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The Best Schneider Draft Picks

John Schneider came to the Seahawks with a reputation for being a hardcore talent evaluator. He has proven to be every bit of that in his three seasons as GM. There have been some great moves through free agency, but Schneider’s pride and joy is the draft. Every year his front office seems to hit home runs. Some are early, some are middle, and some are late. Deciding which of his terrific picks is the best is a matter of opinion. I decided to have a little fun and come up with a simple grading system to see where the choices all stack up.

I listed all of the Seahawks draft choices from the last three years and included key undrafted free agents as well. Each selection was scored based on three categories:

VALUE: Did the Seahawks get the player later than their talent indicates they should have been selected?

UPSIDE: How good can this player be? Roughly, 10 is All-Pro, 8-9 is Pro Bowl, 7 Starter

PERFORMANCE: How have they performed on the field? This takes into account injuries and production.

There is obviously more projection involved in players drafted this year that have not played in the regular season, but this is just for fun, so relax!

Note: Try clicking here if you are having trouble viewing the table below

This stacked up reasonably well. I struggled a bit with Golden Tate, whose upside I rate as just below a starter. I don’t see starting as his future, but I realize others (including the coaching staff) may disagree. The 2012 rookies got a little inflated due to their performance being based on pre-season and practice. Then again, this may end up being the best of the three drafts this regime has managed.

Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman top the charts and have helped to make every Seahawks fan anticipate the fifth round as much as the first. This year’s magic round may end up being the seventh, where J.R. Sweezy and Greg Scruggs look like they could be significant additions. If Walter Thurmond can get healthy, he can still pop up this list quickly. He showed great talent last season in the short time before getting injured.

How would you rate these draft choices? Which do you think was the best? Discuss!