The Seattle Seahawks parted ways with defensive tackle Malik McDowell on Thursday, just over a year after the team picked him in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. McDowell never took a snap or donned a Seahawks uniform before an ATV accident in July 2017 caused injuries that ended his rookie year before it ever began.
Malik McDowell is another draft whiff for the Seahawks, who have plenty recently
The Seahawks’ bad draft luck is taking a toll on the team’s roster.
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
The details of his injury were never revealed, but over a year later, the Seahawks still weren’t ready to medically clear the lineman. If McDowell is healthy enough to play again, he’ll have to hunt for another NFL team willing to give him a chance.
For the Seahawks it’s another bad pick in a string of poor draft choices in recent offseasons. McDowell was the first pick Seattle made in 2017, putting him in an underwhelming group.
In that group:
- Three left as free agents (Carpenter, Irvin and Richardson)
- One was traded (Michael)
- One was released (McDowell)
- Two remain on the roster (Ifedi and Clark)
Part of the problem for the Seahawks has been draft position. Of those six selections, only three were in the first round and Irvin was the only one picked in the top 20.
But the Seahawks’ struggle to find a premium player early in the NFL Draft is partially to blame for the team’s recent decline. The 2017 season was Seattle’s first since 2011 that didn’t reach 10 wins or end with a trip to the playoffs.
The 2018 offseason was particularly rocky for Seattle. The defense lost Richard Sherman, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Sheldon Richardson, and Kam Chancellor, and the Seahawks are in the middle of a contentious contract dispute with Earl Thomas. Struggling to find young replacements for those cogs is a problem.
It wouldn’t be fair to blame the Seahawks for McDowell not living up to his draft hype in Seattle. But the team’s bad draft luck is taking its toll on the roster.
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