Huard: Which college QBs could be in play for Seahawks in draft?

The Seattle Seahawks, armed with two picks in each of the first two rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft, spent a lot of time scouting the top quarterbacks in the class.

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Ultimately, Seattle didn’t draft a signal caller to learn under Geno Smith, who it had signed to a three-year contract extension in March.

Smith was a Pro Bowler in 2022, leading the NFL in completion percentage while finishing top 10 in passing yards and touchdowns while guiding the Seahawks to a playoff berth.

At 5-3 this season, another playoff appearance is certainly in the cards for the Seattle Seahawks, but Smith hasn’t been quite as good as last year. There are multiple factors at play as to why that’s the case, such as the offensive line being severely beat up with multiple starters missing at least three games each. Smith has also been more turnover prone this season, with nine already including eight over the last four weeks.

Should the Seahawks decide to pick a quarterback in the 2024 draft, who should we keep an eye on? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard, who is also a college football analyst for FOX Sports, broke it down during Wednesday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.

“The kids at the top, the young fellas at the top are gonna go (early),” Huard said. “I mean, J.J. McCarthy is gonna be a top-10 pick, and Drake Maye at North Carolina is probably going to push (USC’s) Caleb Williams (for the top spot).”

Huard thinks that trio will be similar to this past draft when Bryce Young went No. 1 overall to Carolina, C.J. Stroud went No. 2 to Houston and Anthony Richardson was the fourth overall pick by Indianapolis.

“So (Williams, Maye and McCarthy) are kind of in their own class,” Huard said. “The Seahawks are not going to draft … in the top five. It’s just not gonna happen.”

So who’s in that next tier of quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft? Someone in Seattle is on that list, Huard said.

“Well, Michael Penix is in that tier,” Huard said of the UW Huskies star quarterback, who is a frontrunner for the Heisman this year. “You want Michael Penix as a Seahawk?”

Relied Huard’s co-host Mike Salk, “Actually, I’d be fine with that. You know how I generally feel about the local guy. But yeah, I’d be fine with Michael Penix as a Seahawk.”

MICHAEL PENIX JR, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE⁉️

A Heisman-worthy play from the Huskies QB 🔥

📍@NissanUSA pic.twitter.com/BTncZaLfuq

— ESPN (@espn) November 5, 2023

Earlier on Wednesday, Brock and Salk spoke to legendary former UW Huskies head coach Chris Petersen, who heaped a ton of praise onto Penix, which caught Huard’s eye.

“When Chris Petersen says in 47 years of watching college quarterbacks that he’s never seen anyone like him, that’s not a recency bias. That’s watching the tape,” Huard said. “… Penix makes (plenty of throws) that nobody else makes. I’m talking deep corner routes and deep out routes from one hash, which, by the way, you don’t have in the NFL. You never have those kinds of spaces because of the hash-mark distances, so he literally does not have a throw within 60 yards he can’t make on a football field. So keep watching Penix.”

Another Pac-12 star falls under that “next tier” category, though he’s not one Huard or Salk are big fans of for the NFL level.

“Bo Nix (at Oregon), you’ve watched him. I’ve watched Bo Nix,” Huard said. “I love him as a point guard and a facilitator, and there’s so many ‘gimmes’ in that system. But yeah, kind of not feeling that.”

Bo Nix 🤝 Tez Johnson = TD pic.twitter.com/7HtSvSKYHD

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 4, 2023

Two more standouts come to mind for Huard, and both play down south.

“Jayden Daniels at LSU can run, man … That dude is twitchy-twitchy, and he can spin it, too,” Huard said. ” … (There’s also Florida State’s) Jordan Travis.”

Jayden. Daniels. For SIX!

And he puts a lil' flare on the dance 🕺🏾 pic.twitter.com/s2C0utH1GT

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 5, 2023

Ultimately, the 2024 quarterback class is shaping up to be both good and deep, Huard said.

“I told you before the year, Salk, this is going to be the deepest (quarterback class in a long time), and it’s playing out that way,” he said. “We’re in November and it is playing out that way to be one heck of an intriguing draft class.”

It should be noted that the Seattle Seahawks not only don’t have two picks in each of the first and second rounds like in the ’23 draft, but they traded their ’24 second-round pick to New York for defensive tackle Leonard Williams.

Listen to the second hour of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

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• Salk on Seahawks: What Carroll’s answer to QB question really said
• Seahawks have missed chances to prove they’re among NFL’s best
• Seahawks’ Carroll ‘not dwelling’ on loss: ‘We gotta turn the page’
• Should Seattle Seahawks fans hit panic button?

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