When the Seahawks eschewed a pass rusher to use the last draft pick in the first round on Kenneth Walker III’s replacement, our first thought was that the Hawks had mistakenly prioritized a position where they continually have had injury issues for over a decade now.
It was partly why they did not want to pay Walker, who got $14.3 million a year from Kansas City. So we wondered why they would use first-round capital on the position.
Unfortunately, that concern has become reality – with Jadarian Price now about to miss at least a game with a chest injury. Price has battled injuries since training camp, missing a couple weeks with some kind of leg issue and then suffering the chest injury in Week 2 against Arizona.
It’s a really rough start for Price, who also has lost two fumbles in the past two games. Injuries and turnovers are a bad mix for staying on the field and helping your team.
Our strategy to replace Walker would have been to sign Tyler Allgeier from the Falcons and then focus on pass rush or corner at the top of the draft.
The Seahawks really wanted San Diego State corner Chris Johnson, according to insiders. But Miami traded up to get him five picks ahead of Seattle.
Malachi Lawrence and Cashius Howell were our top two edge rusher choices. Dallas drafted Lawrence 23rd – a good pick considering Lawrence apparently leads rookie edge rushers with a 24% pass-rush win rate (via PFF). Howell is second at 19% and leads all rookies with 11 pressures for the Bengals.
Allgeier was very affordable: He signed a two-year deal for $12.25 million with Arizona. He was very good for Atlanta and would have been a nice replacement for Zach Charbonnet in the early season.
But the Seahawks wanted to draft Walker’s replacement – even in a weak draft for ballcarriers. Now they have to hope Price gets over his early-season woes and becomes a contributor.
“By no means is this JD’s fault or anything like that,” Mike Macdonald said. “This is just what happens in football. Unfortunately, injuries happen. He can’t control these things. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do since he’s gotten here. He’s had a great attitude. He’s been a great teammate. He has a great future. He’s going to play great football for us when he comes back, whenever that is, and we move forward.”
Fingers crossed that Macdonald’s prediction comes true. The Seahawks don’t need another Rashaad Penny bust.
Charbonnet is back practicing, which means he could make his season debut within the next two weeks. It will take him time to get in game shape though, so Emanuel Wilson will be the main guy for now – with George Holani the third-down back.
“I’m excited to see these guys play,” Macdonald said. “It’s unfortunate with JD. Hopefully this gives him an opportunity to get healthy. But we’ve got guys that are ready to go behind him that are preparing their tails off and are good players, so we feel like we have a good plan and we’ll go play a game.”
