After trading out of the first round on Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks added six total players to their roster during a frenzied day two of the NFL Draft.
Seattle drafted four defensive players and two offensive pieces during the second and third rounds of the draft. The class is headlined by Michigan State defensive tackle Malik McDowell, who Seattle selected with the 35th overall pick of the draft.
"He's too unique," Seahawks general manager John Schneider said of the decision to draft McDowell. "We've been looking for a pass rushing 3-technique since we've been here together."
Added head coach Pete Carroll: "He's so young (20 years old) that we can develop the things that aren't quite right yet. We think we can mold him into a really good role player for us and fit him into a number of different spots."
McDowell's consistency and his effort was a question during his time at Michigan State. He would occasionally throttle down on certain plays and show a less than ideal motor. However, Schneider said that was one of the areas they addressed during his visit to the team's headquarters.
"He knows he needs to keep going and those are part of the discussions we had with him when he visited," Schneider said.
The Seahawks traded down twice on Thursday to move out of the first round and once more on Friday before making McDowell their first pick. It was the fourth time in five seasons that the Seahawks have not made a first-round selection. In fact, Seattle hasn't made a selection with its original first-round pick since selecting James Carpenter in 2011.
McDowell appears to be the player they were targeting all along, but Schneider noted they had a cluster of players they would have been comfortable taking each time they elected to trade further back.
The three trades netted Seattle additional third-, fourth-, sixth- and seventh-round picks to bring their total allotment of selections to 11 after beginning the draft with just seven. Ultimately, by moving down just nine total spots, the Seahawks added four total picks to their slate.
The rest of Seattle's day was kept stationary as the Seahawks added five more picks before the night was complete.
LSU offensive lineman Ethan Pocic was selected with the 58th overall pick in the second round. While Pocic was a center in college, he has also played guard and tackle. The Seahawks saw him as the most versatile lineman in the class.
"He was the one guy that, quite frankly, we were really sweating out because we felt like you're drafting maybe two-and-a-half players with one guy," Schneider said. "We debated whether to go up and get him or just wait and sweat it out."
In the third round, Seattle added Central Florida cornerback Shaquill Griffin (90th), Michigan safety Delano Hill (95th), North Carolina defensive tackle Nazair Jones (102nd) and Michigan wide receiver Amara Darboh (106th).
While none of Seattle's picks can be penciled in as probable starters from day one, all of them have a chance to contribute significantly on a rotational basis this season.
The Seahawks have five picks remaining on Saturday with a fourth-round pick -- the fourth selection of the day -- two sixth-round picks and two seventh-round picks.
