Seattle Seahawks: Recent first round draft picks have disappointed

2016 – Germain Ifedi

I feel like I’ve written dozens of articles criticizing the Seahawks offensive line for their lack of pass protection. At least the team tried, just as they did in 2011, to correct the issue by drafting Ifedi with the 31st overall pick in 2016. They ended up just making the situation worse.

Through three seasons, Ifedi has started 44 games for the Seahawks, mostly at right tackle, but he has also kicked inside to play some guard. So far though, no matter where he plays, defensive ends and outside linebackers have chewed him up.

In the first two weeks of the 2018 season, Ifedi was first destroyed by Von Miller and then Khalil Mack. While those are two of the best pass rushers in the league today, there wasn’t even any semblance of protection. Wilson was sacked six times in each game. Not all of those instances were on Ifedi, but Miller had three sacks in Week 1 and Mack had a strip sack in Week 2. Both of those assignments were Ifedi’s.

Four tackles game off of the board in the 2016 draft before the Seahawks got Ifedi. Unfortunately, with hindsight, we can see that those actually turned out to be the best tackles in the draft and the position was picked over when Seattle made their selection. The team would have been better off drafting a guard with this pick as Cody Whitehair and Joe Thuney were still on the board.

Much like in the situations with Carpenter and Irvin, it seems like the best course of action with Ifedi would be to simply admit his selection was a mistake and let him walk after four seasons. That means he’ll likely be starting for Seattle again in 2019 but then the team can cut him loose.