Seahawks draft: What I got wrong in 2023

My predictions that went awry: Seaside Joe 1521

Now I know what they mean when they say AI could end humanity.

Blitz the mascot may look a bit “different” through the eyes of AI, but in reality the 2023 Seattle Seahawks seem to be doing things differently too. By putting Devon Witherspoon in an exclusive club of cornerbacks picked in the top-five of the draft, the Seahawks also went far outside of Pete Carroll’s comfort zone by targeting that position 85 slots earlier than he ever had before.

I was one of the few people, if not the only one, in the Seahawks writer universe who predicted that it would happen. I owe it all to probably two factors: a) Once Seattle re-signed Geno Smith and Drew Lock, I stopped trying to make a square quarterback fit into a round quarterback hole and started looking at outside-the-square which led me to Witherspoon, and b) Devon Witherspoon is Pete if he was 50 years younger and a better athlete.

He embodies everything that the Seahawks look for but have also been missing since the departures of the “Legion of Boom” players.

As I said before and as I said about Ken Walker III a year ago, no matter who believes this pick was “wrong”, Seahawks fans will FALL IN LOVE with the player when the season starts.

Okay, so I was right about Devon Witherspoon. Big deal. I could have been wrong! Anyone’s prediction was predicated on which scenario played out and there are alternate timelines in which the Seahawks do not pick Witherspoon and then what? Would I be bragging about what I got right besides being wrong about the first pick? Would I try to manipulate my readers by saying, “Well, ignore what I got wrong and just look at what I got right!”

Seaside Monday Bonus: Assessing the 2023 Seahawks rookie class and their roles, 2023 playing time!

That’s not what Seaside Joe does. That’s what they do. No manipulation tactics here, I will fully admit what I got wrong and then let’s see if maybe we can do better in 2024. Today, let’s not brag about what I got right, let’s brag about what I got wrong.

Join Seaside Joe’s Regular Joes club to help support truth and accountability for my mistakes, plus a lot of BONUS content!

I ask, if Seaside Joe was all behind a paywall, would you pay $5 a month for it? It is free though, I just ask: If you would pay for it, consider joining the premium club today to help keep us going!

I was wrong about Anthony Richardson not going to the Colts

I wasn’t sure if Richardson could go to the Texans or if a team would trade up to #3 to pick him, like the Raiders or the Falcons, but I kept saying that he didn’t fit with the type of quarterbacks who owner Jim Irsay usually picks for the Colts. I am glad I was wrong about this one.

It’s not just because that means that Devon Witherspoon could fall to the Seahawks—I don’t want to perpetuate the rumor that Seattle would have drafted Richardson if Indianapolis hadn’t taken him off of the board—but I also really want to watch Anthony Richardson play football. He should be able to do that soon with the Colts.

I would love to see Richardson turn into a great player and I would not feel at all bad about it, like, “Oh no, the Seahawks were so close!” This is not like picking Dustin Ackley as a consolation prize to Stephen Strasburg, which is literally my most recent MLB draft reference. Richardson thriving in Seattle? Maybe. But he’s got a much better opportunity with Shane Steichen on the Colts because he’s going to have a chance to play immediately and that entire offense is going to be tailored around him. That’s simply not the Pete Carroll way and it would be a detriment to Tyler Lockett’s remaining days to have a quarterback with a shotgun spray instead of a sniper rifle.

I’m not saying that Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce are bad receivers, but maybe at least in Indy they’re not turning wine into water by throwing caution into the broad side of a wind.

However, I was right about Will Levis. There’s a chance, albeit a small one, that now Grayson McCall, not Levis, could be a first round pick.

I was wrong about C.J. Stroud’s “fall”

I think the Houston Texans traded up for Will Anderson because that is a house divided; it could be that ownership was demanding Stroud and the front office/coaching staff was begging for Anderson. So they split the difference and traded up so that even if Stroud fails, at least they still gave head coach DeMeco Ryans the player he wanted.

This would also support the rumors that GM Nick Caserio was close to or is still close to leaving the organization.

Last season, the AFC South had Matt Ryan, Ryan Tannehill, and Davis Mills competing with Trevor Lawrence. By the end of this season, it could be Richardson, Stroud, and Levis. As I wrote a few weeks ago, it seems like the AFC cares a lot more about the quarterback position than the NFC.

After the Panthers picked Bryce Young, the NFC drafted QBs in the third (Hendon Hooker, Lions), fourth (Jake Haener, Saints and Stetson Bennett, Rams), fifth (Jaren Hall, Vikings+Clayton Tune, Cardinals+Sean Clifford Packers), and sixth (Tanner McKee, Eagles). These are all names that Seasiders became familiar with because of the QB Survivor game we nearly started…

And I was right about that probably being a waste of time. The Seahawks didn’t pick a quarterback at all and leave themselves open for business in 2024. Signing Holton Ahlers (and giving a tryout to Jack Coan) after the draft, who wasn’t good enough to make the QB Survivor cast, is a practice squad move.

I was wrong about Adetomiwa Adebawore’s draft stock

There is another Seahawks draft blogger who really pumped up Adebawore as a late first round pick and I admit I fell for it, like many of us did. However, days before the draft I posted in Shore Things that Daniel Jeremiah warned people to “pump the brakes” on Adebawore because his elite athleticism was not a surprise to NFL teams who had graded him as a mid-round pick months ago. What did Adebawore actually do to raise his stock to being considered with Seattle’s second or third pick?

