Tag Archives: Germain Ifedi

CHAWK LINES -- Seahawks OTAs & minicamp

Doug Baldwin told 710 ESPN that he has not talked to the Seahawks about a new deal yet.

Tom Cable said it’s way too early to make any judgments on the offensive line.

Justin Britt said he is losing hair over all of the position switches but just wants to be “one of the five.”

Bob Condotta gave a rundown of all of the offensive linemen.

Cable said Pro Football Focus, which called Germain Ifedi the worst first-round pick in the 2016 draft, will “eat their words” after seeing him play.

Cable stated the obvious: The Hawks will be deep at running back.

Darrell Bevell talked about the team’s running backs and more with John Clayton.

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CHAWK LINES -- Week in review

Back from a couple of unplugged weeks in Europe, here’s the most recent on the Seahawks:

Bob Condotta ran down some personnel pairings from the OTAs.

Seahawks.com posited six takeaways, including a reminder not to forget about Tharold Simon (who has been easy to forget in his first three years).

Pete Carroll says he won’t rush Jimmy Graham and Thomas Rawls into training camp and is “kind of counting on” them to be ready for Week 1.

Doug Baldwin expects contract talks to start soon, but he is not worried about it.

While we were gone, Bennett told 710 ESPN he will not hold out for a new contract.

The Marshawn Lynch speculation won’t die, but Bennett and Doug Baldwin think he’s done.

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Looking at the value (picks & cash) of Seattle’s draft class

Jarran Reed on stageEveryone always laughs at the instant draft grades handed out by analysts — the argument being that it is impossible to know how well a team did until its draft class has shown itself over a couple of years.

That part certainly is true. But the one part of the draft that can be judged immediately is the value a team received for its picks.
The Seahawks haven’t always gotten great value for their picks. It’s why they were judged harshly in 2011 and 2012 — even though they found future stars in both of those drafts.

This draft has pretty unanimously been judged a success — both because the Seahawks seemingly picked up good players who filled roster needs and because they got some great value along the way.

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Hawks going big to avoid going home early again

NFL draftThe Seahawks lost seven games last season, and most of those losses occurred because their offensive line got pushed around.

The Rams and Panthers especially dominated Seattle with their great defensive fronts — the Rams’ Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn and William Hayes; the Panthers’ Kawann Short, Star Lotulelei, Kony Ealy and Charles Johnson. Those crews handed Seattle four losses, including the one that knocked the Hawks out of the playoffs.

The Seahawks will see those lines at least three times next season, and Pete Carroll and John Schneider know they have to get stronger up front if they are going to avoid the same fate they suffered in 2015. They can’t be swept by the Rams if they want to win the NFC West, and they can’t lose to the Panthers if they want to win the NFC.

That’s all you really need to know to understand why they drafted 6-foot-6, 324-pound tackle Germain Ifedi in the first round, 6-4, 314-pound guard Rees Odhiambo in the third and 6-2, 299-pound center Joey Hunt in the sixth. They are all smart, strong and athletic — and it sounds like the Seahawks think they all have a chance to start, now or later.

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Schneider leans on 2017 comp picks to add DT

John Schneider draftingJohn Schneider has built a reputation as a draft pick collector. He’s such a pick hoarder that he had surrendered picks to move up just twice in his first six drafts.

Well, in his seventh draft, he flipped the script, trading up twice. And he did something he had never done during the draft: trading a future pick to get back into a round.

The move up to draft Jarran Reed in the second round on Friday cost the Hawks their fourth-round pick and meant they were going to have to wait 72 picks before their first selection on Day 3. But they saw another defensive tackle they liked in the fifth round (before their pick at 171), so they decided to send New England a 2017 fourth-rounder so they could pick Quinton Jefferson.

It was the first time since 2009 — before Schneider and Pete Carroll arrived — that the Seahawks had dealt away a future pick during the draft. In 2009, Tim Ruskell traded gave up a 2010 third-rounder as part of a package to get back into the 2009 third for wide receiver Deon Butler.

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‘It’s going to be a hell of a class’

“I think it’s going to be a hell of a class.” — John Schneider, after adding five players in the first two days of the draft.

Draft -- Schneider and CarrollFor the first time since 2010, the Seahawks did not do anything offbeat — and it looks like it could turn out to be their best draft in four years.

The Seahawks like to point out that their grading system is not the same as the rest of the league, but this time most of their picks matched projections — and they got some great value as they filled holes on both lines and added depth at running back and tight end.

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Guy named Lynch helped Seahawks win Day 1

NFL draftIt figures that a guy named Lynch had a lot to do with the Seahawks winning big on the first day of the NFL draft.

Marshawn is retired (we think), but Paxton is just coming into the league, and the Seahawks took advantage of that and an unexpected first-round development to end up with a double win.

While they didn’t move out of the first round for the fourth straight year, as it seemed they would, they did better: They traded down just five spots and added another third-round pick while helping their offensive line with Texas A&M’s Germain Ifedi.

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‘Who says we’re picking at 26?’ Schneider wants to move down again

John Schneider (via Fresh Files)DRAFT COUNTDOWN: 2 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

The Seahawks have not drafted in the first round for three years; and, if John Schneider has his way, they won’t pick in the first round this year either.

On Wednesday, KJR’s Mitch Levy asked jokingly which player the Seahawks are going to pick at No. 26, and Schneider quickly retorted, “Who says we’re picking at 26?”

Schneider wasn’t kidding either. He said this draft is made for trading down, “quite honestly.”

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Don’t fall for the company line

NFL draftDRAFT COUNTDOWN: 3 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

As we all know, the Seahawks are a supposed Super Bowl contender with one major problem: They are starting all over on the offensive line.

The company line has been that there have not been any good linemen for the Seahawks to draft over the last four years. Go ahead and fall for it if you want. But it’s wrong.

Even by the Seahawks’ apparent standards — as carefully derived by Seahawks Draft Blog’s Rob Staton — they should have been able to put together a very good line by now.

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Are Hawks targeting Bullard in second round?

DRAFT COUNTDOWN: 4 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

John Schneider draftingFor all of the talk about the Seahawks needing to target an offensive lineman with the 26th overall pick, it is looking more and more like they could be angling to draft a defensive lineman.

Florida’s Jonathan Bullard is the hot name attached to the Seahawks these days. They reportedly were set to bring him in for a visit — a move that could well foreshadow his arrival as a Seahawk in late April.

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