Getty Defensive lineman Jared Verse of the Florida State Seminoles
It’s that time of year when at least half of the pro football world’s attention starts turning to the NFL Draft. For the Seattle Seahawks, the playoffs are still within reach, but in the midst of a four-game losing streak and on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, many Seahawks fans are starting to look to late April 2024. For those hoping the team picks a quarterback, though, the latest ESPN mock draft has other ideas, with Seattle opting for top pass rusher Jared Verse instead.
Seahawks Draft Florida State EDGE Jared Verse in Latest Mock Draft
ESPN NFL draft guru released his latest 2024 mock draft on Monday, Dec. 12, and has the Seahawks picking at No. 12 overall. This is one spot ahead of where they actually are in the updated draft order following Week 14, per NFL.com, but it gives us a general idea of where the team will pick under the current circumstances.
Miller has the Seahawks selecting Florida State EDGE Jared Verse with their first-round pick, as opposed to a quarterback.
“A powerful pass-rusher who can set the edge against the run is exactly what Seattle needs in a draft class weak at defensive tackle (another potential hole for the Seahawks). Verse can bounce inside or outside opponent offensive tackles at 260 pounds, and he plays very similar to Trey Hendrickson,” Miller writes. “Verse — who transferred from Albany before the 2022 season — has been on a hot streak and has nine sacks through the end of the regular season, showing he is getting better with more reps and experience.”
Defensive end is a need for the Seahawks in the 2024 NFL Draft. The team has a solid young pass-rush rotation with Boye Mafe (7.0 sacks), Darrell Taylor (4.5), Uchenna Nwosu (on IR, 2.0), and Derick Hall (0.0). They could use a dominant edge rusher or at least a consistent one to play opposite the up-and-coming Mafe.
Verse could be that player. In most mock drafts, including this one, he is no worse than the second EDGE off the board after Alabama’s Dallas Turner.
That said, will John Schneider and Pete Carroll really be comfortable going into another season with Geno Smith and Drew Lock at QB after what happened against the best signal-callers in the league (and the division) this year?
Which QBs are Available in Matt Miller’s Mock?
There is good Seahawks draft news and bad Seahawks draft news for the “let’s draft a quarterback to replace Geno Smith” crowd. While the team doesn’t take one in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft in this mock, there are several still on the table when Seattle (hypothetically) selects 12th.
The top four signal-callers — USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy — are all gone by 12 in this scenario. Still, that leaves several options where the Seahawks may pick, including Pacific Northwest favorites Michael Penix Jr. from Washington and Bo Nix from Oregon.
The issue the Seahawks will run into in the 2024 NFL Draft is that if they don’t pull the trigger on a QB in Round 1, they’ll likely have to wait until Round 3 when they have two picks. That’s because the franchise’s second-round pick currently resides with the New York Jets after the Leonard Williams trade.
A lot can — and will — change before the draft kicks off on Thursday, April 25, 2024, but waiting until the third round will likely come with a significant drop-off in potential. Yes, the team got Russell Wilson in that round back in 2012, but that was an exception that proved the rule. This year, if the team waits on QB, Seattle fans are looking at names like Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Tennessee’s Joe Milton, South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman, or Florida State’s injured Jordan Travis.
Any of those names likely means at least one more year of Smith at the wheel.