Seahawks have 7th most total draft capital in 2022

The 2022 NFL Draft is nearly upon us, and for once in more than a decade, our Seattle Seahawks are slated to have a top 10 selection — and for once not just the kind that comes in the form of a veteran reclamation project! This is the highest pick they’ve had since 2012, when their 12th overall pick turned into 15th after a bit of maneuvering with the Philadelphia Eagles. Of course, the player they had their eyes on was Bruce Irvin, and the rest is sweet, sweet history.

In the years since, the Front Office has typically made a point to amass picks as they have primarily ended up selecting near the end of the rounds anyway. But then 2021 happened… the team only made three draft picks, got devoured by injuries, missed the playoffs, and now this year is significantly different in basically every way; No Russell Wilson, no Bobby Wagner, an unsettled Offensive Line (that part maybe isn’t new, but at least Duane Brown made the LT position as stable as it has been since Walter Jones and he remains unsigned). The defense is under a new coordinator, and about the only certainty seems to be that we should have the opportunity to watch a handful of rookies get opportunities in 2022, and that should at least provide some excitement and fun regardless of how this season materializes.

While the team seemed intent to run it back last year with more or less the same group and few key additions here and there, they are in full-retooling mode now. The good news is that NFL Draft is just around the corner, and they currently hold the 7th most capital in the league, according to Field Yates.

Here is the complete breakdown, with pick values taken from the Rich Hill chart via DraftTek.com:

• 1.9 (387), 2.40 (149), 2.41 (146), 3.72 (67), 4.109 (32), 5.152 (12), 5.153 (12), 7.229 (3)

For comparison, the Seahawks held and ultimately made far and away their fewest selections (3 total) in 2021 relative to the other PC/JS drafts. Obviously, this didn’t work out explicitly in favor of the team, as the jury is still out on their exciting but underdeveloped class of ‘21. Great things could still be ahead for Eskridge, Brown, and Forsythe, but at this moment none of them project as a surefire starter in ‘22. Of the three, Tre Brown may be the most likely simply due to positional need, but he would need to seriously impress in camp (or be the beneficiary of others missteps). Regardless of all their bouncing around that ultimately netted them the 6th round pick that they originally traded to the Miami Dolphins in order to pick Stephen Sullivan in 2020, if you simply add up the value they had in 2021 based on the three picks they held at the onset of Day One, it looks like this:

• 2.56 (98) + 4.129 (19) + 7.250 (2) = 119

or, taking their final pick positions into account…

• 2.56 (98) + 4.137 (18) + 6.208 (4) = 120.

So there you have it. Worthy of note: none of the Seahawks’ division rivals cracked the top half of the value chart. This isn’t the least bit surprising with respect to the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, but I did actually have to take a look to see what is up with the Arizona Cardinals; while the Cards are the only NFC West team to have a first round pick other than Seattle, they don’t have any picks in round 4 or 5. They do, however, have an absolutely Seahawk-ian Five picks throughout rounds 6 and 7.