Overall Impressions

by: Michael Steffes

The weekends event deserve a summation. Especially now that you can all share your opinion again. First off let me let me say that I am still not sure what I think about the new format of the draft. I really liked the first day and how is worked. I was not so hot on today. It lasted forever and it started way to early for us west coasters. The late rounds have more picks, and thus it seems like an eternity between picks for you team. Unless you were the Eagles or Ravens who stockpiled 2nd day picks.

You can weigh in on what you think, but what if they did a Friday night segment too? Round one only took 3 1/2 hours. That is the length of a game. Do that in prime time and then two 12-4 sessions. Maybe that works, maybe it doesn't. What ever they do, they need to tell team employees to keep their lips shut on who they are picking before the whole thing starts. Just my opinion, but that was massively anti-climatic.

So on to the Seahawks. To read my thoughts and musing on the Hawks draft...

I thought that all in all the Seahawks were the Seahawks. As much as I think I can break down what they do and prognosticate on it ahead of time, I can't. I thought the first day went much according to plan. At one point I speculated they would go DE. Things might have changed if Baltimore and Atlanta waited and took the Hawks pick. Then it is possible they would have taken Carlson in the early 2nd and went from there. Moving up in the 2nd was smart. No reason to end up with a guy the organization is wishy washy on at the one position you had to deal with. Get your guy and deal with the lost pick later. That was a good decision, even if it seemed early for JC.

As for missing the 3rd rounder, well it seemed we were just one pick short all day. That is why we glossed over the o-line. Ruskell even said he wanted to take a OL guy in the fourth, but since the guy he targeted for the third was there he took him. It is fine with me. Really, you never can have too many linemen, no matter which style or technique they play. Worry about that later and get the guy you think will be best. All three of the first picks will see snaps on week 1, and that is what i like best about them.

The rest of the second day baffled me. Not really because of what the Hawks did, as much as far off all the draft projections are. So much for pay sites being accurate. Roy Scheuning, who I really liked, almost made it to the Hawks 5th rounder. He was supposed to be late 2nd or 3rd. Him going to the Rams made me bitter. However the pick of Owen Schmitt made up for it. I love it. If I were Leonard Weaver, I would be a bit more prepared for this years camp. Especially since the team told him they were gonna wait and see on his next deal. David Kirtman is gone, especially because they took Forsett too. He is a stretch to make the team, as they usually keep 5, but if he does, he will be the Scobey/Hicks mold special team back. He and Wilson will likely return kicks. Nasty Nate should still handle punts, in my opinion, but you never no.

The specialists were needed picks. I am not gonna argue over the semantics of when they were picked, or if you really need to pick players at those positions instead of just signing them. It sounded like Coutu was going to sign with us anyway. Likely they both make roster, even if Mare does too. Thus the team got two contributers (maybe three if Forsett pans out) from the late part of the draft. That is why the Hawks are great at the draft.

There were a lot of things I was right about. Kentwan Balmer and Dustin Keller never had a shot to be Hawks. Neither did a first round WR or another QB. But man Ruskell got me good on the linebackers. I am still sitting here trying to figure out how I missed on that. The must like Herring and Laury more than they let on, at least as linebackers too. Not just special teamers. I will just keep my fingers crossed for health. The may always pick up some scraps at the end of camp if things don't look promising.

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the coverage Chris and I provided. We had a lot of fun doing it. Not sure what else you could do with the draft. Everybody gets the info at the same time. I would like to think we gave something a bit different, but who knows. One thing I felt awful about was not having comments. That is why when the draft ended, I made it my goal to figure something out. Could be it all changes tomorrow again, I think the new site will be up. A reader wrote me that it was unfair that I did all the lead up and didn't give people a chance to talk. In way that is true and that why I felt bad. As you know, there were other concerns.

Finally, i would just like to say thank you for being patient, and CONGRATS again to Big Seahawk Loser. What a guess! 13 seconds away, unbelievable. Hope you all enjoyed the holy grail weekend of the NFL offseason as much as I did.