, and Jahvid Best. Tell me which of these guys didn't look awesome in college. Tell me which of these guys didn't seem like shoo-ins to be perennial 1,000-yard backs on draft day? Tell me which of these guys didn't have 3,000-word articles written about why they were great picks because they were "special."
I'm fine with anyone that wants to say that Gurley is the best back since Adrian Peterson who was the best back since LaDainian Tomlinson, and that he'll be a regular at the Pro Bowl. (Richardson was the last guy who was the best back since Adrian Peterson, for what it's worth.)
Take the best running back drafted since 2008, Chris Johnson, and look at what the Titans records were during his 1,000-yard seasons:
13-3
8-8
6-10
9-7
6-10
7-9
In his rookie season the Titans went 13-3, but they were coming off of a 10-6 season, had a top-five defense, and Johnson paved the way for 15 rushing touchdowns by LenDale White. They got a bye in the playoffs and lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 13-10. It was the only playoff appearance in Johnson's career.
When he rushed for over 2,000 yards and was considered the best offensive player in the game, they went 8-8.
Adrian Peterson has been to the playoffs three times in his career, has one career playoff win, and in that game he rushed for 63 yards on 26 carries, Brett Favre threw for four touchdowns, three of which were caught by Sidney Rice.
Yes, Marshawn Lynch was the 12th overall pick, has won a lot of playoff games, is integral to the Seahawks, and won a Super Bowl championship, but he wasn't drafted by Seattle. The fortunes for his original team, Buffalo, were far more dire.
As a Seattle fan, I don't know why you'd fear St. Louis any more today than you did before the draft. The Seahawks had the number two rushing defense in the NFL last season by DVOA and the Rams had a lot bigger needs. Gurley might help them get a little further down the field, but where are their touchdown-makers?
San Francisco 49ers -- Defensive end Arik Armstead, Oregon, 17th overall
The 49ers made another smart move to accumulate more draft picks, something that Trent Baalke has excelled at in his career as San Francisco's GM. But what he has not excelled at, as I wrote about at midnight on Thursday morning, is using those draft picks like a smart guy.
Nobody's asking him to be as smart as Taj Mowry or anything, but with the entire 2012 draft class GONE, and his 2014 first round pick Jimmie Ward getting posterized like a light pole last year, Baalke had to find a safe, effective gem.
I do not like to "grade" or try and predict the success of any draft picks because I don't pretend to know the future, but I trust Staton's evaluation of Armstead and it's not good. So I trust that but then there's also just the continued philosophy of Baalke to not necessarily grab players that will do anything as rookies.
Armstead is not expected to contribute much in 2015, not just because he's been described as "raw" but because as head coach Jim Tomsula has put it, playing defensive line for the 49ers is a hard thing to do. Instead, he'll play in the interior of the line on passing downs, so that he can sack the quarterback. You know ... something he did four times in his entire career as a Duck.
The "wait a year and find out" strategy did not work with A.J. Jenkins. It has not worked for Ward. It did not work with LaMichael James, Vance McDonald, or injury-dudes like Marcus Lattimore. They're hoping it's going to work with Tank Carradine, now entering his third season without much to show for his first two years. What makes Baalke so confident that eventually everything's going to work out, when thus far it hasn't time and time again? Why not get a project in the second and third round, instead of at 17?
Having lost cornerback Chris Culliver to free agency, they passed on Kevin Johnson (if they didn't trade down), Marcus Peters, and Byron Jones. Despite only having two viable receivers, leaving them extremely vulnerable if a 86-year-old Anquan Boldin gets hurt, they passed on Nelson Agholor and Breshad Perriman. Hell, instead of trading back to accumulate more picks that are just as likely be gone in a year as they are to be in the rotation, maybe trade up for DeVante Parker, who went 14th to Miami?
Amid all of their issues in the offseason, ones that I think makes them a good candidate to lose 12 or more games next season, the 49ers did nothing to quell that notion on Thursday. I wonder who the 17-year project will be that they pick in the top five in the next draft.
Arizona Cardinals -- Offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, Florida, 24th overall
In today's NFL it's becoming more and more commonplace to find your right tackle or guard (left or right) in the first round. I think that's still a far better strategy than picking a running back.
The Cardinals offensive line is now Jared Veldheer, Mike Iupati, Jonathan Cooper, as well as active competitions among the likes of Humphries, Bobby Massie, Earl Watford, Ted Larsen, and AQ Shipley. They've got incredible depth and probably the best offensive line in the NFC West now, which will make it easy for any running back -- not just one they felt they needed to draft 10th overall -- to have some success back there.
How much better does the Humphries pick make Arizona right now?
It's hard to say because Humphries was given a third round grade by the draft board advisory committee, then he killed it at the combine, and was 13th on the Cardinals board. He could be a road-grader surprise and a steal at 24, or he could sit all year. But I would have to say that I like the pick much more than Gurley or Armstead, and the second-best team in the NFC West still clearly looks like the second-best team in the NFC West.
Right now you would have to say it's Seattle and Arizona and then a big gap before St. Louis and San Francisco.
Seattle Seahawks -- Tight end Jimmy Graham, Miami (FL), fourth round pick for 31st overall, Max Unger
So, who did the best on Thursday again?