You could see the mixed emotions on his face as he described the events that unfolded on the first day of the draft. Seahawks President of Football Operations and General Manager liked his first round pick, Grey Zabel, but something was weighing on him. The full picture became clear after a raucous day two where Schneider and the Seahawks made some of the boldest moves and picks of the entire draft. They left with four players who have first round talent, and historic athleticism.
Nick Emmanwori
It did not take long for Seattle to strike. They traded pick 52 (2nd) and 82 (3rd) to jump 17 spots and take safety Nick Emmanwori. No player did more to help their cause at the NFL Combine than Emmanwori. People scoffed when he told reporters that he expected to run in the 4.3 range of the 40-yard-dash at over 220 pounds. Then, he went out and did it by posted a 4.38. Along the way, he recorded a 43″ vertical and over 11 foot broad jump. By the time he was finished, he had become the most athletic safety in the history of the sport, as measured by Relative Athletic Scoring (RAS).
I was so blown away by what I saw that I ran back from the stadium to record this emergency pod making the case Seattle should take Emmanwori with their 1st round pick. Schneider and Mike Macdonald apparently had the same reaction.
Schneider called it one of the most impressive performance he’s seen at the combine, and indicated he was a player they were considering with their first pick.
“We had him right next to Grey (Zabel). Your question last night, ‘Other people you’re interested in?’ Yeah,” Schneider said, referencing a question I had asked him after day one of the draft. “We were talking to a couple clubs there. Yeah, it worked out great. We were a little nervous that things were going to fall apart there. Not sure how far he would have gone. Felt like a way. 50, 52 felt like a far distance. He wouldn’t have fallen there. This is one of the best Combines I’ve ever seen.”
It is one thing for someone like me to be impressed by Emmanwori. It is another thing entirely for Macdonald to be excited. Macdonald has made his mark by elevating the middle of a defense at every level.
Safety Kyle Hamilton blossomed under Macdonald. Linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen played their best ball with him. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike became an All-Pro.
Macdonald has continued that trend in Seattle as Julian Love and Coby Bryant took huge steps forward at safety and Ernest Jones became a (literal) centerpiece of the defense.
If the guy who did all that is pounding the table to get the undeniably talented Emmanwori, Seahawks fans should be very, very excited.
“[Emmanwori’s] been a guy that our whole staff has been really excited about the whole process,” Macdonald said. “How do you watch his tape and not just see the potential of what he can become? To our coaches’ credit, they really felt strongly about it. Go through the process, get aligned with the scouts, the scouts felt the same way. It’s our job to kind of make it come to life now, which is the fun process. Get in here, go to rookie football school, learn what a slot formation is, 21 personnel. Build it from the ground up. If you do it the right way, I believe it can be something special.”
Unlike another combine star, Shemar Stewart, Emmanwori brings excellent on-field production along with off-the-charts athleticism. He was a first-team All-American. He played corner growing up, which allows him to match up in man coverage against a variety of opponents. What stood out to me when watching him play were his instincts in zone coverage.
“I kind of over the years got better at cornerback and understanding defenses,” Emmanwori said. “I got a couple of picks in man [coverage] too. I think I got two picks in man coverage, four picks in zone [coverage]. So over the years, I got better with zone. I’m learning that aspect of my game.”
A player with this unique combination of size, speed, and coverage ability has the potential to change the complexion of the defense and the personnel rotations.
He can be a deep safety next to either Love or Bryant. He can be a box safety like Rayshawn Jenkins was at times last year. He can be a slot corner or a nickel linebacker. He could grab snaps from a variety of guys, including linebacker Tyrice Knight.
And he’s just 21-years-old.
The fusion of youth, talent, and top-tier coaching on this defense should have Seahawks fans smiling. Schneider and Macdonald certainly were as they added what they believe to be a second 1st round pick. Blue chip players define the ceiling of your football team, and Emmanwori has a legitimate chance to become one.
Elijah Arroyo
Seattle retained their 2nd round pick at 50 and chose athletic tight end Elijah Arroyo. He is a player who was universally lauded by draft evaluators as a guy who can stretch the field and run routes like a receiver. The buzz was growing enough that the last nine mock drafts tallied by NFLMockDraftDatabase.com had him going in the first round.
Durability was the primary concern. He suffered a torn ACL in 2022 that lingered into 2023. This was a player I was excited to watch at the Senior Bowl, and came away more impressed by Terrance Ferguson and Mason Taylor, who were drafted before Seattle picked.
That said, he’s got unique movement skills for a tight end and Klint Kubiak has a history of maximizing the gifts of guys on offense. Macdonald referenced that when talking about Arroyo’s fit.
“They have so many mechanisms to get guys around, change personnel groups, get the ball to guys inexpensively where they can let the guys do the things they do well,” Macdonald said. “Again, that’s one of the reasons we hired Klint (Kubiak) and the rest of those guys. Respect for how they operate, the creativity, but sticking to the foundation of the fundamentals, too, which is like a secret sauce to it. It’s going to be a really fun journey to make it come to life.”
Macdonald went on to share the vision of how Arroyo can split out as an X receiver, as well as contribute as a tight end.
“Elijah is a unique situation where this guy can run an extensive route tree,” Macdonald said. “To have to account for a tight end body on the field and him also to be able to split out wide, do X receiver type of things, bigger body that we probably have right now on our roster, just provides a ton of value. Then he’s going to throw it in there as the actual tight end in-line and be able to create some of those bigger personnel formations is the vision that we have for him. Really exciting.”
Kubiak runs a lot two tight end packages on offense. There will be plenty of snaps to be had, and there is a role as a big-bodied X who could show up in the red zone and other situations.
