As per usual, Schneider and Carroll insist on making us wait in the second round.  The Seahawks have just traded down with the Ravens.  In exchange for the 56th overall pick, the Seahawks received the 62nd (last in the second round), 165th (32nd in fifth round), and 199th picks (31st in sixth round) picks in this year's draft.

Just four picks to go 'til Seattle is on the clock!  Maybe!

Now that we're all done twiddling our thumbs waiting for the first round to end yesterday, we finally get to see the Seahawks make some picks when the draft starts back up at 3:30 Pacific.  Barring a trade, Seattle will be making the 24^th pick in the second round (56^th overall) and the 25^th pick in the third round (87^th overall), and despite yesterday's run on offensive and defensive linemen there's still plenty of choice talent left on the menu in both position groups, including Mike Parker's favorite Estonian wrecking ball Margus Hunt.

Just as a caution, if you're only interested in the Seahawks' draft choices, you probably won't want to tune in right from the beginning and stubbornly wait the whole way through.  The second round has a time limit of seven minutes per pick, so if teams decide to stretch things out today Schneider and Carroll may not go on the clock until sometime after 5:30.  That said, with the way things have sped up in recent years they'll probably pick sometime in the 4:30 - 5:00 time range.  The third round has a five minute time limit, so things should speed up slightly there, but not by much. But regardless of when the Hawks pick, I'll be here waiting to cover it.

I'm hoping for a nice pass-catching tight end to pair with Zach Miller or a solid right tackle or guard prospect to compete with Breno Giacomini and Paul McQuistan.  Who's on your wish list today?

In less than an hour, the first round of the NFL's 2013 draft will get underway.  Tonight's action won't be as exciting for Seahawks fans, since the team traded its first round pick for all-around offensive stud Percy Harvin, but if there's anything we've learned from Schneider and Carroll's previous three drafts it's that nothing should be taken for granted.  The odds of Seattle trading back up into the first round are pretty slim, but they have ten draft picks this year and not nearly enough open roster spots to go around.  If someone they covet drops into the lower first round, don't be surprised if they make a deal to go get him.

I won't be near a computer for the opening part of the draft, but once I return home I'll be keeping an eye on the festivities and post updates if anything Seahawks-relevant occurs.  If nothing else, it'll be interesting to see what choices the rest of the NFC West will make this year.  Will the Rams finally pick up a competent safety?  Will the 49ers try to snag an understudy for the finally aging Justin Smith?  Will the Cardinals pick an offensive lineman to protect their middling QBs, or will they pick a QB to stand behind their middling o-line?

Good god, it's one day away from the draft. 

Every year, the NFL draft never fails to be one of the most entertaining and orgiastic stretches of time that football fans can possibly imagine. It makes us burst with joy at the seams watching the last-minute trades, the from-out-of-nowhere gambles, the late-round sleepers....it's enough to make a diehard football fan just want to go to sleep and wake up in late August. 

The Seahawks are in an interesting spot for this year's draft. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you'll know the team traded away its first-round pick (#25 overall) to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for top-flight receiver/punt returner/general badass extraordinaire Percy Harvin. John Schneider and Pete Carroll later went on to say they're treating Harvin as their first-round pick, which is an otherwise nice way of saying "Percy is better than anyone you could possibly draft in the first round this year, because nobody knows what the hell's going on." Better to just trade that pick for a proven commodity who can do everything you'd ever want in a read-option offense - and who also happens to only be 24 years old. That's at least 45 years younger than Brandon Weeden. 

With the offense like a loaded gun waiting to be fired in the general direction of San Francisco at this point, the Seahawks appear to be going to the defense with their first pick this year (#56 overall, in the second round.) There are a few prospects that come to mind here, but the one that's intrigued me the most is the Estonian Beast, DE Margus Hunt. 

As an Olympic athlete, this 6-8 behemoth of a man is a former discus thrower, and played football for the first time in his life at SMU over the past two years. He routinely gave opposing QBs nightmares, and would even-more-routinely use opposing offensive linemen as giant meaty weapons when chasing them. He's like some kind of ruthless gladiator who looks constantly angry about the fact that there's a man trying to throw a football in front of him. MARGUS DISAPPROVES OF YOUR FUTILE ATTEMPTS AT PASSING. 

For a while, Hunt was the draft's best-kept secret. But that was only until his Combine performance. He posted record-shattering numbers in Indy, including a 4.60 time in the 40-yard dash. 

