The Seattle Seahawks' 2021 draft was an absolute mess. In the process of adding safety Jamal Adams to the team in 2020, the team had traded their 2021 first-round pick as well as a third-round selection. The Seahawks had gutted their draft for a player who would ultimately fail.
This meant that Seattle only had three picks entering the 2021 draft. That temporarily grew to four because of an in-draft trade, but another trade gave away the fourth pick. Having only three choices placed a premium on every pick.
Sorry to spoil the ending here, but none of the three draft selections the Seahawks had in 2021 are still with the team. In other words, having only three draft picks was a setup for disaster, but general manager John Schneider and then-head coach Pete Carroll compounded the issue by making poor picks.
Seattle Seahawks' 2021 NFL draft might be the team's worst ever
The worst of these, unfortunately, turned out to be Seattle's highest choice. In the second round at pick 56 overall, Seattle took Western Michigan wide receiver D'Wayne Eskridge. He was a 5'9" and 190-pound player who some might have seen as Tyler Lockett's eventual replacement.
Since Schneider came to the Seahawks in 2010, the team has had a soft spot for receivers of Eskridge's size. Lockett worked out well, but Percy Harvin did not. The thinking must have been that quick and smaller receivers can have some explosive plays, but also help in the third phase of the game, too.
As it turned out, though, Eskridge never produced in any facet of the game. In 24 games over three seasons with Seattle, the oft-injured and once-suspended receiver managed just 17 catches (on 34 targets) for 122 yards. He did flash potential as a kick returner, but was never consistently available for games.
To make matters worse, the Seahawks could have gone a lot of different ways than taking Eskridge. A recent Bleacher Report article names the "biggest steals of the 2021 draft' and Eskridge was chosen before all of them.
To make matters worse, there are a large number of players the Seahawks could have chosen at the time Eskridge was taken up until the time Seattle took cornerback Tre Brown in the fourth round (137 overall). Just naming the offensive linemen available to Seattle is quite disheartening.
The Seahawks could have eschewed Eskridge for Creed Humphrey (a one-time First-Team All-Pro with the Kansas City Chiefs), or one-time First-Team All-Pro Quinn Meinerz (Denver Broncos), or one-time Pro Bowler Trey Smith (Kansas City Chiefs).
Schneider and Carroll seemingly approached the 2021 draft as if they were set on not having to do much. Instead, the Seahawks whiffed on several players that would have made the team better and might have saved Carroll's job.
The three picks Seattle made in 2021 were Eskridge (released ahead of the 2024 season), Brown (left in free agency this offseason and signed with the San Francisco 49ers after dropping on the depth chart), and career backup offensive tackle Stone Forsythe (signed with the New York Giants this offseason). None were consistently productive for the Seahawks.
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