Hey, you.

How’s it going? Are you feeling any uneasy Russell Wilson vs Seattle Seahawks fatigue?

Don’t be embarrassed if you are. We’ve been through a lot over the past year.

Look, I’m going to be honest. I love the NFL Draft, it’s my Football Christmas, but this year Football Christmas feels weird as a diehard Seahawk fan.

Because Russell Wilson decided to publicly air a major tiff with the Seattle Seahawks days after he won the Walter Payton Man Of The Year Award, the Seattle Seahawk 2021 off-season started off with a major case of diarrhea that I am sure every Ram and 49er fan cherished.

While I’m won’t rehash it all, I will say that if your spouse says that they don’t want a divorce but then they give you a list of four people within your network that they would be happy moving on with, you might want to start lining up your ducks some.. or at least think about it.

On top of that weirdness, because of the Jamal Adams and Gabe Jackson trades, the Seattle Seahawks will be entering Football Christmas with only three picks to select any players.

For perspective, that’s the fewest amount any team has had since 1999 when the New Orleans Saints couldn’t get the crack pipe out of Mike Ditka’s hands when he traded away their entire draft class for Texas running back Ricky Williams.

For a team that has prided itself over building through the draft over the years, it is incredibly hard to imagine that general manager John Schneider will stay with only three picks. In fact, if there is one certainty that I have as we sit a week away from this draft, it’s that Schneider will figure out a way to turn 3 picks into 6 or more.

How he manages to do this will take an enormous amount of creativity. This mock draft is my attempt to embrace being creative to fill needs and maintain a roster capable to winning the hyper competitive NFL West division.

What are the team needs for these 2021 Seattle Seahawks, anyways?

On paper, it appears like the biggest glaring needs of this team are a third receiver, cornerback, and a strong side linebacker. Those are the spots that Seattle, on paper, appears to be most shaky.

However, we could easily add defensive tackle if we feel like Al Woods coming back isn’t enough to replace Jarran Reed, and center if we feel like bringing back Ethan Pocic isn’t enough there, either.

If we are to peel back the layers of this team a bit more, we could probably come up with a number of other needs, especially if we start looking at this roster in 2022 and beyond. Currently, this team has no long term answer to replace Duane Brown at left tackle should he decide to retire. It also has no backup quarterback that could be the quarterback of the future should the situation between Russ and the club continue continue to sour beyond repair.

Plus, do we feel great at running back with the history of injuries that have plagued Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny? I dunno.

Some of these positions could be remedied in free agency after the draft. Seattle could bring back KJ Wright to be the SAM backer once again, and for that matter, they could (and perhaps should) bring back former Hawks in Richard Sherman at corner, and Golden Tate as the slot receiver.

But as I look at this roster, I legitimately worry greatly about the long term answer at left tackle, the depth at receiver and corner, and I think that this situation with Russ legitimately warrants considering bringing in a quarterback who the team could turn towards if a trade feels inevitable.

These are probably my biggest needs, as I see them, and I would say of them, left tackle and quarterback are probably to two hardest positions to fill through the draft.

John Schneider has a lot of work to do. Never fear. Here is my 2021 Seattle Seahawk mock draft to help him find solutions. If anyone has John’s email address and wants to send this his way, feel free.

Warning! Two shocking trades happen.

Well, maybe one shocking trade happens, and then another that will be less shocking goes down. Nevertheless, let’s just rip the band-aid off and announce the shocking trade first.

In a move that is sure to shake up the PNW, Seattle sends All-Pro middle linebacker Bobby Wagner to the Carolina Panthers for picks number 73 (third round) and 151 (fifth round). This will stun long time Seahawk fans, but the reasoning here is two fold. Seattle drafted a middle linebacker last year in Jordyn Brooks in round one, and Seattle is going to have to pay All-Pro safety Jamal Adams and his services won’t be cheap. Having invested $17 million in a middle linebacker, and $18 plus million in a safety who thinks of himself as a “defensive weapon” is a LOT of cheddar to throw into two positions that aren’t widely considered premiere ones in the league.

Panther GM Scott Fitterer has strong Seahawk ties and he is working for a mega billionaire owner that probably wants to make a Paul Allen like splash to put his team ahead in the NFC South. Seattle opens up enough cap space to bring back KJ Wright, and possibly Richard Sherman and/or Golden Tate. More importantly, Seattle nets high third round and fifth round picks to get back in this draft.

Trade number two involves sending pro bowl free safety Quandre Diggs to the safety needy Jacksonville Jaguars for pick 130 (fourth round) and quarterback Gardner Minshew. Jacksonville will be viewed as the winner of this deal netting a pro bowl safety who is still relatively young, but this will be potentially a very important trade for Seattle. We will delve more into the merits of this deal for Minshew later and a mid round pick later.

Warning! A not so shocking third trade happens.

John Schneider is going to John Schneider and trade down out of 56th pick. A good cornerback falls to Seattle’s pick and the very corner needy Green Bay Packers are afraid of the Rams selecting him at 57, so they send picks 62, 135, and 173.