Schneider acknowledged that injury issues were what caused him to be available with the 50th pick, but they saw him as much more than that.
“[Injury history is] exactly why he was there when we were picking at (50th overall),” Schneider said. “Otherwise, like I told you guys before, we end up beating these guys up so much throughout the process, but you have to be real about it. He has missed time. If he hasn’t missed time, the talent is like a top-15 pick, so, this guy’s special.”
Schneider was not just blowing smoke.
Seattle gets their third player with first round talent.
Jalen Milroe
The final pick of the day came when the Seahawks selected Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe with their remaining 3rd round pick (92nd overall).
Milroe was a guy that had the opposite experience of Zabel. He was a highly recruited player who played for the biggest football school in the country, and was gaining steam as a possible first round pick before a truly awful Senior Bowl week sent his stock plummeting.
Milroe has small hands, holds onto the ball too long, makes poor decisions too often, and is shockingly inaccurate at times, especially on intermediate passes. Those are the reasons he became a 3rd round pick instead of hearing his name on day one.
He also is the only QB in this draft with a truly elite trait. His running ability and speed (4.37, 40-yard dash) immediately make him one of the best running threats at the position in the NFL. People can scoff at the notion of evaluating a QB by his ability to run, but look at the NFL playoffs last year.
The final four teams left ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in fourth-down conversion rate. That was heavily influenced by the mobility of their QBs. Three of the four teams had a QB who rushed for at least 500 yards and finished among the top five quarterbacks in rushing yards. Macdonald talked about how hard it is to defend players with this skillset.
“Quarterbacks that extend the play are incredibly difficult to defend,” Macdonald said. “The worst feeling in the world is you play the first play of the play perfectly on defense, you defend it. ‘All right, sweet. We did it.’ Then the guy still has the ball. You’ve got to defend the next play, sometimes a third play. He can kill you in the first play, the second play, the third play. It’s not a fun existence to live consistently. He has that ability.”
Pete Carroll had the same perspective when Seattle last drafted a quarterback in the 3rd round. That turned out pretty well.
Defensive coaches understand the strain a dynamic athlete can have on a defense and how helpless you can feel trying to stop it. Macdonald saw Lamar Jackson terrorize teams for years.
Milroe is nowhere near Jackson as a passer when Jackson came out of school. He isn’t even where Jalen Hurts was as a passer. There is a better chance of him becoming Justin Fields than an elite franchise player like Jackson or even a Super Bowl winner like Hurts.
The great news here is that the Seahawks do not need him to become one of those franchise QBs to justify this pick. Milroe can be utilized right away as a sub-package player who could have a huge impact on short yardage situations, 3rd down and 4th down conversion to extend drives, and red zone situations that could be the difference between three and seven points.
Many will compare him to Taysom Hill due to similar size. I have been consistent in saying they are different players. I said during our draft coverage yesterday that Hill is like a tight end who can play a little quarterback, and Milroe is like a running back who can play quarterback. Macdonald seems to agree.
“I don’t think it’s fair to [compare to] Taysom,” Macdonald said. “Taysom is such a great player. The way they used him was more in a tight end-fullback hybrid role, sometimes taking snaps. Jalen is a quarterback through and through. He’s going to be trained to play quarterback for us. When he’s in there, he’s going to be playing quarterback. But the athleticism is going to come to life when he’s on the field. That’s how he’s going to help us.”
Where Hill is a bull in a china shop, Milroe is a cheetah. That doesn’t mean he can’t have a similar impact as Hill even if he makes that impact differently. One of the really cool differences with Milroe is how good of a deep ball passer he can be.
Most wildcat quarterbacks have limited ability to push the ball downfield. Kubiak loves going for chunk plays in short yardage situations. Milroe could be a cheat code there.
None of this means Sam Darnold has to look over his shoulder. He is not the Matt Flynn to Milroe’s Russell Wilson. Darnold will be the starter, likely for years to come.
Seattle is an ideal place for a player like Milroe to develop. Kubiak’s offense simplifies reads for quarterbacks and they will be able to grow together.
While Mel Kiper Jr was losing his mind about people passing on Shedeur Sanders, he was missing the point about why he was slipping and Milroe got picked. Both players struggle to get rid of the ball on time and take too many sacks. Sanders has average athleticism and average arm strength. You need one or the other to offset holding the ball too long. Milroe has elite athleticism and above average arm strength. There’s at least a credible path to him putting all his traits together to be a plus starter.
Stacking wins
People are already talking about this being the most interesting Seahawks draft in years. I think that sells it short. You could legitimately argue Schneider landed four players with first round talent with their first four picks. Each player is an elite athlete with blue chip upside. If even one of them reaches that potential, it’s been a successful draft. If two or more become that kind of difference maker, this could become the best draft of Schneider’s career, and he’s has some good ones.
The Milroe pick was the last, but if he does find a way to become a plus starter at quarterback, that will be arguably the best pick in the entire draft. I was hoping they might take center Jared Wilson to further buoy the offensive line, but the upside of a center versus a quarterback could not be further apart.
There are a lot of interesting offensive line names left to be called on the final day of the draft. Clay Webb, Jalen Travis, Jack Sawyer, Jackson Slater, Chase Lundt, Bryce Cabledue, Jonah Monheim, and many more remain out there. Cornerback Zah Frazier is a guy I like more than Darien Porter, who Carroll predictably drafted in Vegas.
Seattle needs a nose tackle. Cam’Ron Jackson, Jay Toia, C.J. West, Jordan Phillips and more remain to address that need.
Schneider and Macdonald should feel giddy about where they are after two days. Stacking another day of wins could finally break this team out of the mediocre malaise they’ve been in for a decade. The talent they’ve already added might already be enough to set a new ceiling.