You can never truly know how good a draft class is until a couple of years down the track, but there's no denying what Seattle did.
The NFL Draft could be looked at as a lottery with some selections, and that even goes for first-rounders as well, and the Seattle Seahawks are reaping the rewards.
While we don't know how good a draft is until a couple of years down the track, some players pop straight away, and for the Seahawks, that happened.
CBS Sports' Pete Prisco looked back at the 2023 draft class for every NFL team, graded the initial class, and then took a look at where they are now, and gave a grade depending on how good or bad they are.
The Seahawks took Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon, Derick Hall, Anthony Bradford, Zach Charbonnet, Cameron Young, Mike Morris, Kenny McIntosh, Jerrick Reed, and Olusegun Oluwatimi.
Prisco gave an initial grade of a B+ for that draft class.
But now?
Given that Witherspoon is a star, Smith-Njigba is an All-Pro, and Charbonnet and Bradford are starters, Prisco has upped his grade from a B+ to an A+.
"I loved the pick of Witherspoon, but who didn't? I didn't like taking Charbonnet because they had Kenneth Walker III, but Walker signed with the Chiefs this spring so maybe they knew," Prisco wrote. "This was the draft that was the foundation of the Super Bowl champs. Getting Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba makes this a home run draft."
Does that seem right?
To me it does.
Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba are key foundational pieces who helped shape the Seahawks' Super Bowl triumph, while Bradford and Charbonnet have been more than serviceable since entering the league.
Based on those players alone, you can make the case that the Seahawks' 2023 draft class was a home run, and yes, it is easy to say now that they have won a Super Bowl.
But you can't argue with what the players at the top of that class have become.
Smith-Njigba is one of the best receivers in football (and is paid like it), while Witherspoon will likely get a market-setting contract soon enough. Bradford is a solid starter, Charbonnet has all the makings of being a starting running back for a handful of years, and Hall has been a solid contributor as a rotational player.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, and tick.
Four of Seattle's top five selections have "hit," and when that happens, there's no denying that the draft class was a home run for the NFC West franchise.
