Trading down has been one consistent aspect of the Seattle Seahawks’ drafts under general manager John Schneider. When the Seahawks landed the No. 27 pick, the running joke leading up to the draft was Seattle would not be picking until day two. Yet, the virtual draft gave us the rare sight of the Seahawks sitting with their first-round pick and making a selection.
The Seahawks selected Texas Tech linebacker Jordyn Brooks with the No. 27 pick, but Schneider admitted that things did not go exactly as planned. Schneider noted after the first-round that the Seahawks were minutes away from once again trading back in the draft. Seattle had a deal in place with Green Bay before the Packers later jumped one spot above them to do a deal with Miami.
“Actually, had a trade setting that up a little bit to go back a little bit,” Schneider explained in the first-round press conference. “I can’t tell you where. Fell through at the very last minute and bang, he [Jordyn Brooks] was still there so it worked out great.”
The Seahawks Had a Deal in Place With the Packers to Move Back to the No. 30 Pick
Schneider did not reveal the specifics of the proposed trade, but we can safely assume it was similar to what the Dolphins landed. Green Bay traded their No. 30 pick along with a fourth-round selection (No. 136) to move up to No. 26 to take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love. The Packers were unlikely to have been worried that the Seahawks would take a quarterback but did not want to risk another team jumping them to move up to select Love.
Brooks was the highest-rated player remaining on the Seahawks’ board and became the selection. Schneider indicated that Brooks would have also been the target if the team traded back to No. 30, but the Packers called back at the last minute to inform them they found a better deal.
“I was speaking with [Packers GM Brian Gutekunst], too,” Schneider explained later in the team’s press conference. “He was cool, he was like, ‘Hey, sorry man, we got a better deal.’ Then all of a sudden they were on the clock. It happens.”
Seattle Traded Up in the 2nd Round to Select Darrell Taylor
The trade with the Packers may have fallen through, but the Seahawks remained active in the trade market during the draft. Seattle’s first trade had the team surprisingly moving up early on day two. The Seahawks traded up from No. 59 to No. 48 in the second round thanks to a trade with the Jets that cost Seattle a fourth-round pick.
The Seahawks were targeting Tennessee pass rusher Darrell Taylor who the team even considered taking with their first selection. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll believes it was one of the key moves of the team’s draft.
“That was a big deal,” Carroll noted, per Seahawks.com. “Because we thought maybe we had missed our chance in the sense that we really wanted to get him on the rush group. When we were able to hang through it and get him, that was a big pick for us. As I go down the list, every guy had something kind of special to him. But then again, I was really surprised that Alton [Robinson] was still there because he could be a big help for our football team.”
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Seahawks Reveal Draft-Day Trade Fell Through