The Seattle Seahawks have added a nice bunch of players to the team in the 2011 NFL Draft.  Here is a look at how they did in their first taste of NFL action:

22-year old OT James Carpenter came to the Seahawks in the 1st round last April.  He played in 9 games (all starts) for the Seahawks last year before his season ended early due to a torn ACL.  Carpenter is going to be a starter for the Seahawks for a long time.

25-year old OG John Moffitt was picked in the 3rd round by the Seahawks last April.  He played in 9 games (all starts) before his season ended due to a knee injury.  Moffitt was also suspended for four games due to testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.   If Moffitt keeps his head on straight, he will likely be a starter for a long time for the Seahawks.

22-year old LB K.J. Wright came to the Seahawks in the 4th round.  He played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 65 tackles, 2 sacks, 8 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and 2 passes defensed.  He is also going to be a starter for a long time for the Seahawks as he is a big time playmaker.

23-year old WR Kris Durham came to the Seahawks in the 4th round.  Durham played in 3 games for the Seahawks last year and he caught 3 passes for 30 yards (10.0 avg).

23-year old CB Richard Sherman came to the Seahawks in the 5th round.  He played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 55 tackles, 17 passes defensed, 4 interceptions and 1 forced fumble.  Sherman was a absolute steal for the Seahawks as he is a big time playmaker.

23-year old safety Mark Legree was a 5th round pick for the Seahawks.  He was cut before the season started and he was picked up by the Jets.  He didn’t play in any games for the Jets in 2011.

23-year old CB Byron Maxwell was picked in the 6th round for the Seahawks.  He played in 9 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 1 tackle.

24-year old DE Lazarius Levingston was picked in the 7th round.  He played in 4 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 1 tackle.

22-year old LB Malcolm Smith was pitched in the 7th round by the Seahawks.  He was quite a find as he played in 12 games for the Seahawks last year and he had 16 tackles, 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles.

GRADE FOR 2011:  B+

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  A+

The Seahawks have lost 22-year old rookie OT James Carpenter for the rest of the year as he tore his ACL at practice yesterday.  Carpenter played in 9 games (all starts) for the Seahawks this year.  26-year old Breno Giacomini will take over in the starting lineup for Carpenter.  He has played in 8 games (1 start) for the Seahawks so far this year.  He has now played in 9 games (1 starts) in his first four years in the NFL.  This is another big blow to the offensive line of the Seahawks.

The Seahawks have placed 23-year old rookie WR Kris Durham on the Injured Reserve List, due to a shoulder injury.  Durham played in 3 games for the Seahawks this year and he caught 3 passes for 30 yards (10.0 avg).  He was a 4th round pick out of Georgia last April, but he has been passed up by a lot of WRs this season.  It will be interesting to see how much of a future Durham has with the Seahawks.

The Seahawks wanted to get more physical on both sides of the football.  I like what the Seahawks did with their first two picks (1st round) OT James Carpenter and (3rd round) OG John Moffitt.  The Seahawks needed to improve the O-Line and I think they have.  The only other offensive player that was taken by the Seahawks was WR Kris Durham in the 4th round.  OLB K.J. Wright came to the Seahawks in the 4th round and he could get on the field early in his career.  The last five picks the Seahawks made were all on defense and they hope they found some guys who will contribute.

PROJECTED GRADE:  C-

The Seahawks took OLB Malcolm Moore out of USC with the 242nd overall pick (7th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Moore is 6’0″, 226 pounds.  Moore is more of a coverage linebacker than a blitzer.  He played in 11 games at USC last year and he had 78 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 1 interception.  In his final two years at USC, Moore played in 21 games in which he had 150 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions.  This pick was likely a favor to head coach Pete Carroll.

The Seattle Seahawks took DT Lazarius “Pep” Levingston out of LSU with the 205th overall pick (7th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Levingston is 6’4″, 293 pounds.  He’s a tad small for the inside in the NFL but he’s not a good enough athlete to play end.  He is a good run defender but it’s based on effort.  Levingston played in 13 games for LSU last year and he had 25 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss.  He  played in 49 games in his four years with the Tigers and he had 70 tackles, 15.5 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks and he batted down 5 passes.

UPDATE:  (9/4/2011) – The Seahawks have released Lazarius Levingston.

The Seahawks took CB Byron Maxwell out of Penn State with the 173rd overall pick (6th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Maxwell is 6’1″, 200 pounds and he runs a 4.49 40.  Maxwell is a pure bump and run cover corner as he gets abused in space (zone) in the passing game.  Maxwell is a very hard hitter and he will also help the Seahawks on special teams, likely from day #1.  Maxwell played in 13 games for Penn State last year and he had 48 tackles, he broke up 7 passes, had 2 interceptions, 3.5 tackles for a loss and he forced 3 fumbles.  Maxwell played in 53 games in four years with the Nittany Lions and he had 165 tackles, he broke up 20 passes, had 4 interceptions, 11.5 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and he forced 6 fumbles.

The Seattle Seahawks took safety Mark LeGree out of Appalachian State with the 156th overall pick (5th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  LeGree is 6’0″, 211 pounds and he ran a 4.46 40 at his Pro Day.  LeGree is not a physical player but yet, he’s a playmaker.  He played in 12 games for Appalachian State last year and he had 49 tackles, 8 passes broken up, 5 interceptions and 1 tackle for a loss.  LeGree played in 53 games in his four years at Appalachian State and he had 197 tackles, he broke up 21 passes, had 22 interceptions, had 6 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and he forced 2 fumbles.  LeGree will likely have to make it on special teams before he gets a shot at playing on defense for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks took CB/S Richard Sherman out of Stanford with the 154th overall pick (5th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Sherman is 6’2″, 195 pounds and he runs a 4.53 40.  Sherman is a converted CB as he spent his first couple of years at Stanford playing WR.  You would think that his experience at WR would help him on defense, but it hasn’t to this point.  He appears to be a very soft player.  Sherman played in 13 games (12 starts) for Stanford last year and he had 50 tackles, he broke up 9 passes, had 4 interceptions, 1 tackle for a loss and he forced 2 fumbles.  Sherman played in 26 games (24 starts) in his two years playing defense with the Cardinal and he had 112 tackles, 17 passes broken up, 6 interceptions, 1 tackle for a loss and he had 2 forced fumbles.

The Seahawks took 22-year old WR Kris Durham out of Georgia with the 107th overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Durham is 6’4″, 212 pounds and he runs a 4.6 40.  Durham is a tough guy as he likes to block for the running game.  He also has a great set of hands and makes the tough catches in traffic.  He doesn’t have a huge array of moves after he catches the ball.  Durham played in 11 games (8 starts) for Georgia last year and he caught 32 passes for 659 yards (20.6 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He played in 47 games (15 starts) in his four years with the Bulldogs and he caught 64 passes for 1,109 yards (17.3 avg) with 4 TD grabs.