Recapping The Seahawks Draft Haul w/ Dane Brugler

NFL Draft Analyst for The Athletic, Dane Brugler stops by for one last visit. Dane explains why he believes the Seahawks had a good draft, how good will RB, Zach Charbonnet be, what are the Seahawks getting w/ Devon Witherspoon, and much more.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, joining us right nowon the Beacon Plumbing Hotline. All brought
to you by Troy Wins and TroyWins dot Com. We were blessed,
honored to have this guy throughout theNFL Draft. He's back with us one
last time to recap the NFL Draftfrom the Athletic. Follow him on Twitter
at dp Brugler. It is ourfriend, Dane Brugler. Dane, how
are you? He's tired and restingup. What a weekend. That was

(00:22):
fun. It was fun time inKansas City. Um had some surprises in
the first round, had some chopyou know what we expected. But for
the most part, you know,it was a It was a fun draft.
And I tell you what, Seattle, Uh, you gotta feel good
about the way they came out ofthis. Uh. We knew with all
those picks that they had an opportunityto have a really great draft, and

(00:44):
I thought they killed it. Oneof my favorite drafts this year. Okay,
go more in on that. Whywhy did they do so well this
year? Uh? Well it's theysurprised us, right. I don't think
at any point we really considered acorner at number five, And why would
you and this is the fourteenth draftthat Pete Carroll and John Schneider have had
together and not once that they drafteda corner in the first round. And

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this is coming off last year whereyou found two starters on Day three at
the position. So I think thattells you how much they believe in Devin
Witherspoon as as a player, asa person to bring him into the into
the franchise with a top five pick. You know, if you're you're under
six foot as a corner, youbetter be pretty good for drafting you top
five. And obviously they think Witherspooncan be that guy. But then they

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come back. I wasn't sure JacksonSmith and Jigbo was going to make it
to twenty. Thought he'd go somewherebetween eleven and twenty, and sure enough
he's there at twenty. Just sucha perfect fit. You know, we
we've talked about it before. Justdrop him into that offense in the slot.
What that means. I would loveto have a camera on Geno Smith
when that pick was made. I'msure he was fist pumping and excited about

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what that's gonna mean U. Andthen what they did on day two,
I mean, we can talk aboutvalue of the running back and all of
that, but they added good footballplayers and even in the Day three,
I mean Anthony Bradford, I lovethat pick. Um. You know,
he's a he's a guard that he'sexactly what the Seahawks looked for. Wide
bodied, he's athletic, but he'sstrong, um, and he has some

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upside where you feel like you he'sa guy who's gonna get better and better.
So love that pick for them inthe fourth round. At that top
to bottom, Seattle did a reallynice job and really one of the key
themes I thought from from every pickwas they drafted football guys. They drafted
guys that really care at the passionthey you know, it was kind of
the opposite of if they took JalenCarter at five. You know, it

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was you know, that was aguy with question marks, the maturity question
marks, and you just weren't surewhat you were getting. They went the
flip side. Every one of theirpicks were guys that, you know,
Derek Hall, he's I had somescouts tell me they thought he might go
in the first round just because teamsknow what they're getting with him on the
field. Off the field, Charbonnat'sthe same way and with the Day three

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group of guys. So you know, that was a really interesting theme of
the Seahawks draft haul this year.What about Charbonnay though, how good do
you think he'll be in the NFL? I mean, he's he's not the
most dynamic player, but he's he'skind of like a less dyna Uh.
He's got a lot of Nick Chubbdo him, but he's not as quite
as dynamic. So Nick Chubb isa special back because of how explosive he

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can be. Um Charbonnee doesn't quitehave that dynamic ability, but the patience,
the vision, the feel all outstanding. He's an outstanding receiver, pass
catcher. Um, he just hasa very good feel for the ball and
for the for the passing game andas a as an inside runner, he
knows how to find the find theholes and make plays. He's not going

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to be a big home run hitter, but a big chunk of his his
his plays come after contact and areyou know, ten plus yards down the
field. So you know he's aguy that average I think like four point
four yards per carry after contact.So you know that UCLA offensive line was
really good this year. You know, I heard people saying that about you

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know, oh, you know Sharbonneis good, but that UCLA offensive line
was even better. And Okay,well he averaged four point four yards after
contact, So he's doing that byhimself because that contact balance that he has
is really, really special. SoI'm very interested to see how the dynamic
works with him and in Kenneth Walkerand you know, what's the workload looked

