Malik McDowell | CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks

Putting aside questions about Malik McDowell’s desire and Ethan Pocic’s position, the Seahawks accomplished all of their major goals in this draft: interior rusher, O-line competition, lots of DB depth.

They also added a couple of big receivers, which could be bad news for Jermaine Kearse, and replaced key role players Kelcie McCray and Tony McDaniel.

Asked if the roster is better than it was after the 2016 draft, Pete Carroll really couldn’t say that. The best he could do was: “I feel strong about it.”

He pointed out the three linebackers Seattle has signed, the O-linemen added via free agency and the draft, the two D-linemen.

“We’ve done some great stuff up front to make it more competitive. We’ve boosted the competition, obviously in the DB room but also at the receiver side of it. … I feel like it’s really going to be a competitive go.”

Continue reading Post-draft roster review →

The Seahawks got great value on their first-round trades down Thursday and ended up parlaying their top pick into five selections via three trades. But there’s a reason they moved down three times before drafting inside pass rusher Malik McDowell.

McDowell had an underwhelming 2016 season in which some think he mailed it in, and he did not impress some teams during the pre-draft process. But John Schneider and Pete Carroll really wanted him because of his size (6-6, 295), athleticism and versatility.

“He’s too unique,” Schneider said, comparing him to Calais Campbell, the 6-8 lineman who used to terrorize Russell Wilson as an Arizona Cardinal (and will again as a Jaguar next season). “We’ve been looking for a pass-rushing 3-technique since we’ve been here together.”

Continue reading McDowell’s ‘unique,’ but is he committed? →