Mel Kiper Has Seahawks Making Surprise Pick in Round 2 in Latest Mock Draft

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

With the 2023 NFL Draft set to kick off next Thursday, April 27, teams around the league and prospects around the country and preparing for the big day.

Analysts are also doing last-minute work to get in their best projections and predictions. That includes two of the industry's best -- ESPN draft experts Mel Kiper and Todd McShay. While they normally release their own respective mock drafts, this time they alternated making picks for the first three rounds.

Seahawks Mock Draft

Kiper was tasked with making one of the Seahawks' Round 2 picks. While Seattle has two Round 1 picks as well, the No. 37 overall selection came from the Russell Wilson trade.

Kiper has the Seahawks using this pick on Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker, who is coming off a stellar season that was cut short by an ACL tear. Hooker would have potentially been a first-round pick if not for this injury, but is still expected to go at the top of Round 2 here.

Many have wondered if Seattle would draft a quarterback with the No. 5 pick, but with potentially three or four of the top QBs being off the board by then, plus the rumors of how much they like Jalen Carter, that seems unlikely at this point.

Hooker would make more sense, With Geno Smith under center for the Seahawks coming off a career year, Hooker would have plenty of time to heal, learn Seattle's offense and adjust to the NFL.

This pick has Jalen Hurts to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020 Round 2 vibes. The Seahawks could only hope it works out anywhere close to that.

David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.