I must admit I’ve spent less time watching the draft this year than any other year. The coverage and effort put into the coverage has become akin to reality TV in my opinion, looking more like a Housewives of Where-the-fuck-ever reunion than sports programming.

It has become a near-annual tradition for Seahawks fans to hate the team’s draft on draft day, but to leave with some sort of optimism based on the team’s history of success in the draft. It seems like this year there is more upfront optimism, skipping out on hard feelings founded in preconceived opinions of players.

What we’ve found out, and one of the major difference between the Pete Carroll/John Schneider combination compared to Tim Ruskell is that this regime is willing to take risks. They’ve assembled a team that is pretty solid at just about every position, so in every spot in the draft they pick a guy that has potential to be a starter some day. Gone are the days when the Seahawks draft players who are bound to be career backups, but also gone are the days when the Seahawks draft guys that are sure to contribute on snaps.

We’ve seen this team cut players early and we’ve seen them give significant snaps to undrafted and low-drafted players. We’ve seen this team vow to make everyone compete, even the best players on the team, and it seems likely that this year the competition will be rich, albeit not at the quarterback position like it was last year.

Here’s a look at who the Seahawks picked:

Round 2, 60^th overall

Christine Michael, RB, Texas A&M

Michael is a big, physical back. Mike Mayock called him the “most gifted tailback in this class” but with off-field issues. He’s also broken his leg… Continue reading →

We have done just a little bit of draft coverage, Now it’s your turn to weigh in.

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This is your North and South of Royal Brougham live Twitter feed. Give it a second to catch up and you should be ready to roll. While you’re here, check my 2012 Mock draft, 2012 Seahawks QB Candidates, our Staff Predictions for the Seahawks season and first round draft pick, and a handful of other draft candidates based on different philosophies.

Matt:

The fact that I’ve spent the last two hours talking about Bruce Irvin, and each time I’ve mentioned him, had to ask for either his first or last name, tells you everything you need to know about this latest first round pick by the Seahawks.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have hung their hat on talent evaluation, especially when drafting players. But with David DeCastro, Melvin Ingram, and Quinton Coples still on the board, it’s hard to imagine Seattle couldn’t have traded back and picked up more picks, or even taken Irvin in the second round.

As critical as I am at first blush of this LEO LB/DE hybrid from West Virginia, I’m not paid to make these decisions. Carroll and Schneider are. It’s hard to ignore the fact, however, that Irvin has a criminal record; he robbed a drug dealer. I guess we finally got the dirtbag Jim Mora was looking for. So, once again, instead of going the ‘proven’ route, taking a player in the first round that pundits and analysts have pegged to be successful players, Seattle has chosen a far less known name. Will it pan out? We hope so. But right now, it’s hard to see how this pick gives the Seahawks any kind of value at pick number fifteen.

Casey:

Boy. I remember being uninspired by James Carpenter last year. I was never busier than I was during draft season last year, and it was the first year in several that I didn’t make a mock draft for any outlet of any kind. But damn. Bruce Irvin? I had him rated as a late-second or early-third round pick.

I was really excited to analyze the Seahawks taking David DeCastro or Cordy Glenn. Or Quinton Coples. Or Chandler Jones. Or Stephen Hill. Or… Continue reading →