TNT Seahawks 7-round mock draft: A D-tackle Mike Macdonald coached, 2 O-linemen — and a QB
It’s so well-known, it’s become a cornerstone of any game of Seahawks Trivia.
It’s so well-told, John Schneider now brings it up unsolicited around anyone with ears.
You may have heard: The Seahawks have drafted just two quarterbacks in the 14 years Schneider has been the team’s general manager.
One was Alex McGough. Yeah, we don’t remember him, either.
The other: Some guy named Russell Wilson, in the third round in 2012. He worked out OK for Seattle.
“(It) is not something that we’re necessarily proud of,” Schneider said before this 2024 NFL draft that begins Thursday with the Seahawks having the 16th pick in a first round where as many as six QBs could be selected.
Does their trade for now-ex-Washington Commanders starter Sam Howell this offseason mean Seattle’s need to draft a quarterback of the future has changed?
Or is Schneider going to finally make the Seahawks prouder and take one? Say, Michael Penix Jr. from the Washington Huskies at 16 Thursday at approximately 7:30 p.m.? Or, in later rounds Friday and Saturday, Spencer Rattler from South Carolina, whom the Seahawks have hosted in a pre-draft prospect meeting, or Joe Milton from Tennessee?
“The goal (in the offseason before the draft), including the Sam Howell trade, is to supplement our roster and get to a point where we don’t feel we need to force anything and all options are on the table, whether we’re talking about a player at a position or our ability to move up and down the draft,” said Nolan Teasely, Schneider’s assistant general manager. “I think we achieved that.
“We’re excited about what we did, excited about what we’re going to be able to do (this) weekend and moving forward. ...
“All options on the table. And excited about that.”
Seattle has seven choices in this draft. It begins Thursday and continues with rounds two and three Friday then rounds four through seven on Saturday.
The team also has its quarterback of the present. Months ago, the Seahawks guaranteed Geno Smith’s base salary of almost $12.7 million for 2024. Then they traded two draft picks, a fourth-round choice plus a sixth-rounder this weekend, to the Commanders to get Howell to be Smith’s backup. Howell went 4-13 last season as Washington’s starter. He led the NFL with 612 passes thrown and 21 interceptions, to go with 21 touchdowns.
Both Smith and Howell are signed through 2025.
New head coach Mike Macdonald said last month at league meetings in Florida the Seahawks are excited about Howell’s future. Is it going to be in Seattle beyond next season? Macdonald, new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and the Seahawks haven’t seen him throw a pass in practice for them yet, let alone in a game.
That leads to Seattle and this draft.
And to The News Tribune’s annual Seahawks seven-round mock draft:
TNT’s Seahawks mock draft
Round 1 (16): Trade down.
With Green Bay. Schneider trades his original first-round pick — for the 11th time in 13 years — to his hometown Packers he began his career working for. The Seahawks get the Packers’ 25th pick, plus their 41st-overall pick. At 41 they recoup the second-round choice Seattle lost to the Giants last fall in the Leonard Williams trade.
The Seahawks also send the Packers their third-round pick, 81st overall.
Round 1 (25): Troy Fautanu, OT, Washington
Ahead of here, Miami selects Olumuyiwa Fashanu, the big offensive tackle from Penn State. Dallas takes tackle Taylor Guyton from Oklahoma at 24.
And the Seahawks celebrate.
Unexpectedly this low, Schneider gets the Huskies’ stud blocker Seattle’s GM was openly courting at UW’s Pro Day last month. Some NFL personnel people have told The News Tribune Fautanu can start in the NFL not only at guard, the Seahawks’ prime need, but at ALL FIVE O-line positions.
Round 2 (41) (from Green Bay): Kris Jenkins, DT, Michigan
The 6-foot-3, 299-pound Jenkins first became a starter at Michigan in 2021, the year Macdonald was the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator. So few in the NFL know him like the Seahawks’ new coach does.
He’s a two-gap tackle with iron strength who can play more outside near offensive tackles. His perceived lack of pass-rush production on a Michigan line that rotated often may be a reason Jenkins, son of former four-time NFL Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, is available here.
He’s not the massive nose tackle the Seahawks also need. The team had 366-pound T’Vondre Sweat in on a pre-draft visit. But a recent DUI and previous off-the-field concerns make Schneider and Macdonald stay away from him here.
Round 3 (81): Traded to Green Bay to get that second-round pick above
Round 4 (102): Joe Milton, QB, Tennessee
Seattle uses the second pick of Saturday morning, the choice they got atop round four in the Howell trade, to get the strongest-armed QB in college football last season. Why is he in the fourth round? Milton’s rifle passes weren’t all that accurate in the Southeastern Conference.
The Seahawks think Grubb can fix that.
“If you are going to draft a quarterback, why not draft the biggest arm?” Tacoma-based NFL draft expert Rob Rang of Fox Sports said Tuesday on 93.3 KJR FM.
“Joe Milton is exactly the kind of developmental prospect I’d love to see Ryan Grubb working with.”
Round 4 (118): Isaiah Adams, G/T, Illinois
This is an extremely deep draft class of offensive linemen, the best in a generation.
The 6-4, 315-pound Adams’ value here is that he started at left guard and right tackle the last couple seasons in the Big Ten. Schneider and his Seahawks scouts know the Canadian well. They scouted Adams the last two years starting while they were zeroing in on selecting cornerback Devon Witherspoon fifth overall in last year’s draft from the Fighting Illini.
“It’s the guard and tackle (aspect). And I think he’s a guy who can actually hold up at both spots,” Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic told The News Tribune on 93.3 KJR FM this month. “There’s room to grow there. ...He’s big and long enough.
“That’s what you are looking for, right? Guys that can physically handle more than one job.”
Round 6 (179): Johnny Wilson, WR, Florida State
Why a wide receiver here? The Seahawks have a potential $100 million decision to make this time next year on DK Metcalf. His contract ends after next season. Tyler Lockett, about to turn 32, isn’t going to play many more seasons. His deal also ends after next year.
Why Wilson? He’s 6-6. He’s a potential mismatch one on one against any defender. Grubb could see him as a potential tight end, to replace 6-7 Colby Parkinson who left Seattle for the Rams in free agency last month. Seattle has tight ends Noah Fant under contract for two years and former first-round pick Pharaoh Brown on a one-year deal.
The draft is about two, three four years down the road. As the fact he’s a day-three pick suggests, Wilson is a project.
Round 6 (192): McKinnley Jackson, DT, Texas A&M
After the sirens scare them off the 366-pound Sweat, Macdonald gets a huge nose tackle in the later rounds. Schneider and Macdonald are attracted to the fact that Jackson was a two-year captain in the SEC at A&M. And that he’s 326 pounds. Macdonald wants Seattle to get bigger at nose tackle to improve what was the NFL’s 31st-ranked run defense last season.
That run defense is a large reason he, and no longer Pete Carroll, is the Seahawks’ coach.
Round 7 (235): Jaylon Carlies, S, Missouri
He’s big, 6-3 and 227 pounds. And fast at that size, with a 4.5-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. He’s so big and fast he could become an outside linebacker in Macdonald’s attempt to improve Seattle’s run defense.
This story was originally published April 24, 2024 at 11:08 AM with the headline "TNT Seahawks 7-round mock draft: A D-tackle Mike Macdonald coached, 2 O-linemen — and a QB."
