Dear Seattle Seahawk Fan,

Do you miss the days of the Legion Of Boom when they ruled supreme in Seattle?

I do. In fact, I miss them badly, and have for years now. Give me a defense that is stacked with players that I can count in my sleep, and I will sleep restfully every single night.. like a baby.

So, if you are like me in how this roster should be restructured, post Russell Wilson, you are pining for the Seahawks to go defense early, and often in this draft, and this mock is one for you.

Here we go.

With the 9th pick Of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks trade with the Los Angeles Chargers

I feel compelled to keep projecting the Seahawks to trade back in this draft. First, it’s just something that they tend to do, and the other thing is that this is an especially deep draft a small trade back to get another day two pick feels logical for a team with many needs. Here the Chargers move up to take freak of nature defensive tackle Jordan Davis in exchange of picks 17, 79, 123, and 195. Seattle feels confident that they will land a player they love at 17, and the other picks afford them the ability to be flexible later on.

With the 17th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Trent McDuffie, Cornerback, Washington

Seahawks miss out on Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley, but they feel McDuffie is a great fit for what they are now asking their outside corners to do in terms of playing sticky with receivers. While McDuffie lacks the length that Seattle has preferred in the past, he possesses high end athleticism and twitch to stick on receivers, and be disruptive with their routes to allow rushers more time to effect the quarterback. His field awareness is strong against both the pass and run, and he possesses a nastiness to come up and level a ball carrier. This will appeal to Pete Carroll and Clint Hurtt.

With the 40th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Boye Mafe, Edge Rusher, Minnesota

Mafe is a skilled edge rusher. He shined at the Senior Bowl, showing a variety of ways to beat an offensive tackle. His length isn’t quite as long as Seattle has typically sought out, but is on par with Alton Robinson, who they drafted a couple years ago, and in a shift towards more 3-4 looks, Seattle may not be as stringent on those measurements, especially if a skilled guy like Mafe lands to their first second round pick. If he land to pick 40, that’s a home run selection.

With the 41st in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Travis Jones, Defensive Tackle, Connecticut

This pick warms my heart. Seattle could have gone many ways with this pick. Linebacker was there, as was offensive line, and running back, but Seattle chose to make their interior pass rush a richer point of emphasis. Call this the Clint Hurtt effect. Seattle’s new defensive coordinator is a long time defensive line coach, and if you give him the opportunity to add 6-4, 325 lbs of Travis Jones, who freight trained guards and centers all throughout Senior Bowl week, I think he would gladly take that. Jones provides size and strength against the run, and athleticism and quicks to become a reliable interior pass rusher. Shelby Harris and Al Woods are getting up there in age. Getting someone younger with upside behind them feels smart. Jones can probably play nose, 3 technique and 5 tech in this new scheme.

With the 72nd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Cole Strange, Guard, Chattanooga

Another Senior Bowl star shows up for the Seahawks’ taking right here. Strange is also an explosive combine tester and will be brought in to challenge Gabe Jackson at left guard. Pro Football Network notes that Strange played well at a small program against bigger program opponents and handled himself well against South Carolina’s Javon Kinlaw, who just so happens to play for the dreaded San Fransisco 49ers. This feels like a smart move.

With the 79th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Cameron Jurgens, Center, Nebraska

This is where the trade back with the Chargers starts to really pay off. Seattle takes an athletic center that they feel is a great fit for their new zone blocking scheme. Again, they could have gone a number of ways here. With Jurgens and Strange, Seattle feels like they fortified the interior of the offensive line for years, and that is a big deal in a division that hosts Aaron Donald. This is a great pick!

With the 109th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Darrian Beavers, Linebacker, Cincinnati

Seattle grabs a versatile linebacker who reminds them a bit of KJ Wright, but can also provide a little more pass rush. Beavers will likely be a middle linebacker in Hurtt’s scheme, but he can be used as a chess piece a bit. He handles the run well, is an able dropper in coverage, and he can rush. Teams that run multiple defensive formations covet guys like this, and going multiple is something that Seattle will probably be doing a lot of with Hurtt calling the shots on defense.

With the 123rd pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Jack Coan, Quarterback, Norte Dame

Seahawks want to add another quarterback to their roster beyond Geno Smith, Drew Lock, and Jacob Eason. In this scenario, they watched the QBs they would have considered in the second round get snatched up in front of them, so they took a guy they liked enough later on. Coan isn’t going to wow anyone, but he looks like a guy who can do just enough of everything to think he can maybe develop into a serviceable NFL starter, in time. He can move around, throw it down field, and lead a drive.

With the 152nd pick in the 2022 draft the Seattle Seahawks select Rasheed Walker, Offensive Tackle, Penn State

I’m stuck on mocking Walker to Seattle. I see him playing as tackle who plays with a nastiness that Carroll likes as a run blocker, and has shown potential as a pass blocker, as well. He could probably compete right away at right tackle but might be thought as a potential left tackle starter, as well. This is a really good value pick and he’s a guy I’m watching for in this draft.

