Once again, Seahawks go unexpected route on first day of NFL draft
It would hardly be a Seahawks draft without the requisite jaw-dropping moment, of course.
Forget the notion that the Seahawks might use the rarefied air of a No. 5 overall pick to storehouse a quarterback for the future. Forget the notion that they would focus their attention on the defensive line, their position of greatest need by the estimation of Pete Carroll himself at the end of last season.
Instead, they went with the time-honored “best athlete available,” and in typical Seahawks fashion, their determination of that distinction may have differed from the masses. Which concerns them not one bit, because they see all manner of dynamic upside in both their first-day selections — cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
In their mind, they got the best player at each position in the draft and greatly enhanced their chances of making a deep playoff run in 2023.
Even at No. 5, with less room for avant-garde maneuvering than their normal lower pick, the Seahawks pulled a fast one by making a selection few saw coming. Because of course they did.
The four picks above them played out in such a way that Jalen Carter, the defensive tackle extraordinaire widely mocked to Seattle, was there for the taking. But instead of taking Carter, Tyree Wilson or any other defensive lineman, or alternatively a quarterback like Will Levis to groom as Geno Smith’s replacement — the other branch of popular wisdom — the Seahawks went in a direction they had never gone in the Carroll/John Schneider era.
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Namely, a defensive back, specifically a cornerback. Though renowned for their production at the position in the Seattle glory years, exemplified by the esteemed Legion of Boom, they had never before taken a cornerback higher than 90. The team hadn’t taken a corner in the first round since Kelly Jennings in 2006.
But Witherspoon is not just any cornerback — or so they fervently hope.
All that’s not to say it was a bad pick, or a wrong pick. Merely a pick that comes with a copious amount of pressure — even more so than would normally be attached to the highest selection this duo has ever had in 14 drafts. It’s imperative at No. 5 to land an impact player who can immediately help elevate the Seahawks to the championship level they aspire for.
The Seahawks will tell you they did just that, and furthermore, that they seasoned that pick with another instant-impact player at No. 20 overall. Once again venturing where Carroll and Schneider had never gone before, they selected slot receiver Smith-Njigba of Ohio State. The last wide receiver taken in the first round by the Seahawks was Koren Robinson, 20 years and two regimes ago.
Asked to describe himself in a conference call with Seattle media, Witherspoon called upon all the buzzwords that, if proven accurate, no doubt endeared him to the Seahawks: “I would say that I am energetic, physical. I’m a dog on the field, and I’m just very confident in what I do. I’m passionate and I love to show my emotions out there on the field, so that describes me.”
He has a feistiness and ballhawking ability that is reminiscent of the Seahawks’ Holy Grail of cornerback picks, Richard Sherman (an all-time steal in the fifth round).
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“They told me about the culture they have there, the Legion of Boom, and the history they have there,” Witherspoon said. “I know what it takes to be great like that.”
Carroll paid Witherspoon an extreme compliment when he said he hadn’t seen a defensive back like him since Troy Polamalu, merely a Hall of Famer.
“Devon Witherspoon is a rare player,” Carroll said. “We haven’t seen a guy like this. We have not drafted corners high just because we have not come across a guy that has this makeup. It’s his athletic ability. It’s his speed. It’s his playmaking. It’s his mentality.”
All reminiscent of Polamalu, whom Carroll coached at USC.
“Polamalu was a guy that had an extraordinary way about the way he played the game,” Carroll said. “And I saw this connection between what Devon does and how he looks at the game and how he approaches it, that just knocked me out.”
Among Smith-Njigba’s first words on the television broadcast were ones directed toward the Seahawks decision to make him the first wide receiver taken in this year’s draft — and promptly repeated to the Seattle media: “I promise they won’t regret it.”
That declaration will take a few years to be proven accurate or not. And Smith-Njigba is coming off a season hampered by a hamstring injury and shortened by his decision to skip the College Football Playoffs. But anyone who saw Ohio State’s Rose Bowl game against Utah in 2022 — as the Seahawks probably viewed a double- or even triple-digit amount of times — is well aware of his explosiveness. Smith-Njigba caught an astounding 15 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns — his second 15-catch game of the season.
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The injury that limited Smith-Njigba to three games this past year might have been a blessing for Seattle in a perverse way in that Schneider said there’s no way he would have been available at No. 20 had he played a full season.
Smith-Njigba told the Seattle media he’s 100% healthy “and ready to go.” He also had an economical but potent response when asked to describe his best attribute as a receiver: “I get open.”
Said Carroll: “We’ve got two guys that we love the way they play, of course, in Tyler (Lockett) and DK (Metcalf), and we needed another guy to fit in with them. … We see Jaxon fitting in as that third guy with those guys that will complement them and make them better. He could play right now. He’ll be able to do everything that we want him to do.”
The Seahawks made a conscious decision to bypass all sorts of potential help on their front seven, including Carter and Wilson on the front end, and Nolan Smith and Myles Murphy on the back end. Schneider said it wasn’t hard to stick to their plan.
“There are things that are pretty tempting, but you’ve got to just stay true to what you’re doing, and that’s what we did,” he said.
The Seahawks stayed true to their long-established history, which is doing things their way and not caring anyone else thinks.
Source: The Seattle Times
