Seahawks fans shouldn't spend draft season obsessing with QBs like Penix, McCarthy
Seahawks fans shouldn't spend draft season obsessing with QBs like Penix, McCarthy
5 reasons it is not as imperative to draft a first round QB as you're being told: Seaside Joe 1803
If the 2024 NFL Draft cycle is anything like the last two, I expect “Seahawks internet” to spend about 90% of the time on quarterback prospects and maybe 2% on everyone else. The other 8% goes to Justin Fields.
And just like the last two years, I will not expect the Seahawks to draft a first round quarterback and instead try and do my best to put myself in the shoes of John Schneider with the pick that he has, not necessarily the pick that he wants. For others, it may be a worthwhile endeavor to write thousands of words on Malik Willis and Anthony Richardson. For me, after zeroing in on offensive tackles in 2022* and landing on Devon Witherpsoon in 2023, it’s worthwhile to try and be right.
*I want to be completely fair and note that my final mock pick that year was Jordan Davis, but my first was Charles Cross
If I go through that process and land on a quarterback, then great. There would be nothing wrong with that and I’ve been writing for years that Seattle has neglected the sport’s most important position in the draft for far too long.
What matters to me is not not-landing on a quarterback. What matters to me and what I think should matter to fans is not starting with a quarterback.
If the Seahawks had the first overall pick, we would start with a quarterback. I couldn’t and wouldn’t dispute it then.
However, Seattle holds the 16th overall pick, too deep in virtually any draft in NFL history to actually believe that the Seahawks are in a good position to pick a worthwhile quarterback prospect. As I write that statement, I know that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways that is disputible and would be incorrect…
What I do NOT mean: Good quarterbacks always get drafted in the top-15
What I DO mean: Great quarterback prospects are the most valuable commodity in the NFL draft and will not make it into the middle of the first round (Aaron Rodgers is absolutely an exception and today I will explain why that doesn’t apply here) so therefore Seattle will at least need to have this debate if they don’t trade up:
“Do we want to pick a second or third-tier quarterback prospect over a first-tier prospect at a different position?”
Before the 2023 season has officially ended and the 2024 Scouting Combine has started, already we’re seeing Seahawks fans debate and even pound the table for quarterbacks in the draft not necessarily because of who they are or what they could be but, in my opinion, because Seattle doesn’t have a quarterback of the future…and they are quarterbacks who have not proven to fail yet.
And if you feel that’s wrong, that the fourth or fifth or even sixth-ranked quarterback in this draft class—which is who the Seahawks would be drafting without a trade up—is destined for greatness because of tangibles, intangibles, or a combination of both, you are saying that history no longer applies and that the universe must really love Seattle.
I hope that is true as much as you do.
I just think that in my privileged position of attempting each day to give Seahawks fans researched information that I believe to be the most accurate—and not the most popular—that we must start with what the Seattle franchise actually has at its disposal in the draft and then we work from there to get to a conclusion that has the greatest odds of being accurate and logical.
Quarterbacks get the most attention, the most clicks, and the most shares on social media, so I understand why most people start there. If the Seahawks draft a quarterback in the first round this year, then great, I’ll support it. That’s a fun move, it’s an overdue move, and the draft has given us a few surprises of late like Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts, both of whom have proven that if nothing else that they don’t prevent teams from reaching the Super Bowl.
But just because something is overdue doesn’t mean you gotta due do it now.
In today’s article, I am going to write about J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix, but that isn’t to say that they are bad prospects, bad fits for Seattle, or incapable of becoming the best possible first round draft selection of the Seahawks. Instead, what I think we need to do is ignore “straight lines” (like ‘Mike Macdonald knows McCarthy’; ‘Penix played down the street and Seattle has interviewed his offensive coordinator to be their offensive coordinator’) and pay attention to history.
Do the Seahawks need a quarterback? Yeah.
Do the Seahawks need other positions? Yeah.
Do the Seahawks have a first round pick? Yeah.
Does this class offer intriguing QB prospects outside the top-3 expected? Yeah.
Do the Seahawks need to draft a QB if he’s available? No.
Has the fourth-best QB prospect historically been demonstrably better than the eighth-best? No.
Should the Seahawks draft Penix or McCarthy? Maybe.
Will the Seahawks draft Penix or McCarthy? At this point in the process, they should be treated no different than a tackle prospect, a defensive line prospect, a defensive back prospect. Two years ago, some Seahawks draft bloggers were telling you that Desmond Ridder, Matt Corral, and Malik Willis were first round prospects. (I said they were day two picks.) One year ago, that Will Levis was a first round prospect. (I said day two.) Who is to guarantee that Penix, McCarthy, or Bo Nix will be first round picks?
“Why do you hate Michael Penix and J.J. McCarthy?” I took a plane trip and the airline lost my soul.
No, this is not a “Why not them?” article. This is a “Why only them?” article.
The most valuable resource of our lives is not money, it is time. One fluctuates, the other only goes down. So many people in my position consider “How does this benefit me?” but we both win if I only ask, “How does this benefit us?” How can I not waste your time to the degree that others might when they become fixated on a destination instead of comfortable with the journey?
Put that in the back of your mind in the next few months as you read mock drafts and rumors and speculation fixated on connecting the Seahawks to quarterbacks. Not because it couldn’t happen…and if/when the Seahawks make actual transactions that increase the odds of it happening I will cover it as I did when I dubbed the “QB Tour” of 2023…but it’s hardly the only thing that could happen.
I see at least 5 obstacles that stand between the Seahawks and a first round quarterback. There are a lot more, these are just the first five that came to mind when I asked, “Do we really have to do this again?” They have to do this. We don’t. We still might and that could be great, but we’ll let the cards show us the future, we won’t let the future create the cards.
If you are a member of Regular Joes, you can continue reading and find out what those 5 clues are, it’s one of the many perks of becoming a paid subscriber for only $5 per month or $55 for an entire year of Seaside Joe bonus content and to support a Seahawks writer who doesn’t take days off, let alone weeks or months.