Shore Things: Will Anderson meets Seahawks, teams "don't covet" C.J. Stroud

Plus: Lance Zierlein's draft takes, Grayson McCall update, best Day 2 prospects: Seaside Joe 1509

It’s not just you. It’s me, it’s him, it’s her, it’s them, it’s us, and it’s the community. The NFL’s pre-draft period between accepting that the previous season is over and welcoming in a new crop of talent is much too long for fans, teams, and prospects. As is usually the case with NFL decisions, the only party who benefits from this prolonged period of waiting for the draft is the NFL.

An article from 2014 sums up the reason for it as well as I could:

Why would the NFL do this? Are they just tinkering with the schedule for giggles?

The answer, as it normally is with the league, is money. The NFL hasn't gotten to where it is by giving up a chance at a few extra bucks, and it has never met a revenue stream it didn't like. The draft is big business, and eyeballs equal money. 

Long story made short: The NFL is turning two weeks of dead period—where the league and its media properties and partners had nothing to talk about—into two weeks of draft talk. I don't know how many Brinks trucks full of fat stacks that will equate to for the league, but it's worth a shot considering there's little to no risk involved. 

Notably, this article was written nine years ago, when the 2014 NFL Draft was moved back to MAY 8th. If that were still the case, instead of the draft being next week we would have to wait another three weeks.

Thank you?

NEXT: A BRAND-NEW 2 ROUND MOCK DRAFT—SEAHAWKS MAKE 3 TRADES, MOVE UP ONCE, MOVE DOWN TWICE READ NOW!

In 2015, the NFL pushed the draft “up” to April 30th and then the natural shift of the calendar (and the 2020 pandemic) has gradually made the first round closer to the third week of the fourth month—only to now have it again dropping at the end of April. There is no argument to be made that holding the draft on 4/27-4/29 instead of, say, 4/6-4/8 benefits anyone other than the league.

It’s certainly not for the fans or the players.

The reason that the NFL has stretched out the period between the combine and the actual draft is simply because they know that they can. Roger Goodell is tasked with being the NFL’s version of Liam Neeson in Taken except that instead of his special set of skills centered around finding kidnapped girls, Goodell’s job is to find the last drop of juice in the orange.

The league will get as many days of news coverage as it possibly can as it related to the NFL Draft without keeping teams from actually being able to practice and integrate their new prospects into their programs prior to training camp (a never-talked-about side effect of pushing the draft back being that every extra day spent with their new teams would benefit rookies, who are already behind the 8-ball) and I’m just the type of sucker who falls for it.

They know that I’m not going to stop being a fan or stop reading about the NFL just because the draft is three weeks or a month later than it should be. They know that they could squeeze even more clicks, views, and listens out of me—and finding out how is what they’re actively doing everyday behind-the-scenes.

Check out: Seaside Joe’s 2023 draft section to browse the archives!

Take notice of how the NFL has turned the post-draft period into the new TRADE RUMORS! period. Last year, it was Baker Mayfield and Jimmy Garoppolo. This year, it will be Lamar Jackson. We could see the Packers and Jets wait until July before hitting “Send” on the Aaron Rodgers trade.

Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, DeAndre Hopkins, Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill, and though nobody else agrees with me on these next three, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald, and Cooper Kupp. I’m sure that even if I’m overestimating these names, I’m underestimating by the names I’ve left off.

It doesn’t really matter how true the rumors are or not, “Jimmy Garoppolo” was one of the most-searched NFL terms from March to September last year and he’s not even a top-20 quarterback and he wasn’t traded.

Next offseason, I’d look for Tua Tagovailoa, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, and Jordan Love to potentially be the headlines. Maybe Geno Smith. The league news cycle could still be swinging around Lamar Jackson, just as it did for Deshaun Watson and Russ for two years.

Perhaps if we give the NFL more attention after the draft, they will stop being so withholding before the draft and actually move it up to a week that doesn’t hurt teams and prospects as much. I don’t want to say that a late-April draft “hurts” fans, but it sure as hell is unnecessary and annoying.

It’s not just you.

Day 2 prospects - Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks

Here were the favorite day two prospects of Jeremiah and Brooks on this week’s Move the Sticks podcast: QB Jaren Hall and Tanner McKee; WR Marvin Mims and Jonathan Mingo; TE Tucker Kraft and Sam LaPorta; RB Devon Achane and Tank Bigsby; G Steve Avila and Chandler Zavala; Edge B.J. Ojulari, Keion White, and Byron Young; DT Zacch Pickens and Scott Matlock; OLB YaYa Diaby; LB Henry To’oTo’o; CB Riley Moss; S Sidney Brown and Jordan Battle.

Bucky also cited DB Eli Ricks as “a Seattle type of guy”.

Grayson McCall entering pivotal final season at Coastal Carolina

How about some Grayson McCall updates? I am famously obsessed with McCall and would have rated him #2 in this class behind Bryce Young—although I KNOW that he would have been maybe a day three pick—but he returned to Coastal earlier this year (the transfer portal is now open AGAIN, so color me further confused by this process) which is a win for new head coach Tim Beck.

It could be a win for McCall too, as he will get the opportunity to break free from some narratives that are holding him back.

One of those narratives is that McCall has only ever run the triple-option offense, but college football is hammering down on cutback blocks and that could make the triple-option obsolete. Another reason is that McCall’s head coach Jamey Chadwell made the jump to Liberty and was replaced by former NC State offensive coordinator Tim Beck. McCall will now run a more “traditional” offense and he’s a much better QB than NC State’s Devin Leary, a player who had 35 TD/5 INT for Beck in 2021.

