Heaps: Seahawks are unlikely to trade out of 1st round for 2 reasons

Apr 16, 2020, 12:37 PM

The Seahawks have picked in the first round in just three of the last seven drafts. (Getty)

(Getty)

Seattle Sports

The Seahawks go into next week’s NFL Draft having made just three first-round picks in the previous seven drafts, and even then one of those first-round picks was still a case of general manager John Schneider trading down from the team’s initial pick.

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Expecting Seattle to trade down or completely out of the first round has become something of an annual tradition, but that tradition just might be interrupted this year.

Jake Heaps of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Tom, Jake and Stacy explained Wednesday that he expects the Seahawks to use the No. 27 pick they’re taking into the first round next Thursday, and there’s a couple factors why. First, there’s how the draft lines up behind Seattle’s scheduled first selection.

“If you look at where the Seahawks would be trading back to – I did a little research on this, had somebody help me out – the teams that are towards the top of the second round, which is normally what you would want the Seahawks to be trading back for… none of those teams have legit draft capital that makes sense for them to make that kind of move,” Heaps said. “(Those teams) would be trading almost their entire draft to make that move up to 27 with how we know picks are valued.”

That would leave the Seahawks having to move farther back than preferred if they were to trade down, Heaps said. As a result, he expects Schneider to be more active with trades in the middle rounds of the draft instead.

“They would be trading back with a team that has later second-round picks, which is not something you would necessarily want to see. So what I think is gonna happen, contrary to what everything shows of what the Seahawks do, unless they get a unique offer, I think that they’re going to stay at 27 and be a little bit more fluid with their picks in the second, third and fourth rounds, that they’ll play around and make trades in that range.”

The second reason why Heaps thinks Seattle will use the No. 27 pick has to do with how this year’s draft class stacks up.

“I do feel like they’re in a situation that they could definitely keep that 27th pick because there are gonna be some quality players in that range at positions that they need – offensive tackle, defensive tackle, receiver and running back,” he said. “There will be very good prospects sitting there at 27 for them. So as we get closer and closer (to the draft), I think that they keep that 27th pick.”

You can hear that and more about the Seahawks’ upcoming draft in the Four-Down Territory segment of Tom, Jake and Stacy in this podcast.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Tom Wassell, Jake Heaps and Stacy Rost on Twitter.