Four Seahawks Make NFL's Best Draft Value List
Eric Edholm of NFL.com went position-by-position and ranked the best draft values for players. Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson all made the list for their respective positions.
Russell Wilson: Rank 4
Earning the Seahawks' top job by Week 1 as a rookie, Wilson (who measured 5-foot-10 5/8 at the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine) would go on to start 149 straight regular-season games (165, including playoffs) for Seattle, the sixth-best QB mark in NFL history. He led the franchise to a rousing Super Bowl XLVIII victory over Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Wilson has made 10 Pro Bowls, including in each of his first four seasons in the NFL, and he's been a top-five finisher in Offensive Player of the Year voting three times.
That not only qualifies him as one of the best value quarterbacks ever, but also as one of the great draft bargains of all time, regardless of position.
Bobby Wagner: Rank 1
It's funny to look back at now, but some analysts were not wild about the Seahawks taking Wagner in the middle of Round 2. In retrospect, the wild part was how far off those evaluations would prove to be. Even in a pretty loaded LB class in 2012, Wagner holds up as one of the best and most productive players selected that year -- at any position.
Wagner earned a starting job immediately as a rookie, finishing second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting (to Luke Kuechly), and was off to the races from there. He'd start for the next decade in Seattle and, after one year with the Rams, play another season with the 'Hawks in 2023, totaling a stunning nine Pro Bowl invitations, six first-team All-Pro mentions and three second-team All-Pro nods in his time with the team. He was a foundational piece of the Seahawks' mini-dynasty in the 2010s and earned a spot on the league's all-decade squad.
He's still doing it at a high level with the Commanders, and we shouldn't overlook his productive stint in L.A., either; Wagner made the Pro Bowl again in Washington last year and tacked on additional second-team All-Pro nods in each of his non-Seattle seasons. You can't have a list of draft steals without Wagner's name on it.
Richard Sherman: Rank 1
In the running for one of the biggest draft steals ever at corner, Sherman is the most obvious candidate to head up the position in this exercise. He was a major sleeper coming out of Stanford, so much so that his former Cardinal coach (Jim Harbaugh, who had just taken the 49ers job in 2011) passed on him in the first four rounds of the draft.
As a converted receiver with only two years of college cornerbacking under his belt, Sherman entered the league with suspicion -- but also with advantageous tools. His length, strength and ball skills all would help make Sherman a terrific member of the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" secondary that made two Super Bowls, winning one, and earned its chapter in league lore.
A member of the All-Decade Team for the 2010s, with five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro mentions, Sherman ranks up there among the best corners of the past few decades. The fact that 33 defensive backs were drafted ahead of him -- even in a loaded 2011 class -- remains one of the wilder bits of draft arcana.
Kam Chancellor: Rank 5
Chancellor's career lasted just eight years, and he dealt with various injuries in Seattle, but his impact on the "Legion of Boom" secondary was unquestioned. The former fifth-round pick is clearly one of the best values at safety in the past quarter century.
Built like a linebacker, Chancellor was an intimidator on the back end of Seattle's great defenses in the 2010s -- allowing Earl Thomas to roam more freely as a free safety -- and he made his mark as a leader for a Super Bowl-winning team. Chancellor was named to four Pro Bowls and earned two second-team All-Pro honors. He made the NFL's "Top 100 Players" list five straight years from 2014 to 2018 and never ranked lower than 75th.
His peak didn't last as long as those of some of the other names on this list, but Chancellor's draft pedigree and undeniable impact helped push him into the final slot.