RENTON, Wash. — In February, John Schneider said that for the Seattle Seahawks to draft a quarterback this offseason, the board would have to speak to them on draft weekend.
Hearing from the longtime general manager and coach Mike Macdonald on Friday night, it sounds like what spoke volumes was Jalen Milroe’s game film — and his personality.
“He’s a unique, special young man, special athlete,” Schneider said.
Seattle selected with Milroe, a two-year starter at Alabama, with the No. 92 pick, which the team received from the Las Vegas Raiders in the Geno Smith trade. He’s the third quarterback Schneider has selected in 16 drafts with the Seahawks (Russell Wilson and Alex McGough are the others). Milroe was the third and final pick made on Friday by Seattle, which gave up pick Nos. 52 and 82 to draft safety Nick Emmanwori at No. 35, then acquired tight end Elijah Arroyo with pick No. 50.
Milroe is the splash of the class. For years, Schneider has talked about the importance of drafting a quarterback every year, only to never do it, barring those two exceptions. There had to be something special about Milroe to snap the streak. There were two things, it turns out: who he is and how he plays.
Speaking to the latter, Macdonald described Milroe as a defense’s worst nightmare.
“Quarterbacks who can extend the play are incredibly difficult to defend,” Macdonald said. “The worst thing in the world is you play the first (part) of the play perfectly on defense, and you’re like, ‘All right, sweet, we did it.’ And the guy still has the ball, and you’ve got to defend the next play, and then sometimes a third play.
“He can kill you in the first play, he can kill you in the second play, he can kill you in the third play. It’s not a fun existence to live in consistently. He has that ability.”
Milroe visited Seattle ahead of the draft and loved it. Seattle loved him, too. The two sides talked football on the visit, but the other purpose of bringing him to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center was to learn about the young man under the helmet.
Schneider brought up Milroe winning the William V. Campbell Trophy (also known as the Academic Heisman), his work ethic and the influence of being raised by a mother who was in the Navy and a father who was a Marine. In short, they loved Milroe the person as much as Milroe the player.
“You feel the urgency and the passion for his vision he wants for his career, where he wants to go,” Macdonald said when asked about Milroe’s visit. “He’s incredibly determined. This guy is a tireless worker, highly respected by his teammates, highly intelligent and he’s just really determined to become a great player and a great quarterback.”
The mental makeup of the quarterback is obviously important because of the leadership required to play the position, but more specifically, it’s notable given Seattle’s current setup. Milroe is not slated to be Seattle’s starting quarterback. (Assuming full health, Sam Darnold will take 90 percent of Seattle’s snaps this season, Macdonald said, even if Milroe could play situationally because of his mobility.)
He might not even be Seattle’s backup quarterback. And he might not even be QB3 until the team trades Sam Howell. Much like Russell Wilson when he arrived as a third-round pick, Milroe will have to operate with the humility to put his head down and learn from the veterans while also possessing the confidence to believe he can eventually unseat them when given the opportunity.
“I’m coming in to learn, grow and bring nothing but positive vibes to the offense and fulfill all that is (necessary) with my role on the team,” Milroe said. “Of course, once I get there, I’ll understand my niche, for sure. But ideally, I’m competing. No matter what day it is, no matter how many reps I get, I’m competing for when an opportunity presents itself at the quarterback position.”
That’s the humble Milroe. But he also doesn’t lack confidence, either. When asked about his message to the teams that passed on him in the draft, Milroe dropped a modern-day colloquialism athletes use to express that anyone in their path has a beatdown coming.
“Belt to ass.”
Seattle’s other two picks Friday were less flashy but have the potential to be more impactful in the immediate future. Seattle considered Emmanwori so special that the team nearly traded back into the first round to select him on Thursday night.
“He’s been a guy our whole staff has been excited about the whole process,” Macdonald said. “How do you watch his tape and not see the potential of what he can become?”
Emmanwori’s versatility will give Seattle depth at safety, and he projects similarly to Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton, an All-Pro player because of his size and ability to impact the game near the line of scrimmage as a slot defender, with the range to play at the third level and keep a lid on the defense.
“I can do it all, honestly,” Emmanwori said. “I don’t want to put myself in one box. But I think I can do it all. I can play in the back end; I can play towards the box. I can line up at nickel. I don’t really want to pencil myself in. A lot of people probably have me penciled in as a box safety.
“I am a little bit more dominant towards the box, but I also can be dominant in the post.”
Seattle’s first-round pick, Grey Zabel, built a connection with Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson. One of its second picks has a connection to another former Seahawks star: Kam Chancellor. Both Emmanwori and Chancellor were coached by Torrian Gray, a longtime Virginia Tech defensive backs coach who currently holds the same position at South Carolina. Gray used to tell Emmanwori he was very similar to Chancellor, a player once considered a “tweener” due to his unique size for a safety.
“Kam Chancellor is one of my favorite safeties ever,” Emmanwori said. “Used to watch him all the time on TV, used to pull up his highlights before games. It’s crazy.”
Even crazier: Chancellor, according to Emmanwori, sent the draft hopeful a direct message on Thursday. He told Emmanwori about his pre-draft journey, which included teams and pundits pigeonholing him as a box safety. Chancellor, of course, proved many detractors wrong, and he expressed that he looked forward to Emmanwori doing the same.
“That was crazy,” Emmanwori said. “One of my football idols shot me a text, shot me a follow, so it was great.”
Much like the selection of Zabel, the Arroyo pick marked a deviation from Schneider’s previous draft trends. He had never taken a first-round guard before Zabel, and prior to Friday night, he had never selected a second-round tight end. So, what made Arroyo different?
“This guy can run an extensive route tree,” Macdonald said. “To have to account for a tight end body on the field and him also being able to split out wide, do ‘X’ receiver type of things, bigger body than we probably have right now on our roster, it just provides a ton of value. And then he’s going to go in there as a tight end inline and create some of the bigger personnel formations. (That) is the vision we have for him.”
Schneider began his opening remarks Friday night by declaring this a “cool day in Seahawks history.” He was beaming when he said it, like a child who received everything on his Christmas list. Schneider had a similar grin on his face later in the evening when summarizing the feeling of landing Zabel, Emmanwori, Arroyo and Milroe.
“All four, the people, the competitors, the athletes, I can’t describe it any differently other than to say they feel special,” Schneider said. “They feel different. It’s a great thing.”
(Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)