When the Seattle Seahawks made the trade for Sam Howell a few weeks back, the assumption was that it took them out of the running of drafting a quarterback in round one. This very might well prove the case, but Seattle just had former Oregon Duck quarterback Bo Nix in for a visit over the weekend, and that presents an interesting question.

Seattle picks 16 overall in the NFL draft, and then they don’t pick again until 81. The golf between these two picks is gigantic. Therefore, if Nix slides to pick 16, and they don’t take him, he most certainly will not be available when Seattle picks at 81, assuming they don’t trade back for a second round pick (they might).

Nix is expected by many to be a first round pick, but is the league expecting a fall in the draft a la Will Levis from last year, and could Seattle be looking to land him later? Could he be a target at the bottom of round one, or in the second round after a series of trade backs?

It’s a curious visit. Many folks in amongst the 206 area code don’t appear super high on Nix after watching Michael Penix Junior and the Huskies defeat the Ducks three times in the last two years, but I dig him. I think he’s got great character, I am drawn to his ability to throw on the run, and be an athletic point guard distributor in football cleats. He doesn’t have a huge arm, but it appears big enough, and he’s accurate. I can see him being successful in a Kyle Shanahan styled offensive, and I can also see how a defensive minded head coach would appreciate his willingness to be judicious with the ball in his hands. With all the skill players Seattle has on offense, I think he could step in and find early success.

Therefore, in inspiration of all this Nix visiting the Seahawks news, I want to entertain the idea that they are still quite interested in going QB early, even though they traded for Howell. How realistic this is, I have no idea, but I think it’s interesting.

Right now, there are six quarterbacks who are thought to be likely first round picks in a couple weeks; Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, JJ McCarthy should all go pretty high, and then there’s Penix, and Nix. Some think the Spencer Rattler might develop into a decent NFL starter, but he isn’t projected to go first round. After Rattler, there isn’t much in this class in terms of developmental prospects. Therefore, if you want a starter type on a rookie contract, you’re likely going to have to spend a high pick.

From a Seattle perspective, the chances of one these top quarterbacks reaching pick 16 for them remains dicey, in my opinion. The Vikings, Raiders, Broncos all feel like they are gearing to take a quarterback early. The Falcons and Jets, with older quarterbacks, could also have interest. We know that the Bears, Commanders, Patriots, and perhaps even the Giants almost certainly are looking to select one of these dudes high.

That is nine teams in front of Seattle who could be enticed to take one of these six dudes. This is why Seattle made the Sam Howell trade. They wanted to get someone who has upside to be molded into an eventual starter, and Howell presented the easiest pathway with their lack of draft capital. For them, they liked Howell two years ago, he was on the market because Washington was picking second overall, and they were perfectly willing to outbid Denver and the LA Rams for his services.

In this mock draft article, however, I am going to proposal a hypothetical as to how Seattle might still get their guy, if they are very high on a particular fella. As I skim through the tea leaves, I can see a scenario that could happen.

Now I am now going to present a situation where Minnesota makes a trade with the Patriots to move all the way up to number three overall, and they take JJ McCarthy who they will have convinced themselves he’s got the intangibles to lead them to the promised land. This trade happens after the Bears took Caleb Williams, and the Commanders took Jayden Daniels.

The Patriots, hoping for Daniels, traded back once the Commies took him in front of them. This trade inspires the Raiders to trade with the Cardinals at pick 4, and they snag Drake Maye who they will have convinced themselves he’s the next Justin Herbert. Then from picks five through nine we see an expected run on offensive tackles and receivers. After that run, this following thing happens.

With the 10th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the New York Jets Trade With the Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks deal pick 16 and their 2025 first round pick to move up six spots in order to get in front of the Patriots at pick 11 who are likely eyeing the same quarterback. The Jets, who have been a trade partner with Seattle in the past, accept the offer in order to prevent the talented passer to go to their division rival, and stock up first round picks in 2025 to perhaps go after their own QB of the future.

With the 10th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Michael Penix Junior, Quarterback, Washington

Seattle gets the passer they wanted all along, a big armed, brilliant deep ball passer who they envision pairing with DK Metcalf for years to come. They hired his offensive coach, his offensive line coach, and they know exactly how to use him. They have a plan to protect him by leaning into a powerful run game more which will allow him to play in a more balanced attack than what he did in his Washington days. They knew they didn’t have shot at the top three, but they were hoping they would come within striking distance of Penix, and they got him.

With the 81st pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Brandon Coleman, Guard, TCU

Coleman was an athletic left tackle at TCU who projects as a guard in the NFL. Call him a poor man’s version of UW’s Troy Fautanu (who should go in the top 15 of this draft). Coleman has good pass blocking traits, comes with good football fundamentals, and has an explosiveness to develop into a quality run blocker. He should step into the left guard vacancy and compete to be a day one starter.

