With the 57th pick of Pride of Detroit's 2011 NFL Mock Draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Forty Handz is serving as the Seahawks' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.
The Seattle Seahawks went defense with their first pick and decided to pass on a QB or DT. Many of the top prospects at DT are now off the board. The Seahawks wanted to go after a QB in the first but felt that some of the QBs available at 25 might slip to 57. Unfortunately, there was an early run on QB prospects in the beginning of the second round. Even so, Matt Hasselbeck is getting older and has been injured several times over the past few seasons, including last year. QB will be the position that the 'Hawks target here.
Ricky Stanzi and Colin Kaepernick are the top two QB prospects available that the Seahawks might be eying. Stanzi is the most NFL ready of the two. He could step in and play after being used to a pro-style offense, but Kaepernick has more upside. Kaepernick has played in Nevada's oddball offense (the pistol) the last few seasons but has more to offer athletically. Since the 'Hawks still plan on having to figure out a way to keep Hasselbeck under center for the next season and possibly longer, they'd have the time to groom a player like Kaepernick. Everything coming out of the Hawks camp seems to tell me that Hasselbeck will be returning in 2011, meaning that Kaepernick will have the luxury of riding the pine for at least a season to learn the offense.
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Check out the 2011 Pride of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.