In case you're keeping track at home, DeAndre Hopkins, one of this draft's most-buzzed wide receivers, ran a 4.57.  Hopkins is 7 inches shorter and 80 pounds lighter than Hunt. 

But with a performance like that, the secret about Hunt could no longer be kept. The entire league immediately took notice of him, and his stock shot up draft boards so fast that he was suddenly in the discussion for a first-round pick. And as if to add insult to injury, he's now been mocked several times as going to the 49ers at No. 31 overall. 

If the Hawks don't get him -- and they likely won't, barring any unexpected manuevering back into the first round -- all I ask of the Football Gods is that he doesn't go to SF. That can't be too much to ask, right? 

So let's say Hunt is off the board when the Hawks are on the clock. (Hawk around the clock? Hawk out with your clock out? Alright, I'll stop.) What happens then? While this draft might be completely divided on who's actually any good, one thing John and Pete have proven time and again is that they're not afraid to reach for a player they've evaluated as meeting their scheme when they can get him, and they don't give a shit what you or Mel Kiper thinks about it. 

Here's my vote for the Margus Hunt Fallback Plan - 

This guy - Alabama DT Jesse Williams, nicknamed "Tha Monstar." 

Note the spelling of the nickname - it's on purpose. He's a native of Brisbane, Australia, and hails from a rugby background. He stands at a monolithic 6-3, 323 pounds, and posted a 600-pound bench press at the Combine. That's like bench pressing three Russell Wilsons. 

Williams is 22, and earned an all-Southeastern Conference second team selection in 2012. He ran an impressive but not Margus Hunt-equal 4.90 in the 40-yard dash, which is still damn impressive considering he's the size of a small Humvee. Williams would add a solid run-stopping element to the Seahawks' interior d-line, pairing nicely with Brandon Mebane and newly-signed Tony McDaniel. 

Plus, Williams has face tattoos, and got one to commemorate Alabama's victory over LSU in the NCAA national championship. Who doesn't want a 300-pound defensive tackle with FACE TATTOOS on their team??? 

The Seahawks are without many sure-fire needs going into this draft, and could easily pick the best player available at 56 overall. And that best player just might be this monstrosity of a human being from Alabama. 

But he's still not Margus Hunt. 

This April, the Seahawks didn't have to wait until the official start of the draft to pick up a little something special.  And no, I'm not talking about trading for Percy Harvin, or signing Cliff Avril, or even re-signing Clint Gresham (it's easy to take having a reliable long snapper for granted until you don't have one -- remember 2008?).  No, the big acquisition to which I'm referring made precisely zero headlines this offseason, doesn't appear anywhere on the team roster, and is not a coach, front office man, scout, or even a janitor at the VMAC. 

Weighing in at a robust 10 lbs, 21 inches, I give you the Seahawks' newest fan:

That's right people, I have successfully perpetuated my evil unto the next generation, and her name is Alice June Heuett.  She has no idea yet what football's all about, much less who the Seahawks are, but I plan on fixing that as soon as she masters a few other things like walking, talking, and not accidentally whacking herself in the face with her own tiny little fist.

This year's draft kicks off tomorrow evening, and when it does I'll be here to keep an eye on the proceedings just in case Schneider and Carroll decide to trade back up into the first round, and then on days two and three Mike Parker and I will update with posts as the Seahawks' picks come in.  In the meantime, I'll be dividing my time between changing diapers, reminding my wife to get some sleep, and taking hundreds of photos of my daughter.

So yeah, as it turns out there really are more important things in this world than football.  Who knew?

Louis Bacigalupi posts comments on the site as LouieLouie.  He’s an accountant by trade and worked in a USFL front office.  He can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The addition of Percy Harvin makes the Seahawks’ receiving corps one of the best in pro football.  Combine that with one of the top ground-and-pound running games in the league and it won’t be long before we start to hear the “E” word being used by the 12^th man (and woman).  At first, only a few daring souls will speak it, so it might sound like a faint whisper, but make no mistake: by the end of the 2013 season the word “elite” will be commonplace when people talk about the Seahawks’ offense.

Imagine you’re a defensive coordinator.  You were already going to have to game plan against Russell Wilson, the read option, Beast Mode, Sidney Rice, Zach Miller, Golden Tate, and Doug Baldwin, and now you have to worry about Percy Harvin, too.  How would you stop that offense?  There’s only one option: hire a Tonya Harding brigade to club Seattle’s players in the kneecaps on their way into the stadium.