The Seattle Seahawks now have a total of eight picks to work with. They have a late second, early third, three fourth round picks, two fifth round picks, and a seven rounder. For a regime that has typically drafted well in the fourth and fifth rounds, this will do.

With the 62nd pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select D’Ante Smith, Offensive Tackle, East Carolina

The Seattle Seahawks do a very Seattle Seahawky thing in trading back and selecting a talent that most draft pundits viewed as a player that should be drafted a bit later. Seattle is the most honey badger-y team in the league when it comes to the draft. They are going to do what they are going to do.

They are especially drawn to traits in the player and are willing to grab onto perceived projects early if they see special traits. They’ve done with Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, Frank Clark, LJ Collier, Christine Michael, Justin Britt and others. Admittedly, this is a bit of a hit or miss approach.

Smith has great length and athleticism to be a future left tackle and he plays with a nasty edge. He also had a decent Senior Bowl showing (another thing that Seattle pays attention to). Seattle could start him out at left guard along side Duane Brown, and have recently acquired Gabe Jackson play right guard while Damien Lewis shifts to center. Or they could have him compete with Brandon Shell at right tackle. Either way, this is very much a pick for the future, and Seattle sees this as a rare opportunity to select a starting left tackle in the back end of the second round.

With the 73rd Pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Tylan Wallace, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma State

If the Seattle Seahawks are going to run a LA Rams style offensive under Shane Waldron’s play calling, they are going to need receivers that are strong route runners with soft hands and can get easy separation. Essentially, they will need more Doug Baldwin types over vertical threats.

Tylan Wallace checks those boxes out and posted a decent 4.48 time that Seattle will likely find attractive as well. He also possesses decent size at 6-0 and 190lbs, and is a willing blocker in the run game.

His toughness, route running, speed, and ability to haul difficult passes make him a potentially classic Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawk receiver. He’s not a project player, he’s plug and play, and his additional should finally give Russ a level of comfort he is not had since Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Tyler Lockett, and Paul Richardson were all this the team together.

This is a highly important selection.

Trade Alert! The Seattle Seahawks send picks 129 and 130th to the draft pick needy New Orleans Saints for the last pick in the third round (105), and select Ambry Thomas, Cornerback, Michigan

Pete Carroll has a fondness of Michigan players due of his respect for Jim Harbaugh, and Thomas comes with enough size and coverage skills to be viewed as the longer term fixture they need on the outside of their defense. With DJ Reed, Ahkello Witherspoon, and Tre Flowers all set to become free agents in 2022, this is a big position of need for the club, and I think Thomas is a guy Seattle would easily be willing to move up for if they had the extra picks to do it.

With the 135th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Dayo Odeyingbo, Defensive Lineman, Vanderbilt

Odeyingbo feels like a classic Pete Carroll defensive lineman in his ability to play inside/out on the defensive line. At 6-5 and 285 lbs, he possesses great length and size, and he showed enough potential as a pass rusher in college to be destined to be a likely second round pick had he not torn his Achilles out during a workout days before the Senior Bowl. If he lasts to this pick, I can see Carroll being excited about grabbing him here and red-shirting him in 2021 with the hopes that they landed a future starter at either the 5 tech end or 3 tech tackle position on their defensive line.

With the 151st pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select David Moore, Guard/Center, Grambling State

Seattle loses a David Moore WR in free agency, and gains a David Moore G/C in the draft. This David Moore is was a short and robust guard in college who showed up pretty well at the Senior Bowl, and showed enough while taking snaps at center to think that some team is going to find a potential mid round diamond in the rough with him. Personally, I would like the Seattle Seahawks to be that team. Moore gives Seattle depth at guard and center in 2021 and could be viewed as the future starting center beyond. This would be a solid selection, IMO.

With the 173 Pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Charles Snowden, Linebacker, Virginia

By trading away Bobby Wagner, Seattle will need longer term depth at linebacker. They have a good piece in Jordyn Brooks to take Wangers place inside, and they have two guys that can still develop in Cody Barton and Ben Burr-Kirven. All three of these guys are off ball players, and what the team need is a true strong side middle linebacker. Even if they bring back KJ Wright, they need depth behind him. Snowden is unusually built for a 4-3 linebacker at 6-6 243 LBs, but has shown enough fluid lateral quickness and drop back ability to think that there is something to work with there. He’s a project, though, and will possibly need to get stronger to anchor at the line of scrimmage. At this range, I could see Seattle being interested in taking on this project.

With the 250th Pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Tamorrion Terry, Wide Receiver, Florida State

The NFL draft is a funny business. Sometimes players you think should be drafted later get drafted much earlier, and sometimes a player that you think would be a solid pick in an earlier round slides into the later rounds, or doesn’t get drafted at all. Terry falls into the later grouping in this scenario. He’s a good athlete with good size and hands but never fully lived up to his hype in college. His “boom or bust” label has teams leery here but Seattle takes a flyer on a guy that they think could add solid depth behind freakish DK Metcalf as a taller wide-out who can stretch defenses.

