The Seattle Seahawks have a league-low four picks heading into this week’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. Two of their picks belong to the New Orleans Saints as part of the Rashid Shaheed trade, which worked out in the form of winning the Super Bowl, while their seventh-rounder is with the Cleveland Browns due to the scarcely remembered Nick Harris deal.
This is not considered a strong draft class and certainly not one where adding picks is super coveted. Still, the the expectation is that Seahawks general manager John Schneider will at least try to make a move or two during the draft. One possibility is trading away a player, which was brought up by ESPN’s Seahawks beat reporter Brady Henderson in his appearance on Rob Staton’s podcast.
Could the #Seahawks add draft stock by trading one of their players to gain another pick? The brilliant @BradyHenderson suggested a name during our conversation today… (see the video below)Check out the full video here #Seahawks fans 👉 https://t.co/SHJdnNYMHH pic.twitter.com/1D8nMFyoMX
“I will say this: I would not discount the possibility of Seattle adding a draft pick by trading somebody on their roster, and Olu Oluwatimi is the guy that comes to mind,” Henderson said. “I would not be surprised at all if they end up trading him either before the draft or maybe on Day 3, kind of like they did with Sam Howell a few years ago, and you pick up a Day 3 pick that way.
“I think they’re going to end up with more than four picks; I would caution people against assuming they’re going to be able to find a trade partner at 32.”
It’s not inconceivable to think that Oluwatimi is a possible trade option for Seattle. He’s on the last year of his rookie contract and is 0-for-3 as far as getting the Week 1 starting job over any of Evan Brown, Connor Williams, or Jalen Sundell. Nevertheless, Oluwatimi has 13 starts under his belt and hasn’t performed like he’s a liability, it’s just unlikely that he’ll be able to wrest the starting job away from Sundell at this point.
Oluwatimi has shown himself to be a bare minimum good backup at the center position, but if the Seahawks want to add draft picks without dipping into next year’s treasure trove, Oluwatimi might be an option for a late-round pick.