RENTON — The greatest accomplishment of the Seahawks’ rookie class might not have come on any of the Sundays or Mondays they have played this season, but on Wednesday this week when coach Pete Carroll spoke to the media.
“These guys are exceeding expectations,” Carroll said.
And when is the uber-positive Carroll ever surprised when something good happens?
OK, we kid to make the point — even those who were most invested in Seattle’s 2022 draft class likely weren’t expecting this.
After six games, Seattle has six rookies in essentially starting roles — left tackle Charles Cross, right tackle Abraham Lucas, running back Kenneth Walker III, right cornerback Tariq Woolen, outside linebacker Boye Mafe and nickel cornerback Coby Bryant (nickel corner isn’t always considered a starter, even if on the field the majority of the time).
Also seeing some playing time have been receiver Dareke Young and safety Joey Blount, an undrafted rookie free agent.
They have played 1,660 total snaps, more than any group of NFL rookies — the Bears are next at 1,492 — according to Pro Football Focus.
But they aren’t just “playing snaps,” which sometimes happens out of necessity.
All are thriving.
Woolen is tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with four. Bryant, who played a career-high 75% of the defensive snaps Sunday, leads the NFL in forced fumbles with four. Cross and Lucas have played every offensive snap, protecting the edges well enough for quarterback Geno Smith to lead the NFL in completion percentage at 73.4.
After serving as a backup to Rashaad Penny the first five weeks, Walker took over as the starter when Penny was injured against New Orleans. In his first start Sunday, Walker had the fourth-most yards for any first-time starter in team history with 97 (Lamar Smith holds the record with 148 in 1996).
And Mafe has supplanted Darrell Taylor with the starting base defense and had a career-high in snaps last week — 36 — as the Seahawks turned in their best defensive performance of the season.
And as Carroll noted this week, even Blount has been a quiet standout, tied for the team lead in special-teams tackles with four despite playing only three games.
“That wasn’t the intent at all,” Carroll said of Seattle leading the NFL in rookie snaps. “That’s just what has happened because the guys are who they are. We are very fortunate.”
All of which raises two questions — what did Seattle do right? And could this be the best rookie class in team history?
It’s worth remembering that thanks in large part to the Russell Wilson trade, the Seahawks had four of the first 72 picks, the most it is has had in the first 72 (Cross and Mafe were selected with picks Seattle got from Denver).
Cross was the ninth pick overall, the highest selection Seattle has made since the first draft for Carroll and general manager John Schneider in 2010, when left tackle Russell Okung was taken sixth.
Recall Carroll somewhat giddily saying that team chair Jody Allen told Carroll and Schneider “you’re back in your wheelhouse” after the Wilson trade was made, likening it to the drafts early in their tenure that turned around the franchise.
Still, having a lot of high picks does not guarantee success. But in part to having some specific needs, the Seahawks appeared this year to target certain positions and players more than in other recent drafts.
“We got some spots that we had kind of agreed upon it would be nice to get some help,” Carroll said after the draft.
As one example, Carroll this week acknowledged Seattle was thinking all along of taking a running back at picks No. 40/41 (the Seahawks had back-to-back picks there, taking Mafe 40 and Walker 41). They wanted depth, knowing Chris Carson was unlikely to return, and a complement to Penny.
They apparently targeted two running backs — Iowa State’s Breece Hall, who went to the Jets at 36, and Walker — generally considered the top two available. As Carroll hinted, Seattle would have been fine with Hall, who has 391 yards for the surprising Jets.
“There were a couple guys at the top that we really felt were the real deal,” Carroll said.
And whether they did it consciously, the Seahawks seemed to draft players either at where or a bit lower than they were expected to go, instead of some of the reaches they had been perceived to make in recent years.
Cross, Mafe, Walker and Lucas (taken 72nd) went right about where the consensus of mock drafts had them going, and Bryant and Woolen (109th and 153rd, respectively) went lower — both were commonly mocked in the 60s and 70s.
Because there were players at each spot who filled a need, the Seahawks didn’t make trades involving their first six picks.
“Things just kind of kept happening the way they should have,” Schneider said after the draft.
Still, they made some moves to create needs they felt could be filled in the draft, such as not re-signing veteran tackles Duane Brown and Brandon Shell.
Because Seattle filled needs with obvious choices meant it was a draft that got positive grades. Pro Football Focus gave it an A-minus, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., a B-plus, and a consensus of 18 draft grades compiled by football writer Rene Bugner had Seattle with a 3.26 grade on a 4-point scale, eighth-best among NFL teams.
This won’t be a class like the famous 2012 group that is able to say forever that no one believed it could succeed.
As for this group’s place in history, well obviously six games is just six games.
But via Pro Football Reference, Seattle has had only seven other drafts in which at least six players emerged as a starter for at least one season in their careers (and not always with the Seahawks).
Four of those have come under Carroll/Schneider — 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2017. The others are 2001, 1993 and 1977. All but the 2011 group, which had seven, are listed with six starters.
This group obviously can’t be compared yet with the groups from 2010 (Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, Kam Chancellor), 2011 (James Carpenter, K.J. Wright, Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell, Malcolm Smith and Doug Baldwin as an undrafted free agent) and 2012 (Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, Wilson and J.R. Sweezy) for long-term impact.
But getting so much production so early indicates this class may have a chance to be mentioned right with them.
Smith, for one, left the field Sunday thinking that.
“Man, I said it to Tyler [Lockett],” Smith said. “I was like, ‘That rookie class, they didn’t miss.’ Every single one of those guys are studs. They’re contributing. And you can see them growing every single week, each one of those guys. And for those guys to be young rookies and to be stepping up the way that they are, I think it speaks volumes to them personally as players and then to the organization and front office and scouts for selecting those guys.”