Michael Penix Junior was destined to go top ten in this draft. This is something I have felt very strongly about for a number of months. All of this baloney talk of him being a second or third round pick was complete nonsense being peddled for months by high profile “draft experts” who probably didn’t sit down and watch very many Washington Husky games over the past two years.

Instead, they viewed his injury history at Indiana, and his average-ish frame, and his less than stellar championship game against Michigan, and they penciled in a bunch of lazy narratives. If Penix had been quarterbacking for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan last season, hitting beautiful deep shots off of play action in a ground and pound offense, supported by the best defense in America, guiding them to the championship win, he would have been a top three pick in this draft. Instead, he was taken eighth overall to Atlanta in a move that surprised many, and that did not surprise me in the slightest.

I wanted Seattle to draft him. I wanted it badly, and a couple weeks ago, I wrote an article where Seattle traded up to take him. I felt that the only way for him to be a Seahawk would be a trade up. I was spot on correct with that, too. There are now reports floating around out that Seattle was, indeed, making an effort to move up for him, after all. Apparently, so was Vegas and New Orleans.

I’m not going to go into rehashing all my reasons for why I believed Penix to Seattle made perfect sense in my mind. I have written about it to an exhausting point, and have argued my position to folks on the internet, and friends, and family, and anyone else pushing against it. It turns out that the league pretty much agreed with my views on him. So, I have that feather in my cap. Go Falcons.

I also suggested in my last mock draft article that Bo Nix might be a candidate for Seattle after a trade back while at the same time suggesting that he could easily go to Denver at twelve overall, and he did just that. Bo Nix has his critics, but I am not one of them. In Denver, I think Sean Payton is going to do a lot of good things with him, and while many are calling that pick a reach, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a better career than a few of the younger quarterbacks taken in front of him. Time will tell.

Enough of the quarterbacks, though, and onto the real exciting news. Because of the absurd amount of quarterbacks (six of them), offensive tackles, and receivers taken in the first fourteen picks of the draft, the Seattle Seahawks landed a guy who many believe was the best overall defensive player in the draft in one Byron Murphy, Defensive Tackle, out of Texas.

Make no mistake about this. That was a MAJOR steal for the Seahawks. In any other draft, this is a player who would most likely have gone top ten (I thought Atlanta or Chicago would be the spots for him). According to general manager John Schneider, Seattle had four really good trade offers on the table that they turned down to pick Murphy. I can believe that.

At 21 years of age, Byron Murphy has already earned his degree at Texas, so we can imagine that he is a hard working dude. At 6-1 and 300 pounds with an impressive athletic profile, he is also twitched up dude who was a tackle for loss demon in college last year. You can line him up at three technique, 4i, and nose tackle, and he possesses the strength, athleticism, and skills to bugger up an offensive line.

He is as well built as they come for defensive tackle, too. He’s not the doughy pile of fun loving goo that Poona Ford and Brandon Mebane were, but more of the Greek god chiseled-ness of Aaron Donald. That is as far as I will go to compare him to Donald (a once in a generation DT), but his physical profile is impressive like that.

For years, Seattle fans have been pining for this team to acquire a talent such as this to add to their defensive line, and he just fell into their lap. Every Seahawk fan should be excited about this addition, and what a superb way to usher in the Mike Macdonald era.

It’s fine to want to see the Seahawks draft a promising young quarterback who will play for a number of years on a cheap rookie contract, and we can all see that Seattle needs to add more to their offensive line at guard. I would argue, however, that the opportunity to draft a rare game wrecking style defensive tackle trumps taking a great guard prospect, and with no viable QB that you would take after the crazy run of them, this move became an instant no brainer.

It is really, really hard to find defensive tackles who can do what Murphy projects to do at this level. He plays was such great leverage, and explosive power, and translatable skill. He will grow as a pass rusher, but he should have an impact year one making Seattle’s defensive line a problem for opponents. I loved Troy Fautanu as much as the next person as an option for Seattle, but I’m sorry, I’m going Murphy a hundred out of a hundred times with both players on my board. I am so elated that Seattle did not over think this pick.

Mike Macdonald was brought into Seattle to replace Pete Carroll mainly for one reason and one reason only. To build a defense that would wreck Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay offenses. That is why he got this gig. John Schneider just gave him a major tool to do just that.

One could easily argue that the offense for Seattle is really not that far along from being one of the better ones in the league. They need to add more to the offensive line, but they are loaded with weapons, and they have a capable veteran quarterback, and a young guy with some upside behind him, already. When we step back and look at the fuller picture, we can easily see what this team desperately needs most is to get its defense’s ass kicked into high gear.

Byron Murphy is a compact high gear defensive lineman. That is the best way to describe him. Paired with Leonard Big Cat Williams, mixing in with Jarran Reed and Dre’Mont Jones, he going to bring this defensive front a lot of juice. Even if he doesn’t initially collect gobs of sacks, he will make other jobs easier. Boye Mafe’s job is going to be easier, and it wouldn’t shock me if he gets near to 15 sacks this year with Murphy shooting through gabs inside on long third downs.

It is going to be fascinating to see how this defense will morph under Macdonald now with this acquisition. I did not expect him to be available. As I write these thoughts out now, I’m still frankly stunned.

And Seattle still has six picks left in this draft to add a decent young guard prospect. I feel like in round three and early round four, there’s likely still going to be some decent options available. Players like TCU’s Brandon Coleman, Pitt’s Matt Goncalves, Michigan’s Zak Zinter, and South Dakota State’s Mason McCormick could be options available when Seattle picks again, and I’m excited to find out. As a fun thought, maybe UW right tackle Roger Rosengarten falls into their lap at pick 81, and they move Abe Lucas inside to better protect his knee.

But at this rate, however, I would say the draft is working out perfectly for Seattle right now. They got the game wrecker, and a guy who many did not expect to be there at 16. Round one of this draft came to them perfectly.

I also appreciate the rumors that they were preparing to move up for Penix, they need to find a long term solution at quarterback, and who knows, maybe they target Spencer Rattler today, but good teams let the draft process come to them. If Rattler is there at pick 81 and they want to take him, great on them, but if not, I hope they keep an open mind on whoever else might be available there when they pick next today. No need to reach for a need if there is a great prospect sitting that who plays a different position.

So far so good with Bryon Murphy, though. As my father used to say, you cannot have enough quality defensive lineman. He would have loved this pick.

Go Hawks!