Will Seahawks benefit from draft mistakes by Panthers, Texans, and Colts?
Looking at the brain trust for the 3 QB-needy teams ahead of the Seahawks and which QB they're probably leaning towards, 3/22/2023
The most important names to judge on draft day are not the prospects being promoted into the NFL, but the ones making those decisions for your favorite franchise. That’s why I have confidence that no matter who Pete Carroll and John Schneider use their first round picks on for the Seattle Seahawks, I’ll buy into the prospect much more than I would if I was rooting for the Cleveland Browns.
Like all other regimes, Pete and John do not have a perfect first round track record. They have some day one regrets.
But bad picks come with the job. Having regrets could be beneficial, if the front office has learned from their mistakes. And as long as there isn’t a meddling owner who constantly overrides those decisions anyway—which Pete and John didn’t have for years when Paul Allen was in charge and by all accounts, they still have full autonomy—good regimes can create good football teams.
At least three other franchises besides the Browns that do seem to have meddling owners? Three of the four teams picking ahead of the Seahawks, all of whom need quarterbacks: The Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and Indianapolis Colts.
The Arizona Cardinals are also a franchise rife with rosterous disasters and how they choose to use their pick—including allowing a smarter team than the Colts to trade over Indy and Seattle—is a variable we can’t discount.
The Seahawks sent almost the entire franchise to Ohio State’s pro day on Wednesday—only the Panthers were quite so heavily represented—and there’s no question that even as they want to get closer looks at his supporting cast (three offensive linemen, one receiver, and 2024’s elite receiving talent Marvin Harrison, Jr.), Seattle is there to see C.J. Stroud.
If Stroud is that impressive, then surely he will go to the Panthers, right? If not the Texans. If not the Colts.
It’s so hard to envision a scenario in which there’s one quarterback who stands out above the rest and yet somehow he manages to get past three QB-desperate team and evades a team trading up with the Cardinals for the third overall pick. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which one of those three teams lets the Seahawks trade up with them for a player they want, or that Arizona will trade up with Seattle so that they can continue to be better them in the NFC West year after year.
So I think the Seahawks are already at their draft ceiling at 5th overall: How could a trade-up be possible at this point?
Therefore, the real question is “Who will be the best player on the board when Seattle is on the clock?” and “Who will be the best QB on the board?” which brings me back to what’s MORE IMPORTANT than answering those two queries:
Who is making draft decisions before Pete and John get to make their own?
That’s what we’re looking at in today’s bonus article for Regular Joes: The regimes for the three key teams ahead of the Seahawks and why Seahawks fans might actually get to have a little glimmer of hope that perhaps the best QB will fall to Seattle in the draft—even if he’s not the first or second QB off the board.