The Seahawks’ selection of Texas Tech linebacker Jordyn Brooks with the 27th overall pick in April’s NFL Draft was a surprise for a number of reasons.

Jeremiah: Seahawks drafted good players, but they took some early

First and foremost, it was the first time since 2011 that the Seahawks kept their original first-round grade. Second, the Seahawks’ most glaring need was at defensive end, so taking a linebacker, where it was thought that they had their 2020 three starters set in stone, was a bit shocking. And finally, if the Seahawks were to select a linebacker at 27, Brooks wasn’t the guy most experts and analysts thought they would take.

That included NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, who joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock and Salk Podcast this week.

“Jordyn Brooks is someone I had (51st) on my list, so (taking him 27th) was a little earlier than I had him, but he’s someone who can run and he fits what they are and what they do, so it’s a good fit even though it’s early,” Jeremiah said. “I think in an ideal world you trade back, get a little extra value and still get your player.”

Seahawks general manager John Schneider said after the draft that the team was looking to select a linebacker and had three players they were comfortable with. Brooks was one of them. The other two were Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray and LSU’s Parick Queen.

Murray went 23rd overall to the Los Angeles Chargers, and when the Seahawks were on the clock, they chose Brooks, 22, over Queen, 20. The Ravens took Queen with the very next pick.

Those two will forever be tied together because of this, and while some, like Seahawks analyst Paul Moyer, believe Brooks was the better pick for Seattle, some analysts, such as Jeremiah, were exceptionally high on Queen.

“I’m a big Patrick Queen fan,” he told Brock and Salk. “He was my 15th player and he was my second linebacker behind (eighth overall pick) Isaiah Simmons and I had Patrick Queen two spots over Kenneth Murray … and Brooks was 51 for me.”

Both Queen and Brooks ran 40-yard dashes in the 4.5s, but Brooks has a definite edge in experience, as he was a four-year starter at Texas Tech while Queen didn’t start until this last season. Jeremiah said that needed to be taken with a grain of salt.

“The other thing people said with Patrick Queen is he didn’t start until (partway through 2019),” he said. “… The year before, he was playing behind Devin White, who was pretty good and was a top-15 pick (in 2019) who played great as a rookie.”

So why did Jeremiah and so many other analysts rank Queen so much higher than Brooks?

“I just thought he was more instinctive,” Jeremiah said. “I thought he was somebody who was really, really good in coverage to go along with all the range. Because you get the range with Brooks. He’s got the speed and the range and the lateral stuff is off the charts, but I didn’t think he had the same cover ability or the same instincts overall as you had there with Queen.”

What does D.J. think of Damien Lewis?

If any player in Seattle’s 2020 class has a chance to start right away, it’s third-round pick Damien Lewis. a guard from LSU.

After drafting Lewis, Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll said Lewis was someone who would be given a chance to fight for a starting job from the very beginning, and that pah was made even more clear when the team cut 2018 and 2019 starting right guard D.J. Fluker shortly after the draft. Jeremiah said there’s some similarities between Fluker and the rookie guard.

“He’s a different body type than Fluker, but he’s the same type of player,”  Jeremiah said. “He can maul you in the run game, but he can lunge and get out of position some in pass protection. He’s just really physical.”

Jeremiah said he talked to one anonymous NFL general manager who asked him what he thought of Lewis. Jeremiah responded by saying he liked him and that he was the 91st player in his draft rankings.

“And he says ‘I can’t stand him,'” Jeremiah recalled.

The reason that GM couldn’t stand him, Jeremiah said, was because he seemed to have only watched tape from the Auburn-LSU game when defensive tackle Derrick Brown bullied Lewis and the rest of the LSU offensive line. Brown went seventh overall to the Carolina Panthers.

“And I said ‘Derrick Brown did that to everybody’ but he got crushed by Derrick Brown in that game, like it was bad,” he said. “But that was by far the worst that he played and I thought he did a good job (overall).”

You can listen to the full Jeremiah interview in the latest Brock and Salk Podcast at this link or in the player below.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard and Mike Salk on Twitter.

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