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A dream trade-up target for Seattle Seahawks in NFL Draft

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A dream trade-up target for Seattle Seahawks in NFL Draft


To be clear, this is not a likely scenario.

But crazy things can happen in the NFL Draft. And in the countdown to next Thursday’s first round, this is a time for football fans to dream.

Latest Seahawks Mock Draft Roundup: Who will Seattle take at No. 18?

With that as the backdrop, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah‘s weekly appearance Wednesday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk included a conversation about the top edge rushers in year’s draft class. And during that conversation, co-host Mike Salk posed a question: Is there any chance the Seattle Seahawks could trade up to get star Georgia edge rusher Jalon Walker?

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Most mock drafts predict Walker to be selected by the Carolina Panthers with the No. 8 overall pick, so he’ll likely be off the board long before Seattle’s first-round pick at No. 18. But with 10 overall picks and five in the first three rounds, is there any way the Seahawks could use their extra draft capital to move up and snag Walker if he slips outside the the top 10?

“I wouldn’t totally punt on the Jalon thing,” Jeremiah said. “Put it this way: I’ve talked to teams in the 20s that say, ‘Do you think he gets to us?’ Like, so that tells me that there are teams out there that don’t view him (as a surefire top-10 pick).

“I mean, I do not envision it’s likely (that’s he’s available at 18). But he could be one of those deals where you’ve got some extra ammunition, so if he starts to drift in range, that would be a fun piece to add to the mix.”

In that scenario, Jeremiah said a trade up would be worth it – especially given the relatively tame cost of doing so.

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“To move up a couple spots, you can dump a fourth-round pick,” Jeremiah said. “In this draft, you’re not gonna be a missing a ton there.”

The scoop on Walker

With explosive athleticism and a 6-foot-1, 243-pound frame, Walker played both on the edge and at linebacker for Georgia. He racked up 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss this past season – including three sacks and three tackles for loss in a spectacular performance against Texas – en route to winning the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.

Walker is widely considered the second-best edge rusher in this year’s draft behind likely top-three pick Abdul Carter from Penn State. But with his linebacking experience, he also brings plenty of versatility for modern defensive schemes that emphasize positional flexibility.

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“He’s an undersized guy who plays off the ball and on the ball, so they move him around,” Jeremiah said. “He wins from a lot of different entry points with how they blitz him and rush him. But off the edge, he is ultra-explosive. … He’s a big-time fastball off the edge who jolts guys. He dominated the Texas game. He just took the game over.

“You can play him off the ball and spy him and he just sucks people up on the perimeter. (Texas quarterback) Arch Manning in that game tried to escape – Arch can really run – (and Walker) sucked him up, easy. … I think he is a really, really fun chess piece in a league that’s kind of trending toward some position-less, amoeba-type stuff to keep people guessing. This guy’s a chess piece.”

The Seahawks currently have a solid core of edge rushers in Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe, Derick Hall and free-agent signee DeMarcus Lawrence. But with Nwosu and Lawrence both coming off injury-plagued seasons, Seattle certainly could look to add more firepower to the group.

And if somehow, some way, the Seahawks turned that dream into a reality? Jeremiah, a former NFL scout, summed it up succintly.

“He’s different,” Jeremiah said. “He’s a different cat.”

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Listen to the full conversation with NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft coverage

• Brock on Seahawks Draft: A Seattle native with big O-line upside
• ESPN insider’s potential draft cheat code for Seattle Seahawks’ O-line
• Rost: The 4 later-round QBs Seattle Seahawks could draft
• Brock’s Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile: ‘Destructive’ DT from Michigan
• Seatle Seahawks Draft Profile: Alabama’s ‘Swiss Army knife’ LB





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Walker’s big night an encouraging sign for Seattle Seahawks

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Walker’s big night an encouraging sign for Seattle Seahawks


It got somewhat lost amid all the late-game drama, but Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III just had one of the best games of his four-year career.

The anatomy of a comeback: How Seahawks stunned the Rams

Highlighted by a pair of explosive plays, Walker totaled 164 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in Seattle’s wild 38-37 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. It was the second-most scrimmage yards of Walker’s career, just shy of his 167 scrimmage yards against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 7 of his 2022 rookie campaign.

Walker rushed for 100 yards on 11 carries against the Rams’ stout defense, including a 55-yard TD run early in the third quarter where he burst through a crease and hit a top speed of 21.07 mph while racing downfield, according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats. He also added three catches for 64 yards, including a 46-yard gain on a throwback screen pass that set up a first-quarter TD.

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In doing so, Walker became the first NFL running back since five-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry in 2020 to have both a 45-plus-yard run and a 45-plus-yard catch in the same game, according to NFL Media senior researcher Dante Koplowitz-Fleming.

Walker’s two big plays against the Rams were also among the six longest plays of his career. He had five gains of 40-plus yards over his first two NFL seasons, but none over the past two seasons until Thursday night.

During Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Friday, Mike Salk praised both Walker and Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

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“Best and hardest I’ve seen him run in forever,” Salk said. “Most decisive, most he’s hit holes hard, picked up extra yards. Credit to Kubiak for getting him the ball in space and allowing him to really do the things that he does well.”

