Henderson: Added picks give the Seahawks flexibility to trade up on Day 2 of the NFL Draft

RENTON – After moving back in the first round and then out of it entirely in separate trades Thursday night, the Seahawks are in position to move up on the second day of the NFL Draft if they are so inclined.

I think there’s a good chance they will be.

Seattle acquired two picks from Atlanta and another from San Francisco. That gives the Seahawks 10 selections, three more than they took into the start of the draft. Six of those picks are between the second (Nos. 34 and 58) and third (Nos. 90, 95, 102, 106) rounds, which means Friday will be a busy day for general John Schneider, Pete Carroll and the rest of Seattle’s draft room.

“We have some freedoms here that could come to us,” Carroll said when asked about potentially trading up on Friday, when the draft resumes with Rounds 2 and 3. “We’re in a great spot in a couple of these rounds now. We’re not going to turn down phone calls. John will be workin’ it.”

Pick No. 34 is the second selection in the second round. The Seahawks traded back twice because they envisioned a best-of-both-worlds scenario in which they could acquire more selections and still be able to pick a player at that spot that they coveted all along. Making a selection at No. 34 seems more likely than another move back.

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Seattle’s next selection is No. 58, which is the 26th pick in the second round. This seems like a spot where the Seahawks could move up, and with four picks in the third round, they have more than enough draft capital to make it happen. The Seahawks could – hypothetically speaking – package the 58th overall pick with one of their third-rounders to move up into the early/middle portion of the second round. Perhaps they could make a smaller leap up the second-round order and try to recoup a pick in the fifth round, where they currently aren’t selecting.

It takes two to trade, of course, and it also takes a player worth trading up for. That makes it difficult to predict with any degree of certainty that it will happen. But it seems entirely possible when you consider the Seahawks’ recent draft history as well as the state of their roster.

They’ve traded up four times since Schneider’s first draft with Seattle in 2010. Three of those trades have come in the last two drafts, with Seattle moving up in 2015 for receiver Tyler Lockett and then twice last year for defensive tackles Jarran Reed and Quinton Jefferson (another defensive tackle, Jesse Williams in 2013, was the other). So the Seahawks have shown more of a willingness in recent years than they had earlier to sacrifice picks in order to get a player they really want.

One reason the Seahawks moved up for Jefferson last year was that they considered the dropoff from him to the next-best defensive tackles to be significant, so they didn’t feel like they could get a comparably-rated player at that position had they waited their turn. Could the Seahawks find themselves in a similar situation in the second round if they don’t take an offensive lineman like Forrest Lamp or Cam Robinson at No. 34?

The other factor to consider with the possibility of trading up Friday is that the Seahawks in all likelihood have more picks as it stands now than they do spots that are legitimately up for grabs. Seattle’s roster is still strong enough that if the Seahawks make all 10 of their selections, it would be exceedingly unlikely for all 10 of those players to make the team. Last year, for instance, two of the 10 players Seattle drafted didn’t make the team heading into the season. The Seahawks cut three of their eight draft picks in 2015.

There are several factors that went into those players not panning out, of course. And the obvious counterpoint is that no matter the shape of a team’s roster, having more draft picks means a greater chance of finding a gem.

Maybe the Seahawks identify a potential gem somewhere in the second round Friday night and move up to get him. They have the draft picks to pull it off and their recent history shows they’re willing to.

These are the Seahawks’ 10 picks:

Round 2: 34, 58
Round 3: 90, 95, 102*, 106*
Round 4: 111
Round 6: 210
Round 7: 226, 249

*Compensatory picks