Seattle Seahawks: 5 Prospects to avoid in 2019 NFL Draft
By Samuel Teets
Trayvon Mullen (Clemson), Byron Murphy (Washington), CBs
The Seahawks have already drafted two young corners in recent years, but they still lack depth and star power at the position. One could say Seattle should avoid these two corners based solely on the fact that the team used a third round pick in 2017 on Shaquill Griffin and a fifth round pick in 2018 on Tre Flowers, but that’s not the issue. The Seahawks still need a star cornerback, but there is only one player of that caliber at the position in this draft class.
Greedy Williams strikes me as the best corner in the draft, but he’ll likely be gone by the time Seattle is on the clock. There will be a handful of other solid corners still on the board, including Trayvon Mullen and potentially Byron Murphy. The Seahawks should probably avoid all of them, but Mullen and Murphy raise a few extra flags in particular.
Murphy ran a 4.55-second time in the 40-yard dash at the combine. For a 5-11 corner who only weighs 190 pounds, that’s startlingly slow. For reference, Marshon Lattimore, who was a first round selection in 2017, ran the 40 in 4.36 seconds, despite being taller and heavier than Murphy. The two top corners in the 2018 draft, Denzel Ward and Jaire Alexander, ran the 40 in 4.32 and 4.38 seconds, respectively.
Mullen ran a little faster than Murphy, finishing with a 4.46-second time. That’s not bad for a 6-1, 199-pound corner, but Mullen has his fair share of issues. In games, he can appear slower than his 40 time lets on and he sometimes just falls out of routes or struggles to prevent the receiver from separating for a catch. Mullen falls right into our mid to late first round to early second round parameters, but he really isn’t in that top group of cornerbacks in this class.
Richard Sherman ran the 40-yard dash in 4.56 seconds, but he was also 6-3, much larger than both Murphy and Mullen. Another former Seahawks corner, Brandon Browner, had a slower 40 time as well, but he was 6-4 and weighed 220 pounds.
The Seahawks, and most teams for that matter, are open to trading speed for size, but Murphy is not big, and Mullen has more issues with the fundamentals than straight-line speed. Seattle should avoid both, just to be safe.