www.seahawkslockerroom.com

[hongwei28]

So far this week I’ve taken a look at three draft classes for the Seattle Seahawks by looking at no more than the snap counts accumulated by the members of each of the draft classes. The classes I’ve covered so far includethe 2016 draft class led by Jarran Reed and Germain Ifedithe 2015 draft class which produced Tyler Lockett and Frank Clark , the 2014 second round of Justin Britt and Paul Richardson. Which means that of course today we will be looking at the 2013 draft class. Now, while Hawks fans are more than well aware of the fact that the 2013 season was the most successful in team history for on field performance, the draft that year is easily one of the worst in franchise history. How bad was it? Let’s jump straight to the numbers.Seahawks 2013 draft class snap countsRoundPlayer SelectedSnaps PlayedPercentage of Draft Class SnapsRoundPlayer SelectedSnaps PlayedPercentage of Draft Class SnapsJust to put how little this entire draft class contributed on the field for the Hawks, here are some facts about this draft class relative to some of the team’s other classes. The 2013 group as a whole played fewer snaps (3,280) thanJustin Britt has played himself (4,557)fewer snaps than Tyler Lockett has in career punt and kick return yards (3,434)fewer snaps than the 2017 Seahawks draft class (3,489)In short, the 2013 draft class didn’t play much at all. Now, in yesterday’s installment about the 2014 draft class a question was asked about what constitutes average for a draft class across the NFL. While that is an entire can of worms that I’m not really looking to get into here, the rough back of the envelope calculation that will put you in the ballpark of how productive a draft class has been is to divide the number of snaps the group played by 800, and that gives you a very, very rough approximation of how many starting seasons the draft class has produced. The reason that gets you in the ballpark is that of the 22 starting positions in the NFL , barring injury half of those starters should play 100% of snaps for their team - the quarterback, the five offensive linemen, the four defensive backs and one or maybe two of the team’s linebackers. That’s about 1,000 snaps per season for each of those 11 positions. Then there is a group of seven positions that will play around three quarters of a team’s snaps. Those include the halfback, the tight end, the defensive ends and typically the second linebacker. Three quarters of 1,000 is obviously 750, and that’s about how many snaps these positions should be expected to play in a season. And then there are the more rotational positions, including the third wide receiver, the third linebacker, and the defensive tackles. The players should play somewhere in the ballpark of half of the snaps a team plays, so about 500 snaps per player. That leads to the 22 starters for a team averaging just over 800 snaps per starter, so by dividing the snaps plays for a draft class by 800 , it yields a very rough approximation of how many seasons of on field play a draft class accounted for. Now, is it precise? Not at all. This is a machete, not a scalpel, but it puts the numbers into an easy to easy to understand single number. Seattle safety Earl Thomas, who has been the subject of trade talks between the Seahawks and Cowboys, claims that before today’s game, Cowboys coaches approached him and asked if he was ready to get traded.Asked if today’s game could have been his last as a Seahawk, Thomas said it’s possible.“Yeah, of course, I heard chatter, people were coming up to me and saying a trade might happen,” Thomas said. “Even pregame, a couple Cowboys coaches came up to me , I don’t know if they were playing psychological games, but they were like, ‘You ready for the trade tomorrow?'”Thomas had two interceptions and said that if it was his last game as a Seahawk, he’s happy with the way he’s going out.“If it was, I had a damn good time. I’d go out like that if I had to,” Thomas said. “I just want to be appreciated. That’s it.”Thomas also acknowledged that it’s possible the Cowboys’ coaches were joking.“I don’t know if they were joking or serious or not. I was just minding my business and my routine and they came up and a couple guys said something,” Thomas said.If these coaches were serious, they were flagrantly violating the league’s tampering rules. And even if they were joking they could find themselves in trouble with the league office. If Thomas’s account of those pregame conversations is accurate, those coaches had better hope no audio of the exchange makes its way to the league office.

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]

[veranix]