With the 102nd pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Jeremiah Trotter Junior, Linebacker, Clemson

Trotter has NFL DNA surging through his body, and is a smart, all out effort, middle linebacker. He’s not a big player but plays big. He’s considered not a great athlete, but is a very instinctive player against the run and in coverage. Middle linebacker is one position where instincts can often trump size and speed, and Lofa Tatupu had the same knocks against him coming out of USC in 2005 when Seattle took him in round two and it was considered a massive reach. I can see him being a Mike Macdonald guy.

With the 118th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Layden Robinson, Guard, Texas A&M

I had Seattle draft Robinson in the exact same spot in last week’s mock draft article after taking offensive line in round one, and I am going to continue projecting him at this spot this week. I think Seattle will most likely draft a couple offensive linemen even if they go a different position in round one. Robinson has the size, strength, and athletic traits to compete with Anthony Bradford at right guard.

With the 179th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Devin Culp, Tight End, Washington

Seattle stays patient and takes Penix’s athletic pass catching tight end here, and Culp comes in with an immediate understanding of Ryan Grubb’s scheme, and has instant chemistry with Penix. Smart pickup here.

With the 192nd pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Nathaniel Watson, Linebacker, Mississippi State

Seattle grabs another middle linebacker type with good athleticism and three years of experience starting. He showed good instincts in coverage in college, and traits to be a quality blitzer (which will be important to Macdonald). He has traits to be a starter in the league, but needs to learn proper discipline in order to achieve that status.

With the 235th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Kitan Oladapo, Safety, Oregon State

Oladapo is well sized to play strong safety in the league, and has shown a decent ability to play against tight ends. Seattle should do a lot of split safety stuff here, but he has enough traits to be able to develop that way. He’s a good athlete who should bring immediate special teams value and depth.

Thoughts about this mock draft

By mocking former Huskies to Seattle in back to back weeks in the first round, I understand it if readers feel I am the homeresty homer that ever homed the homestead, but I calls ’em as I sees them. I think Michael Penix Junior is special, and I see only two other QB prospects in this draft who I would describe as perhaps being more special (Williams and Daniels).

It is fine to be nervous about Michael Penix’s injury history, and question whether he can hold up long term in the NFL, but there is not a prettier deep ball passer in this draft, and John Schneider has a love for big armed quarterbacks, and Seattle has an offensive coordinator who knows him better than anyone else in the league. It is the easiest thing to project him to Seattle, even with the Sam Howell trade (who I believe Seattle is genuinely high on, as well).

What continues to baffle me about Penix is the view from some NFL and draft analysts who still believe he is a second round talent, even after his pro day where he ran a blistering 4.5 forty in front of scouts and jumped a ridiculously high vertical for a quarterback. The concern amongst most of his detractors is his substantial injury history even though his medicals have checked out positively, and some analytic data showing that he didn’t perform very well off script last year, but my goodness, do they not see how effortlessly he can rip difficult throws downfield on-script?

I say fooey to all of this. He was the best on-script passer in college football over the past two years, and with huge hands, he can spin the ball downfield like few quarterbacks can. Put him in an offense that allows him to perform on-script on Sundays, with a great offensive line, ground game, and defense, and go win a freaking championship with him.

Tom Brady, who many consider the GOAT quarterback, was not great off script, either. Neither was Payton Manning, Troy Aikman, and Dan Marino. They all succeeded by having unique abilities to kill defenses on schedule from the pocket.

Football is not as innovative as some fans like to think of it. All this chatter about how today’s game is more about needing to have quarterbacks who can throw off platform, and off-script outside of the pocket is baloney.

Nobody is going to call Brock Purdy a brilliant off schedule improvising quarterback. He’s very much tied to Kyle Shanahan’s detailed play calling, and he executes it brilliantly on schedule. If he makes a play outside of the realm of how it was designed, Kyle is famously willing to rip him a new one on the sidelines.

In Denver, Sean Payton also runs a very detail oriented on schedule scripted offense, and even though Russell Wilson was having a decent bounce back statistical season last year, he was absolutely driving the coach nuts with is unscripted style. It wouldn’t shock me if Penix is actually QB1 for Payton in this draft.

Penix has all the traits of a great on schedule quarterback. I think he’s a young Warren Moon and Troy Aikman. I feel it. I got nothing against Geno Smith, or Sam Howell, but I believe to my core that Penix will likely be a much better passer in this league. I feel it in my bones.

I could be wrong, sure. He could get drafted to a bad organization with bad coaching. He could have coordinators switched on him early, and never have enough time to master a system. He could get injured and never materialize to his potential. He could be Sam Darnold in four years.

He could also become a brilliant young Warren Moon-esque passer torching up the league with all kinds of pretty stats and pro bowl nods, and deep playoff runs. It is this vision of his future that makes me believe Seattle should just go out and get him.

