NFL DRAFT

Seahawks trade up to take Texas punter Michael Dickson in 5th round

Apr 28, 2018, 12:05 PM | Updated: Oct 28, 2024, 12:14 pm

seahawks...

The Seahawks took Ray Guy Award winner Michael Dickson in the fifth round of the NFL Draft. (AP)

(AP)

For the first time in the John Schneider/Pete Carroll era, the Seahawks took a specialist in the NFL Draft.

Full list of Seahawks, WSU and UW picks | NFL Draft home

And they traded up to do so, too.

The Seahawks took Texas punter Michael Dickson win the fifth round, sending the 156th selection and a seventh-rounder (226) to Denver to get the 149th pick to take Dickson.

Dickson, who is Australian, made the switch from Australian Rules Football to end up with Texas. He won the Ray Guy Award and had unanimous All-American honors in 2017. He ranked third in the nation in gross average (47.4 yards per punt) and led the country in net average (44.2).

The Seahawks already have a punter on their roster in veteran Jon Ryan, so the addition of Dickson has created speculation about what will happen with the 36-year-old Ryan, who has spent 10 seasons with Seattle. If the Seahawks decide to move on from Ryan, they could shed a salary cap hit of $3.2 million in 2018 and $3.6 million in 2019. If they hang on to Ryan, it will no doubt create an interesting competition in camp for the Seahawks.

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Seahawks trade up to take Texas punter Michael Dickson in 5th round