It looks like John Schneider is indeed poised to make his usual move down in the first round — apparently for an offensive lineman — but don’t expect any deal to be made until the Seahawks are on the clock Thursday.
The Falcons want to jump over a few teams for a pass rusher, per draft insider Tony Pauline. But they likely will want to make sure their guy is there when the draft hits pick No. 26.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, surely want to dangle the pick for as long as possible to get the best deal. The current talks involve Atlanta’s fourth-round pick, per Pauline — but that would be a poor return for Seattle.
The Hawks made an almost identical move last year, netting a third-round pick from Denver for moving from 26 to 31. It’s early in trade talks, and the Hawks still might end up with more action when their pick approaches — especially from teams that might want to jump up for a quarterback.
The Seahawks would target Utah offensive tackle Garett Bolles in the move down, Pauline reported. Bolles, a raw but promising 25-year-old tackle, has been commonly linked to the Hawks. Tom Cable apparently was at Utah on Sunday meeting with the school’s top offensive line prospects. They have four, including Day 2 guard Isaac Asiata.
Draft analyst Rob Rang, who has mocked Bolles to Seattle, had this to say recently: “Bolles’ advanced age is a concern. It isn’t just that he’s older; he’s also very young in football IQ. He’s a project that could appeal to Cable and Co., but he’s not the polished prospect some have labeled him.”
Bolles has a lot of personal baggage and reportedly tested very poorly on the Wonderlic, making some wonder whether he is smart enough for a zone system like Seattle’s.
With their ongoing need on the O-line, the Seahawks have been linked to all four top prospects. Pauline told Seahawks draft specialist Rob Staton that they preferred Alabama’s Cam Robinson, who could play several spots.
Western Kentucky’s Forrest Lamp is considered the safest pick. NFL Network’s Mike Mayock said, “If Lamp was there, I’d sprint to the podium. That’s how highly I think of him. I think he can play right tackle. I think he’d be better off playing guard or center. But, regardless, he would upgrade their line and be a Day 1 plug-and-play starter.”
Schneider reiterated Monday that the Hawks got way too young on the line last year and learned not to make that mistake again. But they need to lay a foundation for the future and might be interested in grabbing one of the top linemen in a historically poor line class before moving on to the secondary and other positions on Day 2.
If Bolles ends up being their top pick, he might well come in as a redshirt behind Luke Joeckel, who is signed for only one year. That would give the Seahawks flexibility at left tackle going forward.
It’s also possible the Hawks would put Joeckel at left guard and let Bolles try to beat out George Fant and Rees Odhiambo at left tackle. That could result in this line in 2017: Bolles, Joeckel, Justin Britt, Mark Glowinski/Oday Aboushi, Germain Ifedi.
And it’s certainly possible that Bolles could move to right tackle, leading to this potential lineup: Joeckel, Odhiambo/Glowinski, Britt, Ifedi, Bolles.
I can’t see drafting a “raw but promising” 25-year old, especially one with baggage. It would be one thing if Bolles were NFL-ready; as it is, he’d just become part of the problem of an inexperienced and unproven offensive line.
I get the idea of getting younger and drafting for the future. But this could hobble a team that is otherwise good enough *now*.
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Yeah, seems to contradict Schneider’s talk of how they got too young last year. But lots of people say they will go Bolles if he is there.
Would be hard to fault them for trying to add to their OL, the weakest part of the team. They could go defense on Day 2.
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I agree. It’s just hard to be enthusiastic about Bolles. But, this is the hole they’ve dug for themselves.
People who know a lot more than I do about it say that Tom Cable is a great OL coach. I don’t doubt it, but still wonder how he assesses talent.No matter how you cut it, their draft OL track record is unimpressive.
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