How becoming boring in NFL drafts has paid off for Seahawks

RENTON - There's a team that plays about a thousand miles south of Seattle that nearly knocked the Seahawks out of the playoffs last year. This team was the Super Bowl champions' biggest threat last season and, maybe, the biggest obstacle in their quest to repeat next season.

But this team also did something astonishing Thursday night.

With the 13th pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Los Angeles Rams select Ty Simpson, quarterback, Alabama.

This has easily been the biggest surprise of a draft that has now completed its first three rounds. The Super Bowl-contending Rams, who went all-in during free-agency, used their opening pick on a quarterback despite having a reigning NFL MVP in Matthew Stafford behind center.

So what does this have to do with the Seahawks? It's simple: They don't make picks like that anymore. They have been productively predictable - boring in the best possible way.

Let's look at this year's draft so far. A month and a half after losing running back Kenneth Walker III to free agency, the Seahawks selected running back Jadarian Price with the 32nd pick Thursday. A month and a half after losing safety Coby Bryant to free agency, the Seahawks selected safety Bud Clark with the 64th pick Friday. And a month and a half after losing cornerback Riq Woolen to free agency, the Seahawks selected cornerback Julian Neal with the 99th pick Friday.

The Rams are generating ink. The Seahawks are just fine with chalk. This isn't new - and fans should be happy about this.

Seriously, when's the last time you went wait … the Seahawks picked who?!?!" It was probably back in 2021, when they used the 56th pick (their first in that draft) on receiver D'Wayne Eskridge despite already having DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett on the roster. What they needed that year was a lineman, and seven picks later, the Chiefs drafted center Creed Humphrey, who has since made four Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro teams.

Obviously, if the rest of the league knew that Humphrey was going to have that level of success, he would have gone higher. But he was sitting right there for a Seahawks team that was weak up front. Seemed like a classic case of overthinking. That doesn't seem to happen anymore.

In 2022, the Seahawks chose left tackle Charles Cross first, linebacker Boye Mafe second and Walker third - all needs. In 2023, they selected cornerback Devon Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba with their first two picks - also needs. In 2024, defensive lineman Byron Murphy went to the Seahawks with the 16th pick, and last year, guard Grey Zabel went to them in the first round and defensive back Nick Emmanwori in the second. Every player mentioned filled a need, and every player mentioned was integral to last season's Super Bowl crown.

Obviously, nobody knows how any of this year's picks are going to end up impacting the team. Whiffs happen no matter who's in charge, but Seahawks general manager John Schneider's track record has been close to impeccable lately. Going the simple route has been a key reason why.

"I know the mistakes that I've made personally in the past and what that looks like, and we've learned from those things and don't want to repeat it," Schneider said Friday.

That was a general statement from the GM, not a response to a specific question about past picks. But it speaks to the evolution of his and his staff's approach to the draft. The easy pick is often the best pick. And there's something to be said about having the discipline to not go too far off-script.

This doesn't mean that need is always going to supersede talent when it comes to who Seattle selects. If the brass thinks adding a player to an already stacked position room is going to help the team, they'll do it. But as Schneider said of this year's draft so far: "We're really excited, just to be able to have that balance of best player/team need.

The Seahawks aren't slated to pick again until the sixth round Saturday, but that's OK. They are returning the core of a championship-winning team and may very well have plugged their most conspicuous holes.

They aren't creating chatter, they're cementing a window. Boredom in the draft room in April is what leads to bedlam in the streets in February.

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