Why Michael Bumpus isn’t sweating top Seahawks pick’s drop to 5

Entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Seahawks were looking at the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, with a chance still of moving up to No. 2.

For seemingly the first time all season, though, something went right for the Denver Broncos, who knocked off the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers to finish with a 5-12 record. That dropped the first-round selection Denver is sending to Seattle as part of the Russell Wilson trade from No. 3 to No. 5, something Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard said was a definite hit to the Hawks.

Michael Bumpus, a former NFL wide receiver who co-hosts Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy, said he initially felt the same way. But on Tuesday, he shared that he’s changed his tune.

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“I looked at the situation and I go, ‘Man, we love some Will Anderson, (Jalen) Carter, who just declared (Tuesday) for the draft,” Bumpus said. “But then you gotta shift your focus. (Now) I’m looking at the kid Myles Murphy at Clemson and I go, ‘OK, we can work with that.'”

Murphy is a 6-foot-5, 275-pound defensive end who registered 6.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss and a forced fumble as a junior with Clemson in 2022. He is ranked as the No. 2 defensive lineman (behind Georgia’s Carter) and No. 5 overall prospect (No. 1 is Anderson, an edge rusher from Alabama) in the upcoming draft class by CBS Sports, and Bumpus would be more than fine with him being the consolation prize for the Seahawks.

“This dude is big, he’s fast, he’s strong, he’s powerful off the line of scrimmage. Once he grabs you, you are going down, and I think that was a big issue a lot of the times for this defense. We’d have them wrapped up in the backfield and somehow they will get loose.”

The Seahawks have had their struggles on defense this season, especially when it comes to stopping the run after switching to a 3-4 front from a 4-3. They’ve made strides in recent games, however, and adding a player like Murphy to a core that includes pass rushers Darrell Taylor and Uchenna Nwosu could be a good fit.

“Now, this guy (Muprhy) is a young man, he’s gonna have his ups and downs, but I like the direction of this line so far,” Bumpus said. “DT ended the season well, Uchenna Nwosu did his thing… I think you still need to get a big boy up the middle if (defensive tackle) Al Woods doesn’t come back – we’ll see what happens there. But now I’m just shifting my focus. We still got the No. 5 pick, something that we couldn’t wish for a year ago. So yeah, shifting to Myles Murphy, let’s hope this thing works out, go get him. Watch the film on this young man. He’s ready to go.”

You can hear Bump’s full thoughts on that and three other football questions in the podcast below from Tuesday’s Four-Down Territory segment, which airs live at 11:15 a.m. every weekday on Bump and Stacy.

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