What does Harvin add to the offense?  Plenty!  He is the kind of player who, to quote our fearless GM, “tilts the field.”  When the St. Louis Rams were the Greatest Show on Turf, they had an MVP quarterback, a ferocious receiving corps, and one guy who could tilt the field: Marshall Faulk.  Harvin could be the Seahawks’ equivalent of Faulk.  Carroll and Schneider would never have given up so many draft picks unless they saw Harvin as that type of player.

Leon Washington was an elite kick return specialist, but he was never able to contribute significantly to the running game.  Cutting him might be a setback on kick returns, but it will benefit the rushing attack by freeing up a roster spot for an actual running back.  Leon was a scatback type of runner, and Harvin will do some of that for the Seahawks.  I would look for the Hawks to add another bruiser type running back, maybe with a slightly different skill set than Beast Mode or Robert Turbin.  That way if Lynch were to go down, heaven forbid, there would be someone who could step in to play alongside Turbin.  Combined with a solid o-line, that additional bruiser could save the season.

One thing that Harvin will not be doing much of, at least during the regular season, is returning kickoffs and punts.  You’re not going to pay dearly for a player only to risk him getting his ankle broken returning a kick in September.  But while Harvin might not return many kicks, Golden Tate will.

There has been a lot of talk about Golden Tate being the odd man out with the addition of Harvin, but that will not be the case.  He may not see the field as often, but he’ll make up for it in the return game, and he’ll do a decent job.  On offense, pairing him with Harvin and the rest of the receiving corps could cause some DCs to have psychotic episodes.  Hopefully the big screen at the Clink show a replay of his winning TD catch against Green Bay at least once during every home game, just to help spur those episodes on.

The only real chink in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl armor is the pass rush.  The rush wasn’t bad for most of the 2012 season, but there were times when it was very good, and times it was not good.  The Hawks usually rushed just four down linemen in passing situations and didn’t blitz much, so part of that lack of pass rush was by design, but the real issue was the lack of depth.  When a starter went down, nobody seemed to be able to step up and take his place.

I had expected to see Schneider wait to beef up the pass rush until after the first volley of free agent signings, because there are always some bargains to be found then.  Past second tier bargains that come to mind are the acquisitions of Chris Clemons and Brandon Browner.  Neither was highly touted, nor were they very expensive, and they’ve both played so well that no one considers either of them to be merely second tier bargains.  The signings of Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett should shore up the pass rush, and coupled with Clemons and Bruce Irvin still being on the roster, depth shouldn’t be an issue, either.  Of course, there’s still the 2013 draft in which Carroll and Schneider will have 10 picks to play with, so we should see a couple more pass-rushing d-linemen added to the roster this April.

Another thing Seahawks fans must remember is that Bruce Irvin was just a rookie last season.  By his own account, he didn’t receive much coaching in college.  He played on raw talent and still led all rookies with 8 sacks in 2012.  He did have problems against the run, but before we write him off as a limited, situational pass rusher, remember that Clemons didn’t tear up the league during the years before he arrived in Seattle, and he’s played pretty well since then.  Irvin has some work to do; he will keep getting better, it just may take him another year or two to develop.  Not every rookie can step in and play at a high level right away.

Fortunately, the Seahawks did draft one rookie in particular last year who could step in and play at a high level right away: Russell Wilson.  It was obvious to many that he was special when he stepped on to the field during the preseason (Louis really nailed that one, and I’m not just saying that because he asked me to, either. –Ed.).  Wilson is gifted with many physical tools that enhance his play and more than offset his “size” issue like his strong arm, his footwork, his elusiveness, and his ability to run the ball.  But what really made his ability evident is a principal characteristic shared by all elite quarterbacks: it isn’t what’s between the shoulder pads and cleats that makes a QB great, it’s what’s between his ears.

Yes, we will be hearing, speaking, reading, and writing about that “E” word regarding this team.  Last year, it was used to describe the defense, and despite the difficulties with the pass rush the defense played at that level.  This season, we’ll be adding the offense to that conversation.  On both sides of the ball, the Seattle Seahawks have the makings of an elite team.

Next phrase up: Super Bowl Champs.

So, how do you celebrate trading for Percy Harvin, one of the top young playmakers in the NFL, on the eve of free agency?  If you're John Schneider, you take a victory lap by signing one of the top pass rushers on the market, DE Cliff Avril. 

DT Ndamukong Suh soaks up most of the media attention in Detrot, but to my eye Avril and DT Nick Fairley were the real linchpins on the 2012 Lions' defensive line.  Avril hasn't missed a game since 2010, he's averaged 9.83 sacks per season for the last three years, and at the age of 26 he's still in his prime.  Signing a free agent with all of that going for him usually requires a fat contract, but he signed with the Seahawks for a surprisingly affordable two year, $15 million deal.

