Seattle Seahawks: Day 2 of the draft leaves 12s puzzled
Day 2 of the NFL Draft is in the books. The Seattle Seahawks went away from drafting for positional needs with a few surprise selections.
Seattle Seahawks General Manager John Schneider continued his long history of head-scratching moves in the draft when he selected Boye Mafe and Kenneth Walker in Round 2. Third round choice Abraham Lucas was a slightly more understandable and filled a clear need. The question now is what to make of those second round choices.
Boye Mafe
Mafe is a 6’4″ 260-pound speed rusher out of Minnesota. He showed explosiveness and flexibility off the edge last season and probably has the quickest burst of any rusher in the draft. The flip side is that Mafe struggled to get off the block when a lineman did engage him. That impacts his effectiveness against the run and most likely makes him a situational pass rusher.
That wouldn’t be the end of the world if Darrell Taylor didn’t already fill this role for Seattle. In addition, they also signed Uchenna Onwosu as a free agent to fill a similar role. They say teams can’t have too many pass rushers, but maybe they can when their team has no cornerbacks? Clemson corner Andrew Booth went two picks later, after the Seahawks’ other “interesting” choice.
Kenneth Walker
After resigning Rashaad Penny, saying Chris Carson would be ready to go, as well as retaining DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer, Seattle seemed set at running back. So, of course, they selected Michigan State back Kenneth Walker. He fits the Seattle Seahawks mold at 5’9″ and 210-pounds. He’s a fast, powerful runner that doesn’t shy away from contact. Then again, so are Penny and Carson.
Walker didn’t catch many passes and is not helpful in pass protection, which means he’s limited as to when he would be on the field. Penny and Carson both have injury concerns, but the second round seemed a little early for a third-string backup. The issue isn’t with the player so much as with the position while the team had more pressing needs.
Abraham Lucas
In the third round, the Seahawks selected Abraham Lucas from Washington State. The 6’6″ 315-pound Lucas is a huge right tackle and should be a perfect bookend with first round pick Charles Cross. Lucas is athletic for his size and excels at getting to the second level in the run game. His style of play should make for a smooth transition into Seattle’s blocking schemes, and it would be surprising if he isn’t starting by week one.
The Seattle Seahawks’ second round choices may need some time to be evaluated, but their third-round selection makes today’s haul a solid one. Mafe may be more than a situational rusher which would make his selection more understandable. As Seattle heads into Day 3 of the draft, expect them to pick up some defensive back help and maybe a linebacker. It’s clear now that with Cross and Lucas, Pete Carroll plans to get back to grinding down their opponents at the point of attack.
What do you think about the Seattle Seahawks’ second and third round draft picks? Let us know in the comments section below.