As it turns out, nothing.

Sometimes mocked in the 20s, Adebawore ended up going 110th overall to the Colts and by all means he is allowed to prove himself as a “draft steal”. However, the lesson we can learn from this is that some writers seem to only care about traits and athleticism and often don’t dig deeper. This can be tricky too—Richardson is little more than traits and athleticism—but it’s my responsiblity as a person who relays information to you verify it and make sure that the draft stock holds up to scrutiny.

Adebawore didn’t “fall” to the fourth round and he’s not a “great value” at 110—that’s very much the range he was expected to go in by the NFL.

Some other names that went later than advertised: C John Michael Schmitz (57), G O’Cyrus Torrence (59), CB D.J. Turner (60), QB Hendon Hooker (68), WR Jalin Hyatt (73), WR Josh Downs (79), RB Tyjae Spears (81), LB Trenton Simpson (86), TE Darnell Washington (93), CB Kelee Ringo (105), CB Clark Phillips III (113), WR Tyler Scott (133), LB Noah Sewell (148), S Antonio Johnson (160), LB Henry To’oTo’o, S JL Skinner (183), QB Tanner McKee (188), C Luke Wypler (190), RB Deuce Vaughn (212), G Andrew Vorhees (229), DT Moro Ojomo (249)

At one point, I mocked Spears to the Seahawks with their fourth pick at 52, which means I got the position right but the prospect wrong. You could probably add Seattle’s last pick, RB Kenny McIntosh, to the list of players who went much later than expected.

Seaside Monday Bonus: Assessing the 2023 Seahawks rookie class and their roles, 2023 playing time!

I was wrong about Will Anderson

I fell for Chris Simms saying that Anderson was a borderline first round pick, not a top-five pick, but even Simms in his final mock draft gave up and said, “I’m wrong about Anderson.” Anderson not only went third overall, Houston gave up a ton of draft capital to move up for him—the trade could end up netting the Arizona Cardinals two of the top-five picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.

If not the top two picks overall.

This edge class is weird, with Anderson (3), Tyree Wilson (7), Lukas Van Ness (13), Will McDonald (15), Myles Murphy (28), and Nolan Smith (30) getting spread out far from each other. I think that the Seahawks getting Derick Hall at 37 is no worse than a good value to take your shot because I do feel confident that half of those first round picks will be busts.

We just don’t know which half.

I was wrong about Joe Tippmann…kind of

I do believe the Seahawks had interest in Tippmann and I was willing to concede that if they were going to buck trend for Witherspoon, why not also buck trend at the center position and consider one between 20 and 37? It all depends on how the board falls and once Jaxon Smith-Njigba became available at #20, why risk it?

In my final predictions, I had the Seahawks picking Witherspoon at #5 and was unwilling to go beyond that number but said that “edge probably makes sense at some point in the next couple of picks”. I have been saying for over a year that Seattle would need to eventually spend first round capital on the receiver position and was half-hoping that they would do it now, not knowing for sure who would be drafted in the first 19 picks.

When no receivers were drafted in that range, trading down and losing out on JSN—as well as the next three receivers who went off the board in the next three picks—would have had to come with a huge reward. So I thought that yes, the Seahawks would want to trade down from #20, but they had to a) get a phone call and b) really love the board:

Yes, the Seahawks could have gone “Best Player” with JSN, but clearly they also wanted to come out with a receiver—which is no surprise to me—because once JSN, Quentin Johnston, Zay Flowers, and Jordan Addison went off the board in four straight picks, no other receiver was picked until Jonathan Mingo at #39.

I’ve long had the Seahawks picking Flowers, but with the caveat that JSN was not available in those mocks. So to add a player who fits perfectly in between Lockett and DK Metcalf and also has the potential to replace Lockett, it makes all the sense in the world.

Meanwhile, Seattle could have added Tippmann at #37 if they truly wanted a center, they could have picked John Michael Schmitz or Juice Scruggs at #52. But they addressed edge and then added a running back—Zach Charbonnet—instead. I had the Seahawks picking a second round running back in the past, but ultimately convinced myself that they could address the position later.

Clearly, they see Charbonnet, the third running back off the board in 2023, as someone who can start and have a role right away, if necessary.

What were you wrong about?

I wasn’t wrong about Jalen Carter. The entire time, I felt that his draft stock wouldn’t push him out of the top-10 and by draft day I decided that no, the Seahawks may just want to feel REALLY good about their first pick which means that Witherspoon carries a much greater value at #5 than Carter. Even if he proves to be the steal of the 2023 NFL Draft, we’ll never know if that’s only because he’s literally playing with half of the same defense he had in college: The Eagles have drafted five Georgia defensive players in the last two years.

I nearly fell for the trap of predicting Carter and I think everybody would have understood that. But I’m half-grateful we don’t have to talk about him anymore. I’m 100-percent grateful we can talk about Devon Witherspoon.

Seaside Monday Bonus: Assessing the 2023 Seahawks rookie class and their roles, 2023 playing time!

Sign up for Seaside Joe and help support a mom-and-pop Seahawks business that will never run ads for Manscape or bedroom pills or meal subscription services and that’s a guarantee!