With the 153rd pick in the 2023 draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Dameon Pierce, Running Back, Florida

Seattle finds good value at running back in this draft by staying patient and taking a very physical runner in Pierce, who fits the mold of many runners they’ve had in here in the past. He’s physical, runs through tackles, bounces off defenders, and has just enough athleticism to get by defenders, as well. I liken him to Mike Davis a bit, and I think he has starter potential.

With the 195th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Christopher Allen, Edge Rusher, Alabama

Who doesn’t want a productive edge player off the Alabama defense? Allen can rush and cover and probably adds quality depth to the SAM backer spot. I like Seattle double dipping at edge rush with this pick here.

With the 229th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Max Borghi, Running Back, Washington State

Seattle land a hometown hero with their final pick of this draft. Fans, in general, will love this pick (even Husky fans). Borghi offers third down back potential and can probably be a great special teams player. With Chris Carson’s neck injury a complete unknown as to whether he can even play in 2022, getting two quality backs out of this class feels important. Borghi probably makes Travis Homer a little expendable, but is that a bad thing?

Thoughts about this mock draft

Pete Carroll stated at the end of the season that his number one goal of the off-season was to address his pass rush. He started by moving on from Ken Norton Junior at defensive coordinator to Clint Hurtt, who will coach up a more aggressive style of defense that is inspired by Vic Fangio. In this style of defense, cornerback play is very connected to the pass rush. The scheme calls for corners who can play more aggressively attached to receivers in order to make quarterbacks more hesitant and that buys time for the pass rushers.

Trent McDuffie is that kind of pesty cover guy. He’s likely a big upgrade from what they had in DJ Reed last year in terms of being a top end athlete, as well. If all the top pass rushers are gone by the time Seattle would pick at 9, trading back a bit into the teens to get another third round pick (and change), and this guy feels like a very solid move in helping out this defense. If it weren’t for a guy named Sauce in this draft, I think McDuffie would be talked about more.

With teams jumping on quarterbacks in the late first round and early second, that’s going to help Seattle possibly land a guy like Boye Mafe at 40, who had great production in college, or a guy like Travis Jones, who looks like he can be a big disruptive force inside for years.

If you crave a top end defense in Seattle again, landing McDuffie, Mafe, and Jones is a handsome haul for your Seahawks. They would get three guys filling out critical roles for the pass rush who will be good starters in this league for years. From this angle, this would be a smash draft.

Round three becomes fascinating for me in that, here, Seattle is able to land two of the better interior offensive linemen in the draft who both fit their zone blocking scheme. While on paper, offensive tackle is the bigger need, Seattle decides not to reach, and they take two players who they believe will fortify the interior of their offensive line for years. In a division that has Aaron Donald playing in it, this feels like a solid approach. Getting Strange and Jurgens and bringing back Duane Brown for another year at left tackle doesn’t sound like the worst idea. In fact, I think it sound pretty darn good.

I also think it sounds good to target a good young linebacker who can push Cody Barton inside and potentially become a starter down the line. I like giving Barton a chance to start. I want to see what he’s got given the chance, but I also want some better insurance behind him. Darrian Beavers feels like really good insurance with solid starter potential.

I also really like Seattle double dipping at running back and grabbing Dameon Pierce and Max Borghi, who will offer two very different skill sets to this offense. I like Pierce as insurance to maybe become a bell cow runner in the event Chris Carson can’t play anymore with his neck injury, and I love Borghi as a legit third down running back for this team.

If Seattle doesn’t go quarterback early, I don’t mind them taking a shot on Jack Coan, but if they feel like they want to compete more this year, I think they’d stand a better chance of doing that with Baker Mayfield. I’m not really buying that they are highly intent on giving Drew Lock a chance to win the job, and I don’t think they would be bringing in Desmond Ridder for a visit if they truly felt like Lock has the upside that they are professing. I think Lock is a hedge for another quarterback. In this scenario, Seattle likes Coan enough to draft him here to see if he has enough to challenge Lock and Geno Smith, but it doesn’t prevent them from exploring a Baker Mayfield trade after the draft, either, if her’s still available. I can see Seattle throwing a lot of darts at the board in their attempt at figuring out their next starting quarterback, and drafting Coan would be one dart.

But on the whole, I love this mock draft for the Seahawk defense. Those first three picks are starters in this league, and I think Beavers probably is too. I don’t mind them double dipping with edge rush and taking Christopher Allen later on, either. Taking as many bites at the apple to improve the pass rush, in as many different ways, feel like good approach roster construction.

If I would nit pick this mock, I would actually say that I would have liked them to have taken one more corner, and maybe right around where Jack Coan was taken. This only adds to why I wouldn’t mind them taking a shot at bringing in Baker Mayfield. Spending a mid round pick on a developmental quarterback takes away an opportunity to add another guy at another position of much needed depth.

So, in my opinion, if the Seahawks aren’t fully in on getting one of these quarterbacks at the top end of this draft, if there isn’t that conviction that one of these guys is going to be their next franchise quarterback, I think they should punt on the position all together in this draft, go get Baker, and see what might be there with him. Spend all your picks at other spots of need.

That’s what I would do. We will see what they do in just a couple weeks. Exciting!

Go Hawks.