Do I think it is likely that Seattle will trade up for him a few spots and take him within the top ten in front of other quarterback hungry teams? No, I think it is significantly more likely that they trade back for more picks and take an offensive lineman just as I had them do in last week’s mock draft article. Again, I will say it that I believe they like Sam Howell’s potential more than some realize, but in that, I cannot rule out the possibility of Seattle doing something they have never done before with John Schneider at the GM helm, if they dig on a guy in this draft even more, and move up to get him. It would not stun me.

If they believe that a guy like Penix is the dude who will quarterback them to titles, and he is within striking distance of a trade to move up for him, they could do it, absolutely, and they should. The question becomes whether they feel that way about him, and whether he is within reasonable striking distance to do this sort of trade.

Personally, I believe Penix is destined to be drafted much higher than where Seattle is slated to pick at 16. If I am proved to be wrong on this, I will be happy to own it, but I don’t think I will be. His arm talent is too special, as are his leadership traits. Those two factors alone will likely outweigh concerns about further injuries, in my opinion, and the Falcons who pick at eight overall just sent a massive delegation (including their head coach) to Seattle to work him out and interview him. Even though they just signed Kirk Cousins, it makes sense for them to draft Penix and have him waiting in the wings for a year or two.

If he should get past Atlanta, however, and make it to pick ten of the Jets, I think it would be worth it for Seattle to put in an offer to move up at that point. Sure, the Jets, themselves, could be inclined to take him there, but do they really want to piss off a moody Aaron Rodgers who they just traded for and made their bed with? Trading back with Seattle, and taking the best receiver or offensive linemen feels more prudent from their position, and they can explore quarterback options in 2025 with two first round picks at their disposal once again.

From a fan perspective, I think this sort of bold move for Penix would have the Twelves very split. Many people would dance in the streets, but others would throw their remotes at their television sets, especially those who believe Geno Smith is a perfectly fine quarterback for the now and in the future. I get that, but I reckon that there was a continent of Chief fans who believed Alex Smith was a perfectly fine quarterback, and they lamented the trade up for a raw Patrick Mahomes who had tons of question marks coming out of Texas Tech.

What would trading up for Penix mean for Geno? That’s where it gets murkier.

Penix would come into Seattle knowing Ryan Grubb exceptionally well. Seattle could look to trade or release Geno post June 1st to save some off of the cap, and allow him to select a quarterback needy-ish team of his choosing. However, if they wanted to stock up on further 2025 draft picks, Sam Howell, with his upside and two year left on a cheap rookie contract, might offer more trade value. If the Broncos miss out on a quarterback in the draft, for example, Howell to Denver doesn’t sound that crazy, and maybe Seattle sees value in keeping Geno for a final year to mentor in Penix like Kurt Warner did to Eli Manning with the Giants. I could see it going either way.

If Seattle should shock the world and trade up for Penix, but trading away next year’s first round pick, they could still target valuable offensive line prospects in the third and fourth rounds, and feel like they can get a couple starters. If Brandon Coleman ends up at pick 81, it makes all the sense in the world to snatch him up. He’s big and athletic with left tackle experience and a body made for an NFL guard. He could grow into one of the better interior pass blockers in the league and would come into Seattle with Scott Huff coaching him up.

Beyond pick 81, I just like Seattle drafting Steady Eddie types filling in needs. Under John Schneider, Seattle has historically done very well finding mid to late round starters who are just good football players if not great workout warriors. KJ Wright and Will Dissly didn’t blow anyone away at the NFL combine. Their tape was just really good and Seattle recognized that. Go get guys who played well in college to fill in depth needs.

Jeremiah Trotter Junior is perhaps a bit of a limited athlete but he’s a smart player who plays instinctively well. Layden Robinson should be a guy you take in the middle rounds with the expectation he can develop into a decent NFL guard. Devin Culp offers skills for move tight ends that play like big slot receivers who you see a lot of on Sunday. Nathaniel Watson might likely get drafted a lot higher than the sixth round, but if he’s there, he’s the sort you happily pickup. Go draft another safety, at some point to throw in the mix, like Olapado.

In conclusion, while I don’t think this mock draft scenario is very likely for Seattle, it is the scenario that I most want them to do in a few weeks. If they love one of these quarterbacks, and they believe they could have a shot at him, just go get him, if you can.

This feels like a draft that is a rare top heavy one at quarterback. The drop off beyond the top six or seven is steep. In fact, next year’s draft class might be better for day two QB prospects who could be viewed as future starters.

Finally, I will say this. if Seattle traded up for Penix, I will absolutely lose my freaking mind with excitement. My neighbor might feel inclined to call 911 because of the lunatic next door.

He is the dude I have most wanted to see in a Seahawk uniform for many months now. If this happens in two weeks, I will absolutely lose my shit, and I am not really that much of a quarterback obsessed fan. I have always been a trenches guy, and have been lamenting for years how much Seattle has not emphasized, nearly enough, offensive and defensive linemen. This is how much of a believer I am in Penix.

Go get him, I say.

Go Hawks!