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like? How do they share?Is it? Is it truly? Uh?
You know, one's gonna be anearly down back and then the other
one. You know, I justI'm very interested to see how that all
plays out. Hey, Dan,Going back to Witherspoon, I mean,
I think it didn't surprise a lotof people that they took a cornerback number
five. There really was no talkabout it. Why, why does it
make sense? And when when youlook at him as as a prospect,
what are Seawk fans getting him in? Devin Witherspoon, I think there's something

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to be said about when you draftin the top half a round one,
you just you don't even worry aboutposition value, you don't worry about you
just draft good players. Give methe best players in the top in top
fifteen, because those are the bestof the best in NFL. It's it's
a game of attrition, so youjust you don't know when those injuries are

(05:12):
going to happen. You just tryto get the best players on the field.
And obviously they had a sky highgrade on Devin Witherspoon again under five
or under six foot five eleven anda half one hundred and eighty five pounds.
The tape is it tape gets youexcited, And not only does he
get his hands with the football,but his quick reaction skills are are off
the charts. So you want toplay you wanted the press, you wanted

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to play off, you want toplay his zone. He can do everything
you want. He can line upinside, can line up outside. Um.
You know, it's something that Ithink it's really that separates him is
his discipline to you know, theeye balance between the route concepts and then
the backfield understanding what the quarterback istrying to do, and then but keeping

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the spatial relationship with the route.So he has a really good feel for
that, very natural to him.Uh. The aggressiveness is off the charts.
I mean when you when you havea guy that is, pound for
pound, one of the toughest playersin the program. And he's a corner
that says something. I mean,he wants to play physical, wants to
play aggressive. Sometimes that'll you know, backfire a little bit when uh,

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you know he over the last twoyears he has eleven penalties in coverage.
That's something that you know needs todial it back a little bit. But
one hundred times out of a hundred, you're taking the guy that is aggressive
and you try to dial him backas opposed to the guy who's not aggressive
enough and you try to get himto ramp it up. So, you
know, you with Witherspoon, hehas the play personality and I think above

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all the confidence that that's what reallyshines with him at a corner. It's
that's a non negotiable trait. Youbetter be confident if you're going to play
on an island against NFL athletes atreceiver. Devin Witherspoon definitely has that for
him and that allows him to makeplays. Did things go as you kind
of expected the top ten picks?And uh? And then when did things

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kind of go sideways? Did youthink someone made a curious first round pick?
Well, you know, I thinkwe always thought that Houston needed to
take a quarterback, but it justit just felt like they weren't going to.
And it's funny, you know,Will Anderson was that a guy,
that's that's who they wanted. Andthen really it came down to ownership.
They wanted a quarterback. So whatthey did is they okay, they draft

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a quarterback at two, and thenthey told Damik O Ryan's, hey,
don't worry, We're gonna try andtrade back up and get you get you
will get Will Anderson and they wereable to do so. Now gave up
a lot um, you know,a first round pick next year, which
it could end up being a topfive pick. You know, the Cardinals,
they could have two top five picksnext year depending on how things play

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out with the Texans this year.Uh, well, time will tell.
But so that was a little bitof a surprise with how aggressive the Texans
were early. And then you know, the Lions really kind of threw things
off. And I think it's theSeahawks fault once Witherspoon went five, because
I think the Lions were gonna takewith this Spoon at six, that kind
of them off their game. Theyimmediately trade out, they trade back and

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you know, they wanted Jamir Gibsat eighteen, but they trade back to
twelve, and you know, everythingwas kind of thrown off in their minds.
So they just took Jamir Gibs attwelve, which is a big surprise.
And then at eighteen, with alltheir picks kind of accelerated a little
bit, they reached and took JackCampbell the linebackers. So, uh,
you know, it's something that withtwenty seven of the thirty one first round

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picks were premium positions talking about quarterback, offensive line, pass rusher, corner,
receiver, and the four that thatweren't were you know, Lions took
two of them with a running backand a linebacker, so uh, you
know, interesting that to see theLions. You know, the obviously,
once these guys getting on the field, it doesn't matter where you were drafted,
it's just who's the best players.Um, you know, we thought

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Bijean Robinson, good chance he couldgo eight to the Falcons, and turns
out that that's exactly what happened.And there's something to be said about strengthening
your strength and that's what the Falconsare trying to do. They know exactly
what they are and they want toreally have that mentality. And in the
second round they come back and draftarguably the best run blocking guard in the
draft with Matthew bergh Round. Soyou know, the Falcons are really leaning

(09:09):
into that run first approach and whatthat's going to mean for their offense.
But you know, this first roundwas a lot of fun because it was
a good mix of what we expected, but then also a few surprises sprinkled
in. Um, you know,we talked about tight ends. Uh,
you know how strong it was thisyear. But teams, because they saw
how strong it was, they waitedMichael Mayer falling out of the first round,