My Thoughts on this Mock Draft for the Seahawks

I don’t know if Seattle is going to make any splash moves in this draft like packaging a star player or two for more picks to be an active player, but I think that they need to do it.

They need to have a stronger eye for the future of this club and they have invested a lot of draft capital at linebacker and safety recently. Therefore, those are the areas that I am more willing to play “let’s make a deal.”

Bobby Wagner is an iconic Seahawk and it’s hard to see moving him, but I think with drafting Jordyn Brooks last year in the first round, you’ve likely got his replacement. I’m comfortable moving on.

The simple truth is that Seattle needs long term fixtures at left tackle and center, and cornerback, and they have to figure that out. This mock draft presents strong potential solutions to these important positions and it adds a third receiver who reminds me of Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate some. If Seattle can walk away next weekend with this kind of haul, I would be extremely pleased.

The rest of this picks represent projects for the future, but I think Dayo Odeyingbo could be a sneaky good pick as someone to red-shirt and have as an interior pass rush presence for years to come.

The downside to this draft is that they miss out on depth at tight end, running back, and a true defensive tackle, but you can’t draft at every position and free agency could still offer short term solutions.

Overall, I think this would be an outstanding draft for Seattle. I dig it.

My Thoughts on Seattle trading for Gardner Minshew

Despite all the noise quieting down on the Russell Wilson front, I still believe that there is potentially enough fire with that smoke that Seattle needs to start thinking more seriously about its future at quarterback. It’s the smart and right thing to do.

At this point, I think it’s highly unlikely that Seattle would trade Russell Wilson this year, but should this team fall short of expectations in 2021, I think it is more than likely that a divorce could be brewing in 2022.

I hope that I am wrong about that, but until I see the team restructure his contract to free more salary cap space up now and kick more money down that road, thus making it cost prohibitive to trade him in 2022-2023, I feel like the chance of dealing him is still very alive.

It is also possible that with another Covid influenced off-season with no live OTAs or mini-camps, the team is willing to deal with the awkwardness of hanging onto Russ one more season for the sake of continuity. The simple fact is that we could be looking at a loveless marriage between the quarterback and the team as they have decided to kick the inevitable divorce down the road.

What I love about bringing in Minshew is that Seattle gets a quarterback who has enough starting experience to know NFL defenses better than any rookie quarterback of the future type, and he has passing numbers that suggest that he can play an efficient brand of football that Pete Carroll would like as a starter. They don’t have to reach on a player with their first pick, and because Minshew has two year left on his rookie contract, Seattle gets him on the cheap. Those are huge benefits.

I also think that Minshew likely still has an interesting potential as a longer term starter in this league, if put into the right system with the right talent around him. I think Shane Waldron’s system could be that fit.

His style of play reminds me some of Mark Brunell and Jeff Garcia (older fans will know those guys pretty well). He’s not the biggest guy but he’s not tiny either. He’s a scrappy leader with good athleticism and while he doesn’t have a huge arm, he can make all the necessary throws to play in this league. He’s accurate and I think he might have a better understanding of route concepts than Sam Darnold, the young quarterback that Seattle was allegedly interested in when all the Russell trade stuff was leading headlines over a month ago.

Another thing to consider about potentially moving on from Russ is how fans and teammates will take that. Minshew has a built in popularity in the PNW from his wondrous senior season at Washington State. In one season as a starter, he captivated the Northwest. He’s also a lovable personality.

This all could go a long way with fans and teammates should Seattle eventually pull the trigger on a blockbuster trade sending Russ out of Dodge. If Minshew spots Russ in a few blowout games and surgically manufactures scoring drives, I think fans would enjoy watching that, and there would be a natural rest easy feeling about the uncertainty of the future.

I also think that Minshew might be a really good fit for any Rams style offense that Seattle could be installing. He’s good at play action and throws accurately with nice anticipation. He’s also a nifty scrambler with space in front of him.

As I see it, there is absolutely no harm in Seattle bringing him in.

Even if Seattle and Russ work it all out and Russ stays, Seattle acquires a guy who could easily be one of the very best backups in the league, and at some point, Russ is likely going to come up with an injury that could keep him out a few games. Wouldn’t it be nice for Seattle to have a quarterback behind him that they could continue rolling out some wins with?

It hurts to give up a quality safety in Diggs but Seattle has traded for Jamal Adams and they drafted Marquise Blair and Ugo Amadi, and they still have Ryan Neal. They have plenty of pieces there that I would be comfortable moving on from Diggs and not having to pay two safeties top end dollars.

I am officially on the Gardner Minshew to Seattle hype train. I want this deal to happen. I think it’s an important insurance policy move that makes too much sense for it not to be a thing. Just my two cents on the matter, anyways.

Hope you enjoyed this mock draft. Who knows what happens in a few days but I, for one, am excited to find out.

Go Hawks!