WHY HE’S ON THE LIST: Okay, so I finagled things a little to get Earl Thomas (above in a John Lok photo) on this list today. But I figured this would be a good day to review Seattle’s drafting of Thomas in 2010. Recall that the Seahawks had two first-round picks in 2010 — the No. 6, which was their own and which they used to take Russell Okung, the team desperately needing a new left tackle with the retirement of Walter Jones.
And then Seattle took Thomas with the No. 14 pick, which it got in one of the more remarkable moves in team history, a 2009 draft day trade with Denver in which the Seahawks dealt their 2009 second-rounder for the Broncos’ 2010 first-rounder. As explained well here, Denver wanted to move up to cornerback Alphonso Smith, who hasn’t played since being with Detroit in 2010.
Safety was an obvious need for the Seahawks, who had played in 2009 largely with the trio of Deon Grant, Jordan Babineaux and Lawyer Milloy.
Many figured Seattle would take USC’s Taylor Mays, who had played for Pete Carroll, who just a few months earlier had left the Trojans to come to Seattle. Mays was taken later in the second round by the Bengals 49ers, No. 49 overall.
Instead, Seattle opted for Thomas, one of the first signs that people who figured Carroll would favor USC players would be mistaken, and that the Seahawks would be a hard time to predict under Carroll and John Schneider.
I thought it would be interesting to recall what Carroll and Schneider said about Thomas on draft day.
Schneider, asked if he was surprised how the draft unfolded, recounted how he thought Cleveland at No. 7 might take Thomas. The Browns instead opted for cornerback Joe Haden, who has been solid but not quite Earl Thomas. He also mentions thinking the Eagles would take Thomas at 13. The Eagles instead took DE/LB Brandon Graham out of Michigan, who has had a spotty and somewhat injury-plagued career.
Asked if the team thought about trading down from 14, Schneider said yes, but that the team always wanted Thomas.
It’s been evident for a while now that Seattle really hit on that draft (also getting Golden Tate in the second round), one that was graded at the time as the best in the NFL by Mel Kiper, who gave it an A.
Today offers more proof as Thomas will officially sign his four-year, $40 million extension.