To be fair to the man, earlier reports about him wanting "Mario Williams money" were blown out of proportion (here's his explanation, courtesy of Pro Football Talk: "“The guy asked me, ‘Mario made this amount of money, is that something [you'd want]?’ I’m like, ‘Shoot, wouldn’t you want it? Who wouldn’t want that deal?’ But people take it further than that.”).  Still, an average of $7.5 mil per season is a step down from the $10 million he would have averaged if he had accepted the 3 year, $30 million contract offered to him by the Lions.

Really, this contract looks less like a Seattle team scrambling desperately to shore up its pass rush in the wake of star DE Chris Clemons' ACL tear in the playoffs and more like a good player taking a modest deal so he can play for a strong team.  You know, like all those enviably affordable contracts to which the Patriots have been signing guys for years now.  In short, this deal is awesome on several levels.

In the wake of the Percy Harvin trade, a Q&A with someone who knows the guy seemed to be in order.  So, here's what the good folks over at fellow Bloguin site Purple Jesus Diaries had to say about the Seahawks' most recent high-priced acquisition:

1) On a scale from paper cut to live vivisection, how bad does losing Harvin hurt right now?  How vital was he to the Vikings' offense?

Bad. It hurts real bad. It hurts like getting tongue kissed with razor blades and iodine. Some fans will tell you that Percy was a headcase, that he was whining, a team cancer, and that he had to go ... But those idiot Vikings fans said the same thing about Randy Moss. Every situation is correctable if cooler heads prevail, but that opportunity never presented itself. There's times when the ashes start burning too hot and you can't stop the blaze, and that's what happened here. Percy was a big deal for our team. I'd argue he was largely responsible for the first four or five games we won in 2012, until Peterson got himself up to 100%, but by then he went on IR and his Vikings career was over. Without him, the passing game suffered (Check Ponder's stats, the numbers did go down whether it was directly related to Percy or not), and outside of Peterson, Percy WAS our offense. Thinggsss ... May get ugly.

2) How did Darrell Bevell use Harvin in the Vikings' offense when he was the offensive coordinator there and how does it differ from the way he's been used in the last two years?

It's almost hard to remember because Bevell had him for one good year, and then we had him in Favre's last year when our team self imploded. During Harvin's rookie year in 2009 though, he was much more apt to head downfield and catch some deep passes from Favre. The past two years, we haven't had a quarterback who can throw deeper than 15 yards, so those long Favre balls were out of the question. Instead, Harvin was used on wide receiver screens, short passes in the slot, or out of the backfield. Bill Musgrave is kind of stupid and I don't think he even knew what to do with Harvin. As much as an Obnoxious Cool Bro that Pete Carroll is, you better believe he'll know how to properly use Harvin, even if the majority of those decisions begin with Bevell. With Wilson's strong arm, I wouldn't be surprised if Percy just turned into an all around solid receiver for the Seahawks.

3) If you were Seattle's offensive coordinator, how would you fit Harvin into an offensive gameplan that already includes Sidney Rice, Marshawn Lynch, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, and Russell Wilson?  Does he take away someone's job, or does he have a role to play that's all his own?

Well, it seems like Golden Tate becomes an after thought pretty soon. Tate maybe has a bit of a height advantage on Harvin, but pound for pound Harvin will do that job better. He may take some reps away from Lynch, too, but what ... That just leaves Lynch fresher? All Wilson has to do is get the ball out of his hands. I think last year he was leaned on more often to actually have to make plays, but with Harvin, that all changes. Harvin's presence gets Rice single coverage, spreads Tate out alone, moves guys out of the box for Lynch, and leaves easy pickings for Wilson. Yeah, I'd feel pretty confident if I was a Seahawks fan.

4) Now that we've got the good stuff out of the way, what's your take on his health (migraines, ankle, etc.) and attitude toward coaches?  How worried should Seahawks fans be that their team is backing up dump trucks full of cash to his front door?

Let me say this. I followed the Percy press conference on Tuesday and there were a lot of things there that I'd seen before. The smiles, the excitement to be there, the dedication to his craft speak, the love shared to his new and old teammates. And we've all seen how that ended in Minnesota. The difference is that with the Vikings, things turned pretty sour a year ago, but turned around surprisingly in 2012. The Vikings made the playoffs and surprisingly have a pretty decent looking future, but even that didn't make Harvin happy. So what would? Just the money? More reps? More attention? It became a problem, and this type of problem has always shown up for him, in high school, college, and now pros. Can it happen again? Sure, but luckily you guys are near Vancouver, if you catch my drift.