Another benefit to McCall is that last year he had almost an entirely new supporting cast, losing weapons like tight end Isaiah Likely, now a budding star for the Baltimore Ravens. McCall gets back three starting offensive linemen and basically his entire crop of running backs and receivers, some of whom are very good like Sam Pinckney and Jared Brown, who as a Freshman All-American in 2022.

Third is that Coastal has a new strength and conditioning coach who is drawing rave reviews and obviously his priority is the three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year at quarterback.

“So this offseason has actually been a little different for me than in years past. It’s actually the first spring and offseason I’ve had a complete offseason,” McCall said. “We got a great addition in a strength coach (with) Coach Quinn.

“He’s done a really good job with us, obviously, building strength and speed, but (also with) the recovery process, treating your body like a pro, making sure you’re fueling it and getting enough sleep and things like that. So I’ve really (taken) pride in that.”

McCall’s been banged, bruised, but durable, and he lacks elite arm strength. I have no idea if you can add velocity to your fastball by working out in your early 20s, but that would be a huge bonus if McCall comes back with more zip because his accuracy and decision-making is already elite.

Now going into his sixth year in college football and his fourth as a starter with a really good supporting cast, a new coach, and a full offseason, I’m hopeful that McCall (career: 70.6%, 10.2 Y/A, 78 TD, 8 INT, 186.6 rating, 1,065 rushing yards, 17 TD) can finally draw some national attention and some Heisman votes. I’m not asking for him to win the whole damn thing or to be a top-10 pick, but if Hendon Hooker can do it, Grayson McCall certainly can.

There’s talk now that McCall could still transfer to Auburn or Florida or somewhere else with rumors being that he’s having a hard time getting his class credits to move to the next school without falling behind, but even if he returns to Coastal Carolina he should be among the elite. If he’s not, I apologize for leading you astray!

What Lance Zierlein said on Twitter

NFL.com’s draft guru LZ answered some questions on Twitter this week that didn’t get much attention. Here’s some of what he said:

• Doesn’t think Will Levis could go 2nd overall but Texans could trade up from 12; doesn’t think Houston and Indy will swap 2 and 4; Texans trading back from 2 would “bury their market” when it comes to Cards trading back from 3; “I would doubt it” on Colts trading up

• Jalen Hurts’ success has pushed Anthony Richardson into round 1 converation, but Hurts was a better prospect (Hurts went 53rd); doesn’t think AR makes sense for Texans

• Only says “Maybe” when asked if a C could go first round

• 50/50 that Stetson Bennett gets drafted

• Thinks there could definitely be something to chatter that the Texans aren’t interested in working with Stroud’s agent (LZ is more connected to Houston than he is any other team); sees Stroud as the best fit for the Raiders; says that he hears teams “don’t covet” C.J. Stroud like the public thinks they do

• Bijan Robinson goes top-20, Jahmyr Gibbs goes top-40; says maybe the Moons would draft Robinson

• Mocked Jaxon Smith-Njigba to Titans but would not do that again after having “done more work” on the connection

• As of two days ago, had not heard anything on Trey Lance being shopped

• How many OL go in top-10? “1 at most” (LZ’s favorite run-blockers: Skoronski, Bergeron, JMS, Zavala, Asim Richards, Juice Scruggs, Jake Andrews)

• Hints that Will Levis makes most sense for Colts (I agree even though I think Levis going top-five is one of the most ridiculous picks ever)

• Thinks at least one of those QBs falling into the 20s is possible (maybe Colts trade up for Levis there?)

• Seems to think Jalen Carter will make it to Lions; if Eagles trade up, it would only be for Carter

• Charlie Jones struggles against press coverage so might be relegated to the slot

• LZ mocked Tyree Wilson to Texans at #2 because he thinks that’s what the team would do not what he would do; has Will Anderson rated higher personally

• Says he’s hearing from other teams, not the Texans, that Houston is trying to trade down from #2. (Even Nick Caserio has basically confirmed this.)

Coming up next: Will Anderson to Seahawks? But first…

Want to help support this Seahawks newsletter? That would be greatly appreciated! Join the Regular Joes club for only $5/mo or $55/yr and I will keep pumping out content all summer long and into the season. We have busted past our goal of 2,000 total subscribers and we’re screaming towards 500 paid subscribers, which is a paid/total percentage that is roughly 4x greater than the Substack average! This in spite of the fact that Seaside Joe puts out a FREE newsletter everyday for the last 1,509 days.

Why do that? I think people like helping a Seahawks writer make history! Let’s make it together.

Will Anderson has made his official Seahawks visit

For prospects considered possible at #5, make that Anderson, Jalen Carter, the four QBs, Devon Witherspoon, and if we’re reaching, Nolan Smith. I think Nolan falls closer into the possibilities for the other first round pick or the second round, which also includes BJ Ojulari, Byron Young, John Michael Schmitz, Joe Tippmann, Sam LaPorta, Adetomiwa Adebawore, Julius Brents, Kelee Ringo, and Dawand Jones. Certainly some of those would be a “reach” which doesn’t bother Pete Carroll.

If we did the “Seahawks visits only mock draft” we could maybe go Carter, Ade Ade, Tippmann, Jones, and LaPorta with their five picks.

At this point, drafting a quarterback would be shocking. Trading down from #5 and #20 would not be.