The 2020 NFL draft is in the books, and the Seattle Seahawks came away with eight new players to compete for jobs on the 53-man roster during training camp.
A pair of edge defenders and a pair of tight ends highlight the class, but the team also added a run-stuffing linebacker, a slot receiver, a third down running back and a mauling right guard – an eclectic group of talented players, many who have battled adversity in their young careers and are ready to come in with a chip on their shoulder and immediately make an impact on this club.
Adding eight new players creates some competitive positional battles in camp, and while that will certainly create some tough roster decisions for Pete Carroll and John Schneider – that’s exactly how they prefer it.
While a few players will be sweating their job security, the Seahawks had a trio of obvious winners on their current roster after the draft was over.
Russell Wilson
Tasked with calling all of Seattle’s new draft picks on the phone as soon as they were selected, Russell Wilson’s enthusiasm for this draft class is no doubt warranted.
While they may not have brought in the “superstars” that he requested earlier this offseason, Wilson was given a bevy of weapons to throw the ball to, as well as a pair of blockers to help keep him safe and in the pocket in 2020.
“We love our quarterback,” John Schneider said before the start of the draft. “We want to keep him. We want to have as many grown men in front of him as we possibly can.”
Damien Lewis no doubt qualifies as that. While he’s known more as a run-blocker than a pass-protector, Lewis is “a forklift dressed as a right guard” according to NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein, and should help keep Wilson safe under center.
In addition to Lewis, Seattle also added third down back DeeJay Dallas. Dallas is a converted wide receiver who will give Wilson another option to dump the ball to – but he’s also a physical back who loves protecting his quarterback.
“My favorite part of third down situations is protecting the quarterback,” Dallas told Seattle media members shortly after getting selected. “You get to kind of get to enforce your will upon the other guy across from you.”
As if a mauling guard and a physical, pass protecting running back wasn’t enough, Wilson also received a trio of other pass catching weapons, including six-foot-seven tight end Colby Parkinson, speedy slot receiver Freddie Swain and hybrid tight end/wide receiver Stephen Sullivan.
Wilson is in his prime, and the Seahawks want to do everything they can to keep him healthy and put the people around him who can help him win another Super Bowl. This draft must have been a dream come true for him, as they managed to do exactly that.
Ugo Amadi
For the first time since the 2015, the Seahawks did not take a single defensive back in the NFL draft.
The team appears set to roll with Quinton Dunbar, Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers as the options on the outside, with Ugo Amadi the primary option for the nickel corner position.
Of course, when asked about Amadi’s hold on the nickel position, coach Pete Carroll made it clear after the draft that Amadi will still have his work cut out for him in training camp.
“You’re going to see us create the challenge there for him,” Carroll said. “There’s some things that we’re working on, I don’t want to tell you all of it right now, I’d like to keep it under wraps. But there’s some different things that we’re going to try. He did a nice job his first time out, he really didn’t have much competition there once he got in there which was the way it worked out. But he is going to have some this time around and hopefully he’ll just continue to get better.”
Coach Pete Carroll preaches his culture of competition, and it wouldn’t make sense to just hand Amadi the job right away after he only just got it toward the end of the 2019 season – even if he did a good job in the role.
The Seahawks not taking a defensive back at any point during the draft is still a good sign for Amadi, however, as any additions they do make to the position are unlikely to unseat him for the primary nickelback role.
Carroll did admit the team likes to mix and match and try different combinations, a sign they may continue to roll with their base 4-3 defense a large percentage of the time. That could allow Jordyn Brooks or Cody Barton to handle those duties more often – much like Mychal Kendricks did at times last year.
“We want to try some different combinations,” Carroll continued. “If you remember, from one extreme, we had linebackers playing in the nickel spot. Mychal Kendricks was out there last year. And that worked out pretty well for us for the most part. From that extreme, all the way to some other guys that we’re going to give some shots to. Let us show you when we get there. But I’m looking forward to it.”
John Schneider also tossed Linden Stephens, who the Seahawks recently claimed off waivers from the Dolphins, out there as a name who could compete with Amadi for the nickel role.
Still – Amadi has to feel his chances of earning the team’s primary nickelback job are pretty good, even if Seattle doesn’t use the package as often as they should.
Brandon Shell
The Seattle Seahawks have 19 offensive linemen on the current roster, an absolutely jaw-dropping number that will have to be cut in half before the 2020 season can begin.
Only one of them came to the Seahawks via the NFL draft, however, and that was right guard Damien Lewis of LSU.
That’s good news for newcomer Brandon Shell, who is the presumed starter at right tackle in place of Germain Ifedi, who is now with the Bears.
Shell will still face competition from fellow newcomer Cedric Ogbuehi, and the door is now open for Jamarco Jones to transition back to tackle with a surplus of guards in the mix as well.
Still, if the Seahawks were uncomfortable with the idea of Shell (or Ogbuehi) starting the season at right tackle, they likely would have used an early round pick to address the tackle position. The fact that they didn’t likely means they feel confident one of them can step up and replace Ifedi, a good sign for both players as we head into the next stages of the offseason.
