As the Seattle Seahawks prepare for the 2020 NFL Draft, let’s take a look back at their mixed bag of previous top selections.
The Seattle Seahawks built the team of the decade in the 2010s through savvy veteran signings and expert drafting. While the Seahawks hit on a lot of their picks early in the decade, the team recently began experiencing draft day disappointments. Specifically, a look at recent history reveals a pattern of early draft failures.
Head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider find several late and mid-round contributors each year, but the Seahawks routinely miss with their top pick in the draft. In the last ten years, only two of the team’s top draft selections eventually became Pro Bowlers, and those players left Seattle a while ago.
Hopefully, Seattle can skip the draft day drama this year and land an immediate contributor with the 27th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
10. Malik McDowell, DT, Michigan State (2017)
Seattle selected Malik McDowell with the 35th overall pick in the 2017 draft. In a draft class that featured six defensive ends taken in the first round, McDowell became the first traditional defensive tackle selected. Despite dealing with several injuries in college, McDowell showed flashes of dominant potential between his sophomore and junior seasons.
Unfortunately, McDowell never played in a regular-season NFL game. In July, he was involved in an ATV incident where he sustained season-ending injuries. However, the Seahawks never could clear him to play football after the incident and the team waived McDowell in 2018.
9. L.J. Collier, DE, TCU (2019)
When the Seahawks drafted L.J. Collier with the 29th overall pick last year, it already seemed like a continuation from the team’s questionable decisions in 2018. Sure enough, despite appearing in 11 games, Collier only recorded three tackles. He did not register a sack.
Pro Football Reference credits Collier with playing 152 of Seattle’s defensive snaps (14.0 percent). A first-round pick should see the field more than only 14 percent of the time, especially considering Seattle’s defensive end situation. Ezekiel Ansah only made one start and he looked horrible when he saw significant time. The veteran’s career is likely over after his dreadful 2019 campaign.
On the other side of the line, Jadeveon Clowney missed three games and five starts with various ailments. Despite these injuries, the Seahawks elected to play Quinton Jefferson (55 percent of defensive snaps) and Rasheem Green (51 percent of defensive snaps) more than Collier.
It’s not unheard of for NFL teams to redshirt their first-round picks but the Seahawks needed Collier’s help last season. Instead, he couldn’t even break into a mediocre defensive end rotation.