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The Seattle Seahawks 2024 NFL Draft will be the first since 2010 without Pete Carroll and the first of the Mike Macdonald era. Couple this with the fact that the Seahawks are a borderline playoff team right now — making the postseason in 2022 and missing in 2023 — and this draft becomes crucial to the franchise’s future. This is why South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler and Illinois defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton are two sneaky good players the team needs to draft.
Seattle picks at No. 16 in April, and there are a few directions the team could go. At 33, how many good seasons does Geno Smith have left? Talent questions aside, Father Time alone says not many.
So, the Seahawks could draft a QB at No. 16, but by that point, the top three signal-callers — Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels — will be gone, and there’s a chance a good chunk of the next wave — JJ McCarthy, Bo Nix, and Michael Penix Jr. — could be off the board, too.
Even if Nix or Penix are still around, with so many QBs getting drafted early, the Seahawks have a great chance to get a sneaky good player at their spot or to trade back for more assets to a team that likes a player who falls to 16.
Either way, the Seahawks should skip taking a QB early and try to fill their next most pressing need, interior defensive line.
Jer’Zhan Newton, DT Illinois
Offseason free agent acquisition Dre'Mont Jones was underwhelming this season and Leonard Williams, who the team traded its second-round pick for at the trade deadline is a free agent who will surely demand top money for his position.
Plus, new head coach Mike Macdonald is a defensive specialist from the Baltimore Ravens organization, so building a defense from the lines out with a prospect he can shape into the next Justin Madubuike will be appealing.
There are several first-round defensive tackles who could be available at 16. This includes Texas’ Byron Murphy II, who most mock drafts have coming off the board well ahead of Newton.
However, the two are similarly sized, with Newton at 6-foot-2, 295 pounds and Myrphy at 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, and while Newtown was a disruptive force for the Fighting Illini, Murphy failed to put much on paper during his time with the Longhorns.
In three seasons in Texas, Murphy had 70 tackles, 15.0 tackles for a loss, and 8.0 sacks. In four seasons in Illinois, only playing part-time as a freshman, Newton put up 187 tackles, 27.5 for a loss, 18.0 sacks, five passes defended, three fumble recoveries, and two forced fumbles.
The NFL.com scouting report on Murphy says, “Forget the average physical traits and modest production and focus on his competitive spirit and disruptive qualities.”
Well, Newton is competitive, disruptive, has good physical traits, and excellent production. Give me that any day of the week.
Plus, with his skills, size, and speed, Newton can play 5-technique (DE) in Macdonald’s base 3-4 defense or 3-technique (DT) in his sub-packages. That type of versatility combined with great stuff on tape makes Jer’Zhan Newton the sneaky good pick over Byron Murphy II in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Spencer Rattler, QB, South Carolina
Just because the Seahawks won’t use their first-round pick on a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft doesn’t mean they shouldn’t take one at some point. Do any Seahawks fans remember 12 years ago when the team signed Matt Flynn in free agency and drafted a QB in the third round of the 2012 draft?
Well, that pick of Russell Wilson led to two Super Bowl appearances and a Lombardi Trophy.
This season, the Seahawks should draft a quarterback in the third round again and hope for similar results.
Wilson slipped to the third round because Mike Glennon unseated him at North Carolina State and he had to transfer to Wisconsin, plus there were question marks about whether he would go play baseball instead of football.
South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler lost his spot at Oklahoma to a guy named Caleb Williams and transferred to South Carolina, where he was quietly very good for the last two seasons. Yes, at 6-foot, 219 pounds, Rattler is a little on the smaller side, but he has a cannon of an arm and talent in his legs.
Rattler burst onto the scene in high school as part of Netflix’s QB1 series, and his talent has never been in question. Having too much confidence and a casual attitude on the field at times are things that draw criticism, but those things can be coached up.
In an NFL draft year where every QB — even the vaunted Caleb Williams — has a few question marks, why not wait and take a mid-round signal-caller again in Spence Rattler? With his pedigree and background, the NFL might be better for him than college ever was.
