There’s a very telling story behind Seahawks drafting Murphy

The Seattle Seahawks seemed to make out well in the first round of the NFL Draft last week, taking just the second defensive player off the board in Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II despite picking at No. 16 overall.

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It appears the Seahawks were very sure about picking Murphy, too, based on some insight Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard shared during the Blue 88 segment of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk.

Huard, a former NFL quarterback who is now an analyst on FOX college football broadcasts, said the Seahawks had a lot of other teams talking to them about potential trades for that No. 16 pick. During his explanation, he pointed a bit to what ESPN Seahawks reporter and frequent Seattle Sports on-air guest Brady Henderson has uncovered (read Brady’s story on that here).

“They didn’t just have four trade opportunities. There were more than that,” Huard said.

The reason? A run of six quarterbacks over the first 12 picks, plus the fact that only one other defensive player was taken before the Seahawks went on the clock, pushed a lot of good talent toward the middle of the first round.

“We talked (before the draft) about the Seahawks being the fulcrum (of the first round),” Huard said. “… Like, the best thing that can happen for the Seahawks is all these quarterbacks go. Take all six of them, and then take those three receivers and take a few of these tackles, and you could be sitting there at a spot at 16 with some defensive players that everybody wants.”

It seemed to go exactly as expected.

“Those phones were ringing off the hook,” Huard said. “… There were a lot of people there that were making some enticing offers at 16. But ultimately, the Seahawks had to make a decision.”

Considering the decision the Seahawks made, it says something about the amount of conviction the Seahawks have in Murphy as a potential cornerstone piece of the defense, doesn’t it?

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“Even with all those offers, they just could not turn away from the only defensive tackle drafted in that first round,” Huard said of Murphy. “(If) they traded (down from No. 16 and) Murphy’s going to go to somebody else, I don’t think that was palatable, even though there could have been some other resources added into the third round and maybe even the late second round. They were just not going to let Byron Murphy loose.”

Blue 88, a segment where Brock Huard answers three football questions, airs live at 7:45 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Listen to the full edition from Wednesday’s show in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More Seattle Seahawks coverage

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• Huard explains why Seahawks drafted two cornerbacks
• Salk: With draft done, what we should expect from these Seahawks
• Rost: Seattle Seahawks’ future still relies heavily on previous draft classes

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