How many starters in a draft class is a "good" number of starters?

Taking more of your questions about the Seahawks and the draft and the offensive line

More questions today from Super Joes in the Q and A. Read part one here. Read part two here:

Brian: Curious to what you think would be a “win” to expect starters from this draft? I would think 3 starters…but I also feel like others think all 5 in the first two days would be starters

Danno: Are you talking about starters day 1 or how many will develop into starters in the first 3 years?

Brian: I think both…how many rookie starters vs starter by year 3 is likely in this draft.

It would also depend on what your definition of a “starter” is because there are different ways to classify a player as a starter or if he’s even a valuable starter vs. he’s the de facto starter. Is Boye Mafe a starter? Is Abe Lucas a starter?

According to the way Pro-Football-Reference defines starter — starting more than half of a season’s games — the combined number of starting seasons by Mafe, Lucas, and Coby Bryant is TWO. That’s two combined starting seasons out of a possible nine.

But some would say that all three are “starters”.

Zach Charbonnet is not a starter yet, but is he more valuable than Anthony Bradford, a player with 21 starts under his belt? Can you guess how many 2024 rookie were starters for the Seahawks?

Officially: Zero.

Tyrice Knight led the way with 48% of the snaps, followed by Byron Murphy at 40%. And Murphy was a higher draft pick than Seattle’s 2025 pick, which is also considered to be a worse class overall.

How many players in the 2025 class do I expect to win starting jobs out of training camp? Either zero or one. Maybe there’s an outside chance of a rookie winning a job at guard or cornerback, I can’t think of where else he would squeeze in. Unless the first pick is a tackle and Lucas can’t go for Week 1.

Some other notable starting seasons totals:

• Rashaad Penny, 0

• Darrell Taylor, 0

• L.J. Collier, 2

• Marquise Blair, 0

Previous years the Seahawks picked 5 times before day three include 2017 (starters Ethan Pocic, Shaq Griffin) and 2016 (starters Germain Ifedi, Jarran Reed, and I guess Nick Vannett?), so yeah I would say that three starters would be a huge win, and four would be among Seattle’s best draft classes of all-time.

Of course, the Seahawks could also land a starter on day three, but those continue to be rare finds. Going back to 2018, the closest examples of day three picks that we would consider good starters are Will Dissly (4th round, 2018), Michael Dickson (5th round, 2018), Riq Woolen (5th round, 2022), and maybe Coby Bryant if he keeps it up.

That’s out of dozens of picks, so I wouldn’t expect more than maybe one lucky find.

Danno: In MM’s interview at the NFL conference in FL, he reiterated that you pick best player available. Even if that position group is strong. It made me wonder if Jihaad Campbell is his Roquan Smith. Are we discounting the possibility of him at pick 18? He is a big presence on defense and has very few weaknesses and a big upside. From a big board summary of him: “Jihaad Campbell is a prototypical 3-down LB with unlimited athletic upside. He’s built like an edge defender & offers versatility as a pass rusher. Campbell would still qualify as “developmental” & will need to improve his processing speed & attack blocks with violence more consistently. But he doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses that would prevent him from seeing the field early & is close enough to where he needs to be that he can play as he develops.”

He could be the best player available at 18. I’ve mentioned Jihaad Campbell a few times, and that entirely depends on whether or not Mike Macdonald and John Schneider see him as a transcendent linebacker prospect who is one of the of the rare ones worth a first ronud pick. He could be.

I haven’t heard or seen anyone put him on that Roquan Smith level yet, but maybe he’s somewhere between Smith and Jack Campbell, the 18th overall pick a couple of years ago.

Which prospects are you pounding the table for at 18 today? Tell me:

Rusty: Joe, what do you think is JS’s plan for the Oline? We “know” based on his statements (not sure if we should 100% believe a GM at this time of year) that there’s little center talent in the draft, and his history on drafting guards. Will he roll with the current personnel (yeah, he’ll pick linemen maybe day 2 and likely on day 3)? Issa trade more likely? Pick up a potential cut? All of the above?

As far as whether Schneider is telling the truth about going with Olu Oluwatimi and Jalen Sundell at center, there’s no reason to be deceptive. As we know already, there isn’t a soul who thinks the draft has starting center quality talent in 2025.

The Seahawks have a new OC, a new offensive line coach, a new assistant offensive line coach, and a new consultant who worked with Mike Shanahan’s Broncos offensive line in the 90s. I think the team expects those coaches to do more with the crop of 11 offensive linemen they have signed for 2025 than the previous staff, which I’d say includes at least nine players who are almost guaranteed to make the roster or the practice squad.

I’m not sure what else there is to say about the offensive line at this point. The team should invest a second round pick in a guard or a first round pick in a tackle and if/when that happens, we shall see the fallout of that decision in the summer.

zezinhom400: Trey Hendrickson is still out there seeking a trade partner and a contract. What do you think it will take to get him signed? What trade offer would you make to get him (I assume one of our current edges would be part of the deal?) Is there any way Noah Fant could be part of that trade? They already have Gesicki recently signed and have also paid Chase and Higgins.

I would be shocked if the Seahawks are in the Trey Hendrickson sweepstakes after signing DeMarcus Lawrence and retaining Uchenna Nwosu. It makes sense to me to draft an edge rusher because he’s cheap and he could benefit from slowly ramping up his playing time over the next two years, but Hendrickson would need 70% of the snaps and he could cost $35 million+ per season.

Yeah, any team would like a player who has that many sacks over the last two seasons, I’m not saying your idea doesn’t make sense. It just doesn’t line up with Seattle’s recent moves and they’re going to need that cap space to retain their own players in the next couple of years. Signing Lawrence feels like the Band-Aid at edge to get the Seahawks over the hill until they find out if Mafe or Hall or a rookie becomes really good.

Seaside Joe 2224