The Seattle Seahawks had a disappointing 2023 season and did their best to retool this offseason while bringing in a new head coach to replace Pete Carroll. Mike MacDonald, the former Michigan and Baltimore Ravens defensive mastermind, is in while Carroll has rode off into the sunset on his white horse.
The Seahawks did their best to hit home runs in this year's draft, and came away with a wide variety of 2024 NFL Draft grades. The team's draft results came out way different than its original 2024 mock draft.
Many picks have been praised for their potential impact on the team. It wasn't a perfect draft, however. Let's explore three ‘mistakes' (the term is relative in this case), that the Seahawks made in Detroit.
1. AJ Barner – A Reach?
Coach Mike MacDonald knows AJ Barner well as he played for former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. Barner played a ton of snaps as the team's tight end number two behind Colston Loveland. He was one of the best blocking tight ends in the nation and had sure hands inside the red zone and the middle of the field to snag passes.
Barner is also one of the strongest and most well-built prospects in the entire draft for his position at 6-foot-6, 251 pounds with great awareness, feet and strength to assist in the blocking game as well as the passing game.
The consensus among draft pundits is that Barner was a reach in the fourth round. I personally believe Barner was an excellent pick, although if you want to nitpick, he could be considered a reach. Clearly, MacDonald and the Seahawks did not want to chance letting him slip to another team.
Barner is far from a sure thing but he should contribute to the Seahawks over the duration of his first contract, at the very least.
2. Byron Murphy II – The Wrong Pick?
Murphy II was a force at Texas and is likely to be one again at the next level. MacDonald had a tough decision on his hands between Murphy II and Dallas Turner, the Alabama football star who fell to pick 17 to the Minnesota Vikings.
By all accounts, Turner was a can't-miss prospect, which made his slide all the more perplexing. The Seahawks couldn't have gone wrong with either player, but MacDonald could live to regret passing on Turner.
The thought process here is that the former Michigan coach is confident in his ability to turn unknown prospects into pass rushers which is why he placed more of a premium on the disruptive, space-eating defensive tackle out of the Lone Star State. MacDonald could live to regret the decision, but Murphy II is likely to be a good to great player right off the bat for the Seahawks this season and beyond.
3. Passing Up On Another Weapon For Geno Smith
The Seahawks had the opportunity to take a pass-catching tight end or wide receiver for quarterback Geno Smith but instead decided to build in the trenches with linemen punctuating their early round picks.
The Seahawks could have taken someone like Roman Wilson of Michigan to add another weapon for Smith, or a high profile receiving tight end to pair with Fant instead of a blocking tight end like Barner. All-in-all, MacDonald knows what he's doing, so this isn't the biggest mistake of all-time. The Seahawks' running game will be lethal, and a healthy Geno Smith or perhaps contributions from Sam Howell could stake the team to its best season in years.
Despite that, it feels like the Seahawks are missing one big-play guy in the passing game they need to compete with the 49ers in the NFC West.
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