Led by Walker’s performance, the Seahawks finished with 171 rushing yards and a season-high 6.8 yards per carry on Thursday night. Even more encouraging was that it came against a strong Rams run defense, which entered the game ranked eighth in the NFL at just 3.9 yards allowed per carry.

The Seahawks have struggled for much of the season to get their run game untracked – including this past Sunday, when they mustered just 50 rushing yards and 2.3 yards per carry in a low-scoring Week 15 win over Indianapolis Colts.

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But prior to that, Seattle had made some strides on the ground, averaging 140.2 rushing yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry from Weeks 10-14.

Walker’s showing on Thursday night was another positive step.

“He was a major factor,” Salk said. “Ran for 100 yards in the game. They ran for over 170 as a team, which kind of gets lost in a lot of the other storylines of the game. A huge credit to Ken Walker. … That’s the best I’ve seen him play in forever.”

Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation at this link or in the video player at the top of this story. Tune into Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Where Seattle Seahawks’ No. 1 seed odds stand after epic win
• Seattle Seahawks Injury Updates: Status of trio of DBs
• Seahawks’ Derick Hall suspended 1 game for stepping on player
• Brock Huard: The reason Darnold was able to lead Seahawks over Rams
• Macdonald explains Seattle Seahawks’ game-winning 2-point decision

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Seattle Kraken beat San Jose Sharks 4-2 to snap 4-game skid

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Seattle Kraken beat San Jose Sharks 4-2 to snap 4-game skid


SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ryan Lindgren had the tiebreaking goal early in the third period for his first score with the Seattle Kraken, and they went on to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Seattle Kraken 4, San Jose Sharks 2: Box score

Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Eeli Tolvanen and Ryker Evans also scored for the Kraken, who won for just the second time in 12 games (2-9-1). Joey Daccord finished with 34 saves.

Adam Gaudette and Colin Graf scored for the Sharks, and Yaroslav Askarov had 28 saves.

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Graf gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 36 seconds into the third period with some help from the Kraken.

Seattle’s Adam Dunn lofted a clearing attempt from behind the net that Igor Chernyshov intercepted in the left circle and sent a pass in front to Graf. Graf tried to lift it over Daccord down on the ice, but the puck deflected off the left post and in front as the goalie, on his back, tried to pull it in. However, Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson skated into the goalie and knocked the puck in.

Evans tied it again at 1:55 with a long shot from the left point through traffic.

Lindgren put the Kraken ahead 3-2 at 4:27, beating Askarov from the left point for the defenseman’s first goal in 33 games since signing with with Seattle in the offseason. Stephenson had an assist on the play to extend his point streak to eight games.

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Stephenson then scored with 1:24 remaining to push Seattle’s lead to two goals and extend his goal-scoring streak to four games.

Tolvanen gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 6:52 of the second period, picking up a loose puck, skating into the right circle and firing a shot past Askarov.

Gaudette tied it with a power-play goal with 8:38 left in the middle period. Celebrini fired a shot at the net from the left point that deflected off teammate Igor Chernyshov in front of Daccord and off Gaudette down onto the ice for an easy backhand poke from the right doorstep.

Celebrini extended his point streak to five games on the play with eight assists and 11 points in the stretch.

Up next

Seattle Kraken: At Anaheim on Monday night.

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San Jose Sharks: At Vegas on Tuesday night.

Seattle Kraken trade away their big offseason acquisition



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Three West Seattle schools’ teams advance in FIRST Lego League competition

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Three West Seattle schools’ teams advance in FIRST Lego League competition


(Photos courtesy Brenda Hatley)

By Hayden Yu Andersen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Dozens of youth robotics teams from elementary and middle schools across the district gathered on December 6 at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School for this year’s FIRST Lego League qualifier. By the end of the day, three teams from West Seattle – Madison Middle School, Lafayette Elementary School, and Alki Elementary School – emerged triumphant, with their sights set on the next round of the tournament.

Of the schools who competed that day, nine were from West Seattle, including Genesee Hill Elementary, Fairmount Park Elementary, Gatewood Elementary, Arbor Heights Elementary, West Seattle Elementary, and the aforementioned teams that are moving up to the next round.

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A local parent tipped us about the students’ achievement, so we set out to get details. We spoke with Brenda Hatley, a coach for Madison Middle School, the only West Seattle middle-school team to advance to the next round, and she says the turnout at the qualifiers was impressive. Hatley first became a coach for her son’s 4th-grade team and was one of the founding parents for Lafayette Elementary’s Lego Robotics team.

She says the program, which pairs engineering with LEGO, coding, and real-world projects, is a fantastic program for students who are less interested in athletics but still want to capture the excitement of a pep rally.

“It’s not a sports team, but they’re still getting so hyped up. The kids were cheering for each other, and the pressure was there; coaching through that was an incredible experience,” Hatley said.

Madison’s team, the Madbots, will play their next match on December 26th, at a to-be-determined location. The teams that do well this month will move on to the city-wide competition in Downtown Seattle, before moving to the regionals at Washington State University, and beyond to the international finals. Regardless of how they perform, Hatley says she and the other parents are planning to travel with their team to the city-wide and regional competitions.

“I’m really proud of the team,” Hatley said. “Last year, the fifth graders didn’t move on, and we had lower expectations; we just went in to learn more and get better. This year, we get to move on and see what the next level looks like.”

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