Getty Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
As the Seattle Seahawks get ready for the regular season with OTAs and other offseason workouts, general manager John Schneider and his college scouting department are already hard at work watching prospects for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Media members are getting a head start on next year’s draft class as well. Mark Schofield from USA Today’s Touchdown Wire released his “way too early” 2023 mock draft, having Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud go No. 1 overall to the Houston Texans.
The Seahawks picked fourth overall in the same mock draft, taking Georgia Bulldogs edge rusher Nolan Smith.
“If you look at the other ‘way too early’ mock drafts out there, many have the Seattle Seahawks addressing quarterback with the first of their two selections in the first round,” Schofield explained. “Will Levis from Kentucky is a popular selection here, and while I understand the reasoning, I have them going in a different direction right now, as the Seahawks tend to do.”
Nolan Smith’s Accomplishments and Accolades
Georgia’s football program set records at the 2022 NFL Draft, with five defensive players taken in the first round and 15 players taken over the three-day event. The Bulldogs aren’t done, however, because they have another pair of prospects in Smith and Jalen Carter who could also be first-round picks in 2023.
Smith was a 5-star recruit and the No. 1 high school player in the country in the 2019 recruiting class. Expectations for a player of that caliber will always be high, but it took time for the defensive star to find his footing.
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After racking up five total sacks over his first two seasons, Smith made huge strides as a junior in 2021. He finished the year with 53 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and an interception. Those contributions were part of a dominant Bulldogs defense that helped lead Georgia to its first national title since 1980.
Now that teammates like Travon Walker, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and Quay Walker have gone pro, Smith will be asked to take his game to another level in 2023. Given the way head coach Kirby Smart has developed defensive players during his time at Georgia, analysts like Schofield are expecting Smith to be one of the best prospects in next year’s draft.
Will the Seahawks Really Draft So Early in 2023?
If the Seahawks are going to pick in the top five of next year’s draft, then things are going to have to go very wrong for the team this year.
Analysts aren’t excited about Seattle’s chances this year. ESPN.com’s Bill Barnwell ripped the Seahawks as having the worst offseason in the NFL, mostly because of what they received in return for trading away Russell Wilson to the Seattle Seahawks.
Other sites aren’t optimistic about the Seahawks either. Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus released his updated NFL power rankings, putting the Seahawks in dead last at 32nd overall. His argument is that Wilson hid a lot of Seattle’s flaws, and without the superstar quarterback it will be very hard for the likes of Geno Smith and Drew Lock to make up for a lot of the team’s shortcomings.
Only time will tell if the Seahawks season is going to go downhill, but analysts aren’t sold on the team’s chances this year.