The Seahawks have received positive grades from NFL insiders for their 2022 NFL Draft class, which is a bit out of the ordinary considering the team’s recent draft history.

Seahawks GM John Schneider addresses strong draft grades and more

It’s clear the Seahawks are pleased with their draft, too, especially when it comes to a couple of players they selected on the final two days of the event.

According to a report by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler shortly after the NFL Draft, the Seahawks were “ecstatic” to have landed cornerback Cody Bryant in the fourth round, and a veteran scout told Fowler that second-round running back Kenneth Walker III, who Seattle selected at No. 41 overall, should be considered one of the top 20 of all players in the 2022 draft.

Jake Heaps of Seattle Sports Station’s Jake and Stacy said this week that reading that report from Fowler “got me all sorts of fired up.”

“Ken Walker, Coby Bryant – this organization is buzzing about those two players,” Heaps said.

So why are those two players being considered draft steals, at least inside the Seahawks organization? Heaps shared his insight, starting with Bryant, who won the 2021 Jim Thorpe Award as college football’s top defensive back.

“They felt like they got a genuine steal in Coby Bryant in the fourth round,” Heaps said, “and like, ‘Hey, maybe he fell that far because of the fact that he was recently injured and because his numbers weren’t eye-popping’ – but they’re not bad, right? They’re not bad. Sometimes you just overlook really, really good football players for sexier names or sexier picks, sexier upside. They feel like they got an absolute steal with Coby Bryant (with) the fact that he can come in and compete right away for a starting job.”

As for Walker, who also has 2021 hardware as the Doak Walker Award winner for running backs, he both fills a need Seattle had and has been considered undervalued by some because of his position.

“They look at Ken Walker and… when you talk about big boards – not projections and what team needs are, but big board – (the Seahawks think) this is a top 20 player in the draft. So they feel like they got one of the very, very best players in the draft, one of the best difference makers that were out there in this draft.”

Heaps then brought up how he and his co-host, Stacy Rost, have focused in on running back as a spot where the Seahawks needed help this offseason due to the injury history of returners Rashaad Penny and Chris Carson.

“You and I have been talking about this for a couple months now that the running back position is a definite need for them,” Heaps said to Rost, “and they were able to address it with one of the more dynamic players in this draft, someone who can come in and really be a difference maker and potentially a stabilizer for such an important position in this Seahawks’ offense.”

You can hear Heaps’ full conversation with Rost in the Four-Down Territory segment of the podcast at this link or in the player below.

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