Mock draft season is in full effect, and while most of them have the Seattle Seahawks selecting a pass rusher – their biggest area of need – Luke Easterling of Draft Wire went a different direction, mocking Alabama safety Xavier McKinney to Seattle at No. 27 overall.
“Gone are the days of Earl Thomas roaming the Seattle secondary, but if the Seahawks want to try and recreate that kind of presence for the future, McKinney has all the mental and physical tools to make it happen,” Easterling wrote. “He’s athletic, physical and versatile, three things every NFL team wants in their back-end playmakers.”
While the Seahawks are set at safety at first glance, McKinney does possess elite versatility – able to play both safety spots and nickel corner, with some scouts seeing potential as an outside corner as well.
The versatility is no doubt appealing, and there is a lot of Seahawk-ey traits in McKinney, but the Seahawks have so many other more pressing needs than a rangey safety – especially after they added Quandre Diggs at last year’s trade deadline.
McKinney would be a nice addition, and could start right away at nickel, but it is hard to imagine Seattle using their first round pick on him with all of the other holes on the roster.