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uh, you know, and onlyDalton Kincaide the only one going in
the first Uh you know, theBills trading up for him. They wanted
to get in front of the cowboys. But talking to my guys to cowboys,
they tell me at Sam Laporta wasthe first tight end on their board.
So really interesting now to kind oflook back and see how things played
out. You know, certain trends, what the surprises, what does that

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mean moving forward? So it wasa first round with that, It was
a lot of fun, and youknow it's doing the live I live pick
pick analysis was a lot of funto do. Yeah, you mentioned that
Houston that their guy was Will Anderson. They really liked him. John Scheiner
after they selected Witherspoon the day onerecamp. But he's doing a press conference,

(10:13):
we're carrying it live. He said, Hey, there were two guys
on our board we were not goingto move from. Witherspoon was one.
He declined to say who the otherone was, obviously somebody that's picked ahead
of them, and it left peoplespeculating was it Anthony Richardson or was it
Will Anderson Junior? Do you knowwho? I'll ask you to specula you
know who that was? Who theywould not have moved off if he landed
at five for them. I donot know, But I think it's a

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fair assumption to say it was WillAnderson. I mean, he was talking
team to team. Willie Anderson wasone of the few blue chippers in this
draft. A guy that just makesyour defense better immediately, has Pro Bowl
potential, the type of cornerstone defenderyou built around. So I think it's
a fair assumption to say it wasWill Anderson. But you know, I

(10:58):
don't know the fact that John wasa little KOI about it. Maybe it
was a quarterback, you know,I think, uh, just talking to
teams about these quarterbacks, Bryce Youngwas pretty universally believed to be the top
guy. Then there is a lotof mixed opinions with C. J.
Stroud or Anthony and Richardson and thenwith Levis and so. Uh. You
know, it's interesting the fact thathe didn't come out and say, Will

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Anderson, maybe maybe it was aquarterback. Hey Dame with the Seahawks a
fifth round pick. Olo what Teamyfrom Michigan. He won the Outland Trophy
the best offensive lineman in the country. Why do you follow the fifth round?
Um? You know, I yeah, I had a fifth sixth round
grade on him. I thought hishis resume looks better than his tape.

(11:41):
Um. You know, he's ahas a lot of starts under his belt.
Uh, you know, the cleanedup on the award circuit, But
I don't know. The tape wasfine, it was okay. You know,
he's a center only prospect doesn't reallygive you a position flex. Um.
You know, he don't see muchdisplacement on his tape. He's not
gonna move guys. Is a reallysmart, savvy player. You know,

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a guy that maybe not explosive,but he gets where he's going and gets
in position technically, sound, understandshis assignment, works hard to finish.
So you know, I think he'sa guy that, you know, especially
with the Seahawks center situation, hehas a chance to get on the field
and if he does, I thinkhe'll be solid. But I don't think
he's probably one of those guys thatyou're always going to try and upgrade from.

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But if he can prove to be, you know, give you solid
reps. I mean, that's allyou can ask for from a fifth round
pick. Dan. They address thedefensive line the interior in the round four
and round five with Cameron Young ata Mississippi State Mike Morris out of Michigan.
I think, probably much to thechagrin of a lot of Sea fans
who wanted that to be addressed earlierin the draft, because that certainly was

(12:48):
the biggest weakness on this defense.Give us a thought or two on Cameron
Young and Mike Morrison what the Seahawksare getting. Cameron Young looks the part.
I mean, he is a longplayer and sometimes that's not a great
thing because he'll play a little toohigh and so pad level is going to
be really important with Cameron Young.But he played a lot of snaps and
that's what you know, you wanta guy that is, you know,

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a lot of those tackle those guardsthey have to play twenty five or fewer
snaps. He's on the field forforty plus snaps a game on film and
making an impact, so he hasversatility on the interior. Um. I
love that pick in the fourth round. That made a lot of sense.
Mike Morris will be interesting because hewas an edge rusher at Michigan. Didn't
test very well at all. Youknow, he does. He's not an
explosive player, but he gets downhill quickly and if he's able to use

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that snap anticipation, use that lengthwhere he's able to make contact and create
a little h little uh, youknow, get that speed to power going,
so he's able to create movement atcontact. You know, he might
have a home as a rotational threetechnique. It would be interesting to see
how they use him. But youknow, the tape is good, the

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testing was not, and so Iwasn't surprised to see him fall into the
fifth round. I thought that's probablywhere he would go. But I'm interested
now to see how they played him. Do they let him? Is it
gonna be only on the inside.They're gonna tryhim on the outside a little
bit? Um, The positional fitsgonna be really interesting with Mike Morris.
Which team made the worst single pickof the entire draft? Um, well,

