Seahawks Drafts from the Past: The post-Super Bowl class of 2014

The Seattle Seahawks lost a key member of their receiving corps in the 2014 offseason and attempted to fill the void with their first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

In the lead-up to the 2024 NFL Draft, let’s take a look back on the Seattle Seahawks draft classes from 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago. I’ll list each draft pick and give a short summary of their career achievements – if applicable.

This is the last article in this series for the year and the 2014 draft class for the Seahawks was…not fantastic.

Round 2, Pick No. 45 – Paul Richardson, WR, Colorado

Seattle was originally slated to pick No. 32 overall in the first round because of that glorious Super Bowl XLVIII victory, but they traded that selection to the Minnesota Vikings for No. 40 in the second round and No. 108 in the fourth round. The Vikings used No.32 on Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater.

The Seahawks then traded back with the NFC North once again, sending No. 40 and No. 146 in the fifth round to the Detroit Lions for No. 45, No. 111, and No. 227. The Lions selected Kyle Van Noy.

With Seattle on the board for the third time, they finally decided to make a pick, taking speedster WR Paul Richardson from Colorado to try and fill the hole from Golden Tate’s offseason departure to the Motor City.

Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.

Richardson’s first 3 seasons were derailed by injuries. He finally had a mini breakout in a contract year and turned that into a pretty fat free agent contract with the Washington Redskins. His final stats in Seattle were 47 games played with 95 catches for 1,302 yards and 8 TDs.

In Washington, Richardson once again faced injuries and only played 17 games over 2 seasons prior to being released. He signed back with Seattle but never played another down in the NFL.

At least we’ll always have that crazy one-handed catch he made in the playoffs against the Lions!

Round 2, Pick No. 64 – Justin Britt, T, Missouri

The Seahawks used their native second-round selection on offensive tackle Justin Britt from Missouri. He had a wrestling background, so Tom Cable loved him. Britt bounced around the line from RT in 2014 to LG in 2015 before finally moving to C in 2016 where he seemed to finally find his stride. He ended up playing in 99 games with 98 starts for Seattle from 2014-2019 and then was out of football in 2020 prior to finishing his career with the Houston Texans.

Round 4, Pick No. 108 – Cassius Marsh, DE, UCLA

Marsh played in 37 games over 3 seasons with the Seahawks from 2014-2016, collecting 55 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 10 TFL, 1 FF, and 1 FR. He was traded to the New England Patriots in 2017 and played for 7 other NFL franchises, most recently the Chicago Bears in 2021.

Round 4, Pick No. 123 – Kevin Norwood, WR, Alabama

Wait, I thought Seattle had pick No. 111 after trading with Detroit? They did, but they traded that selection to the Cincinnati Bengals for picks No. 123 and No. 199. The Bengals picked Russell Bodine.

Norwood played in 9 games for the Seahawks in 2014 with 9 catches for 102 yards. He appeared in 1 game for the Carolina Panthers in 2015 and then was out of the NFL.

Round 4, Pick No. 132 – Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB, Boston College

KPL spent 3 seasons in Seattle tallying 43 tackles with 1 FR. Like Marsh, he found plenty of other stops in the NFL and last played with the Houston Texans in 2022.

Round 5, Pick No. 172 – Jimmy Staten, DT, Middle Tennessee State

Did not accrue any NFL statistics but was still hanging around on NFL practice squads in 2017.

Round 6, Pick No. 199 – Garrett Scott, OL, Marshall

Did not accrue any NFL statistics because a rare heart condition was found in his physical with the Seahawks.

Round 6, Pick No. 208 – Eric Pinkins, S, San Diego State

Pinkins played in 6 games for the Seahawks in 2015 and 5 games for the New York Giants in 2016.

Round 7, Pick No. 227 – Kiero Small, FB, Arkansas

Small never played for Seattle but did start 3 games for the Cleveland Browns in 2014.

Drafting at the end of every round means you won the Super Bowl, which is great. It also limits the “blue chip” players available at that point so it’s not entirely surprising that the 2014 draft class was so poor. There were a few standout moments for sure but not much sustained success.

Let’s hope the 2024 class turns out much better!