The Seattle Seahawks have given this former top pick numerous chances to reward them for their faith. Now it’s past time for the team to cut their losses and move on.
The Seahawks have are on a run of some pretty solid drafts in the past few years. Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Zach Charbonnet all paid immediate dividends last year, and several other 2023 draftees may pay off this year as well. Charles Cross, Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker III, and Riq Woolen are all excellent starters picked up in 2022. Depending on his health, you can certainly add Abe Lucas to that group.
If we go back past that, though, the drafts weren’t quite as productive. Seattle only had three selections in 2021, and the results have been – oh, I’d say uneven. 2020’s draft did produce one top-flight player and a few more productive pieces, but only two starters. Neither of those players is still with the team, incidentally.
I can think of a pair of Hawks that should have been long gone by now instead of them. To date, neither have shown anything in camp this year, either. One in particular stands out, though. I’ll tackle the other player another time. Yes, that’s an obvious hint, 12s.
The Seattle Seahawks need to cut their losses on this once hopeful star
If it wasn’t already clear that using their top pick in 2021 on D’Wayne Eskridge was a mistake, this training camp has clarified that. Yes, I am on record as being quite happy with the selection back in 2021. What can I say? I was young and foolish. Okay, fine – I was old and foolish. The fact remains that Eskridge was almost universally seen as a top-10 prospect at wide receiver.
As we all know, his career didn’t exactly pan out that way. His career was derailed by injuries in his first two seasons, then a six-game suspension at the start of 2023 for violating league rules regarding domestic violence. Still, Eskridge appeared in 24 games over three seasons. He rewarded the Seahawks with the not-so-grand total of 17 catches in those 24 games. Yes, he was terribly misused by former Hawks OC Shane Waldron, but so was JSN at first, and he managed 63 catches as a rookie.
