Heading into this draft, Seattle had two big perceived areas of need; interior defensive line, and interior offensive line. Through two days of this NFL draft, these stubborn Seahawks have taken four high quality players who fit neither area of need, bastards.

I love a good bastard.

John Schneider tipped his hand to this philosophy of taking best available players where they select a week or so ago. In an interview, he said that this team has done best at drafting when they avoided taking players based on need, and just went for the best players available when picking. He felt like last year, they went that direction.

In this first round on Thursday, Seattle grabbed the best cover corner and the best receiver in the draft. Now, Seattle potentially has the deepest young cornerback room in the league, and potentially one of the top three receiver sets.

Yesterday, I was convinced Seattle would select a center or guard and then a DT. Instead, the took Auburn pass rusher Derick Hall, who is one of the most explosive and productive ends in the class, and then they took dynamic UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet (a guy I really wanted for the Seahawks but didn’t think would be available at pick 52). Both of these selections are home runs.

Derick Hall brings high percentile explosion and athletic traits that translate well into the NFL as a speed to power edge rusher a la Cliff Avril and Frank Clark. One report I read, suggested that his best fit is in a 4-3 defense, which I find interesting considering the rumor of Carroll switching back to his old scheme (although Carroll described him as an outside linebacker).

At any rate, Seattle only has Boye Mafe contracted beyond this season, so I think this selection of Hall makes a lot of sense. Whether they stay with in a 3-4 base, revert back to more 4-3, or just play the bear front stuff, Seattle needed to add another edge rusher, and Derick Hall brings traits that could make him a high quality starter. He also brings a high character personality, strong leadership traits, and a motor that helped make him a first team SEC defender, which is saying something. This is pretty exciting. I dig this pick.

With Zach Charbonnet, though, this is the pick I was really hoping for, but wasn’t anticipating Seattle making. All through most of last season, I was nervous about Seattle’s depth at running back behind Ken Walker after Rashaad Penny went down. I just wasn’t sold on the Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas combination of depth players.

In this modern NFL, offenses that like to be balanced need quality depth at running back. Teams that want to feature an explosive running back need two guys who can be quality starters.

Zach Charbonnet has the talent to be a pro bowl back in this league. He’s got great size, good speed, he can run inside and out, is a quality receiver, can run through defenders and by them, and is a quality pass blocker. In short, he’s a featured back, and now Seattle has two of them like more teams are trying to acquire. This was an absolute home run hit in my view.

Now Seattle has the potential for the type of dynamic one two punch in their backfield to really wear into defenses like USC did back during their hight of Pete Carroll football. Charbonnet can be the thunder to Walker’s lightening. I am jacked up for this, and Seattle still has six picks today to address the interiors of both of their lines (after trading out of Round 3 for an additional Round 4 pick and a 2024 3rd rounder).

Interestingly enough, there are guys available this morning who were projected to be high round picks on the offensive line in Ohio State OT Dawand Jones, and Ohio State Center Luke Wypler. Could both these guys be Seahawks after today?

I think it would be cool if they are.

Go Hawks!