(14:22):
it's the team that didn't draft hndand Hooker in the first round?
Right? Yeah? Yeah? Heywhere hey, Dane? I was done
that weekend. Where where did Hookerend up going? So he ended up?
Well, you know what if Iwould have told you before the draft,
he wasn't going second round. Umyou know that that. You would

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have thought maybe first round. Butno, he falls to the third round
on the Lions. You're able tosnack him. Third round should have gone,
he was, He was a Daytwo pick. That's where he should
have went. You never know withquarterbacks, but Low and Behold went on
day two pick. Dan, Dan, you said fifty fifty trand I heard
you say that, yeah, becauseyou know, all it takes is one

(15:03):
team. That's all it takes isone team to fall in love. And
you know what, there wasn't Uhwhat the potential suitors just weren't there.
So, uh, hey, younever saw him in one of my first
round Bock drafts. That's right,you did not. You didn't. I
should give you a cut of thewinnings. How does he Do you think
Stetson Bennett was worth a fourth roundpick if you're the Rams? No,

(15:26):
I mean I think that that's justthe Rams drafting a guy they you know,
fell in love with um and didn'twant to lose them. So you
know, he's Stetson Bands, theguy that thrives on being doubted and you
know what it might work out forhim. That's the thing is, he's
small, he's questionable decision maker.Um, you know, he bombed some
of his interviews around the league.But all it takes is one team to

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fall in love with you. Anduh, you know, to his credit,
I mean, he played in fourcollege football playoff games over over his
career. He was the MVP ofall four. So this guy has,
uh you know, the pedigram.The way he made plays in college shouldn't
be totally ignored. But you know, he's you know, going to a

(16:10):
quarterback room where Matthew Stafford's the guyand so you know, he needs to
learn how to you know, makesure he's an asset in that quarterback room.
Hey Dan, I love it,boy. You got enough for the
twenty twenty three draft that you're alreadymoving on to twenty twenty four and doing
a mock draft. There. Yougot Caleb Williams going number one overall,
but you also have Michael Pennocks goingin the first round. You got him

(16:30):
as your fifth highest quarterback. Yeah. Yeah, and you know what,
the way he just can't ignore howhow high of a level he played this
year. And I still have plentyof questions. You know, the medicals
are going to come into play withwith Michael Pennocks, all the injuries he
had at Indiana, that could besomething that derails this. But if he
comes out this year for the Huskiesand matches what he did or exceeds what

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he did last year, it's goingto be hard to keep him out of
that first round conversation. And withsome of the firepower the Huskies have coming
back this year, he certainly hasthe opportunity. So first and foremost,
stay healthy, stay on the field, and then if he's able to match
that production and some of that impressiveplay. Washington will be musty TV this
year. So yeah, next year'squarterback claus is gonna be a lot of

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fun. Obviously, Caleb at thetop, Drake May and North Carolina is
going to be right there in thatmix. Quinn Euers at Texas has all
the ability, it's just can themental side catch up. J J.
McCarthy ad a Michigan talent and tangibles. You know, he has all of
that, and then an interesting groupof seniors with Pennis and bow knicks going

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back to Oregon. How does hefit in the whole equations? So really
interesting mix of quarterbacks next year.Just seems like the only thing that would
prevent him from being a first roundpick would just be the medical I mean
it just the arm talents there,the decision making is there. He's just
I mean everything right. It's justhow does how do his multiple injuries check
out? And I want to seehim do it another year because he was

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he didn't look like this in Indiana, but then he goes to Washington and
all of a sudden everything's clicking andlook, he played some rough pack twelve
defenses last year. Um, soI want to see him do it again.
I want to see. I wantto see more of that um,
you know, and if he's ableto do this at this level for another
year, you know, some ofthe doubts that you might have, they'll
start to go away because of thebody of work that he's putting on film.

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So eager to scout him this falland watch more of him over the
summer. Well let us know ifyou come out here to watch a game,
well we'll take you out on onon my dime and really Jim's time
since he paid me. So Hey, great stuff is always We always appreciate
your carving out the time and sucha busy you know last month and a
half for you, and uh,it was great having you on. We

(18:44):
look forward to doing it again nextyear. And big thanks to Troy Wins
at Troy Wins dot com for makingit happen for you. Get some sleep.
I know you're hard at work onthe next edition of The Beast for
next season, and we'll talk toyou then. Thanks Dane. Now Pleasure
is online. Thank you guys.