Commentary: Pete Carroll may have already told us how Seahawks will use top draft pick
SEATTLE – Pete Carroll has an annual tradition of giving out cryptic and ultimately indecipherable draft clues in the days leading up to the big event, usually in the form of songs. But maybe the coach gave his most helpful clue three months ago, a few days after the Seahawks were ousted from the playoffs with a 41-23 shellacking by the 49ers.
In his traditional end-of-the-season news conference the next week, Carroll was asked multiple times in multiple ways about the Seahawks’ priorities during the offseason. And multiple times, in multiple ways, he gave versions of the same answer – not in song, but in plain-spoken prose that might speak multitudes.
“We are going to have to become more dynamic up front. We have to.”
“We have to rush the passer better, we have to be more of a factor when they are doubling us, we have to split double teams, and all of those things.
“In years past, when we were really on it defensively, we had seven or eight guys that you had to deal with and some problem guys up front. We did it a little bit differently back then, but you have to have issues that you cause for the opponent. We have to get better.”
Those statements were sprinkled throughout the news conference, in which he spoke somewhat enviously of the 49ers’ defensive front. The fact that San Francisco, with its elite front seven, beat the Seahawks three times last year by a combined 89-43 margin and might have made it to the Super Bowl had quarterback Brock Purdy not been knocked out of the NFC title game in the first quarter, was no doubt still burning freshly in his brain.
“(Nick) Bosa and (Arik) Armstead, those guys are the real deal and they have other guys in their rotation as well. If you think about it, picture the really hot defenses around the league. There are players on the front that make a difference and distract you from everything else that is going on. The Aaron Donald effect is so obvious at the Rams. He made everybody better because he was so hard to deal with.
“Well, Bosa is one of those guys, and Armstead is another one. It took some time to get those guys and to get them going. In some shape or form you have to have guys that are factors and affect the opponent in big ways if you are going to be able to really draw from it.”
With the Seahawks’ owning a Golden Ticket in the form of the No. 5 overall draft pick, delivered to them via Denver in the Russell Wilson trade, there is furious ongoing debate about what they are going to do with it Thursday. It’s quite possible that Carroll telegraphed their intentions in plain sight in January.
Of course, predicting the Seahawks’ draft strategy has proved to be a fool’s errand in years past. They tend to zig when everyone expects them to zag. Last year they confounded everyone by the simple act of keeping it simple, and their chalk picks resulted in their most successful draft in years.
Logic would say they are going to build on Carroll’s inclination to beef up the defensive front, which has already been addressed preliminarily in free agency. There could be numerous enticing players available to them, starting with Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter. He comes attached with numerous red flags but also is regarded as a generational talent on the interior defensive line. Will Anderson of Alabama, Tyree Wilson of Texas Tech, Lukas Van Ness of Iowa and Nolan Smith of Georgia are other elite college defensive linemen – the coveted edge rushers – who could be there for Seattle at No. 5.
If you want a wrinkle, however, it’s the growing murmur that the Seahawks could thwart the mock drafts by selecting a quarterback at No. 5. They do, after all, have another first-round pick, their own at No. 20, to address the defensive front, and the reasoning is that they won’t be able to resist the chance to acquire Geno Smith’s heir apparent with such a lofty pick. Even if it means that person – Anthony Richardson of Florida is the hot name du jour – has to sit on the sideline for a year or two grooming under Smith.
That brings to the forefront another pertinent question: Do the Seahawks prioritize the present or the future in this draft? It’s a question that becomes more poignant by the knowledge that Carroll will turn 72 during the first month of the season. Under normal circumstances, that would seem to take the future out of play, but Carroll is the youngest 71-year-old on the planet, is signed through the 2025 season and shows no indication he plans to stop there.
In other words, he no doubt views building for the Seahawks’ future as building for his future, too. Thus, putting a quarterback very much in play. But that’s what makes the Seahawks so confounding – and fascinating – heading into Thursday. They can go any which way with that No. 5 pick.
That said, my inclination is to take Pete at his word – actually, his words. Lots of them, extolling the virtues of the front seven and lamenting the fact that Seattle’s wasn’t elite. We’ll find out soon if that was a road map or a misdirection.