Harvin's injuries are overblown. His migraines have more or less been kept in check for the past two years, but that was by the Vikings' team doctors. We'll see if it holds. His ankle is nothing. It was an injury that happens. Before that, I don't know if he's had any other serious injuries that would have given me pause to dole out a contract. And this is from a guy that gets absolutely demolished on every play he's in on, because he goes all out. That type of dedication is what I want on my team, even if he's got some attitude problems. Fact is, if you win, he'll be fine. Pete Carroll leaves, an injury happens to Wilson, and the Seahawks get stuck in mediocrity? ... Welp, may be a different story.

5) As long as we're talking, what's the outlook for the Vikings going forward?  Can they win with Christian Ponder?  What holes do they need to fill to be competitive in 2013?

Ehhh ... I don't know about Ponder. He's got potential, but it continues to take a long time to show itself. We're going into his third year, and I'd say by now if he doesn't break out, it's time for the next plan. He's also always had some nagging injuries, and that might just always be the case with him, which sucks too. Overall though, GM Rick Spielman actually seems like he's making some smart moves, with the Percy trade included. He's had a couple of solid drafts now to help build the teams' youth movement, and hasn't handcuffed the team with bad or worthless contracts. Before they can really compete for a Super Bowl they need better cornerbacks, an impact linebacker, and ANY receivers, but there's potential there. But probably not until 2014. I mean, if ever. 0-4 in Super Bowls, you know.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Seahawks are planning to release RB Leon Washington.  It's strange to be even talking about releasing a player who just made the Pro Bowl as one of the best return men in the business, but the impending signing of Percy Harvin made him expendable.  Harvin is a pretty decent return man in his own right, and the contract the team is working out with him (reportedly in the neighborhood of 5 years, $56 million) is large enough that the Seahawks will want to clear up a little cap space afterwards.

But regardless of the financial sense it makes, I'm going to miss seeing Washington standing on the goal line, bobbing his head in time to the stadium music while he waits for the kickoff to commence.  Here's hoping he catches on with another team and gets in a few more years' worth of solid return play, preferably somewhere in the AFC where he'll be least likely to play against the Seahawks.

As reported by multiple sources, the Seahawks have agreed to a trade with the Vikings for wide receiver Percy Harvin.  The price is steep -- Jay Glazer of Fox Sports is reporting that Seattle will give up a first and a seventh round pick in this year's draft plus a (possibly conditional) mid-round pick in 2014 -- but there's a lot to love here.  Harvin was a favorite weapon of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell when he worked for Minnesota, and it's probably a safe bet that Bevell will once agan be using him in a variety of ways (think WR/RB Randall Cobb over in Green Bay).

There's some downside here, naturally.  Harvin has some health concerns, including periodic bouts of migraines and an ankle injury that limited him to nine games last year.  He also has just one year left on his contract, and keeping him beyond this season will likely require a big-money contract.  That last item doubly concerning because Brandon Browner, Kam Chancellor, Doug Baldwin, Golden Tate, Breno Giacomini, Michael Robinson, and others also have just one year left on their contracts.  Unless Schneider can get some new contracts done on the cheap, some hard choices are going to have to be made in 2014.

Still, it's hard not to be excited about the possibilities here.  Harvin is a supremely athletic player who can turn on a dime and accelerate up to his full speed in a heartbeat (he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.41 seconds).  He caught 62 passes last year with only one drop, and while he doesn't run the ball a lot (107 rushing attempts in 54 games, or 1.98 att/g) he's made good on his opportunities, averaging 6.38 yds/att.  I foresee a lot of jersey sales in Harvin's future.

This trade may not bode well for Tate, who on paper looks a lot like a poorer version of Harvin.  Both excel in the short passing game and are elusive runners who are at their most dangerous when they get the ball in their hands with enough space to make some moves, but Tate has just one strong season to Harvin's four, injuries notwithstanding.  That doesn't necessarily mean Tate won't remain with the team past this season, but if he does he'll likely have to accept a reduced role in the offense and probably relinquish his starting job as well.  Still, this is a contract year for Tate, and whether he's auditioning for a new contract with the Seahawks or some other team, the pressure to perform just went up.

UPDATE (6:44): Pro Football Weekly reports that the 2014 pick is a third round selection.