It's like deja vu all over again
I remain puzzled as to Seattle's insistence on drafting running backs in the first two rounds of the draft, but on the positive side, I absolutely love the rookie pass rusher's shoes!
Anyone who has listened me for any length of time knows that I have an irredeemably corny sense of humor. Inevitably this will seep into the written word.
Like the time I wrote a story on UW football for The Seattle Times with a first sentence that read, “Even though Willie hurts, Willie Hurst is still Washington’s best bet in the backfield.”
In fact, I considered titling this newsletter: “Early-round RB’s are as terrible as Arby’s” before deciding it has been so freaking long since I ate at Arby’s that it may not be applicable. So yeah, I’m ripping on Seahawks’ decision to draft a running back, but it’s not personal. I promise.
And to prove that, before I get there, I want to point out how ridiculously I was excited to see the footwear of Boye Mafe, the defensive end the Seahawks drafted out of Minnesota the pick before choosing Kenneth Walker:
The man is wearing Black Air Force Ones, and for those that don’t know, those particular sneakers carry a very particular reputation as the preferred footwear of the social menace. At this point, anyone who wears them is in on the joke, and choosing that footwear is an intentional act of announcing oneself as a potential social menace, and you know what? I want a social menace rushing the passer. You kind of want a pscyho on the edge during a game, so before he plays a single snap, I will tell you that Mafe is my favorite rookie for the upcoming season.
OK. Now that I’ve showed I’m not a hater, the wailing shall commence.
I do not think the Seahawks should have chosen a running back with such a lofty pick.
This is not a judgment on the player who was chosen, but rather the value of this particular pick compared to the position he plays. I leave open the possible that the performance of this particular player will turn out to be an exception to what I believe to be a fairly proven rule when it comes to the value of choosing running backs early on in the draft.
But that’s not exactly what happened with Rashaad Penny is it?
Oh, you thought I was talking about the running back the Seahawks chose early in this year’s draft? Kenneth Walker? Well, the same thing holds true for him though in this case it’s an early second-round selection as opposed to a late first-round choice the Seahawks used to choose Penny back in 2018. I had already staked out a pretty clear opinion about the need to steer clear of that particular position in the first round. The same principle applies to choosing a running back in the first half of the second round, too.
Maybe Walker will be the exception. Honestly, I hope he is for reasons both professional and personal. But given the way things turned out with the last two backs the Seahawks chose in the first two rounds of the draft, I’m not overwhelmingly optimistic.
