Sunday 1 March 2009

The anti-Ruskell mock draft?

I'll explain the title in a moment, but the mock draft I refer to is the latest published by Scout.com's Chris Steuber. He has the Seahawks spending the fourth overall pick on B.J. Raji (DT, Boston College) and their second round pick on Kenny Britt (WR, Rutgers). So why would this be described as the 'anti-Ruskell' mock draft?

It's well publicised that Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell values character. He's not likely to draft prospects with red flags in that department, especially when picking so high in each round this year. The Seahawks today signed Colin Cole - a 330 lbs defensive tackle from Green Bay - which would seem to make drafting Raji less likely on it's own merits. But both he and Rutgers wide out Britt have other issues which make them unlikely Seahawks-to-be.

Raji, as I wrote a few weeks ago, was held back before his senior year and red shirted by Boston College for academic issues. He was also suspended after punching an opponent. These are the kind of highlighted problems that Seattle will look to avoid when investing big money and a high pick.

Britt is in a similar position. He was suspended for a game against Morgan State due to an 'undisclosed violation of team policy'. To quote ESPN, "Scouts have serious concerns regarding his maturity, work ethic and practice habits. Scouts who have interviewed him have described him to us as 'arrogant' and having 'an inflated opinion of his skills".

I'm going to predict that the Seahawks won't be drafting Raji and Britt with their first two picks.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's like a REALLY anti-ruskell draft:

1. Trade their 1st round pick of next year and their 5th round pick of this year for the 9th overall pick this year.

4th pick - Andre Smith
9th pick - BJ Raji
34th pick - Kenny Britt

Then they trade our 3rd and 4th round picks along with Walter Jones to Dallas for TO (This is bad cause TO is a cancer and Walter JOnes is a good presence in the locker)

That would be terribe...our team chemistry would go down the drain!

Rob Staton said...

Imagine the stories - it'd be a journalists heaven!

Anonymous said...

Dang it! Looks like Housh is gonna sign with the Minnesota Vikings

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=7536

They may be a team to look out for next season. AP running the ball and Housh/Berrian combo looks pretty good to me :S

Cmon Seattle! He visited u guys first! You should have locked him down