Mel Kiper has bold praise as Seahawks dominate Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft

This is not a test.

The Seattle Seahawks are spinning it in the 2025 NFL draft. One might have wondered if general manager John Schneider had the chops to make good decisions on his own, without his former head coach, Pete Carroll. In 2024, he didn't. In 2025, he might be proving otherwise.

Of course, time will tell on both draft classes, but there has yet to be a breakout star from 2024. This year, there could be players who are immediately impactful. Offensive lineman Grey Zabel should be expected to start at left guard in Week 1 and be a force. He and left tackle Charles Cross could eventually form the best left side of Seattle's O-line since Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson.

But Schneider kept zigging where some thought he might zag on Day 2 of the draft. Since the Seahawks came into the day with four Day 2 choices, it made sense for Schneider to move around a bit with a trade or two. He does so early by dealing selections 52 and 82 to the Tennessee Titans for choice 35.

Seahawks 2025 draft through Day 2 has a big fan in ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr.

With that pick, Schneider took a Kam Chancellor clone, Nick Emmanwori, of South Carolina. Seattle is set at safety in Week 1 with Julian Love and Coby Bryant, so Emmanwori can slowly be worked into the rotation before he takes over a starting role, likely from Bryant.

The Seahawks then took tight end Elijah Arroyo, who is more like a wide receiver with a tight end body. To finish the day, Seattle chose a quarterback in the third round. Will Jalen Milroe turn out to have a similar path as Russell Wilson did when the team picked him in the third round in 2012? Stay tuned.

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. was a huge fan of all the moves the Seahawks made on Day 2, even starting his reaction article with the Seahawks' moves compared to what every other team did. Of Emmanwori, he wrote, "He's explosive, physical and fast, as we saw at the combine."

About Arroyo, he said, "He'll bring speed and a wide catch radius, and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is going to move him around to find mismatches against the coverage."

Kiper, though he really wants Colorado's Shedeur Sanders to be chosen by literally anyone, also liked Seattle taking Milroe.

He wrote, "He can hit the deep ball with accuracy, and he's a true difference-maker as a runner on designed carries and scrambles. Defensive coordinators are going to be worried about offensive packages shaped around his run-game traits this season, and he has the chance to develop into a starter down the road."

Of course, Kiper doesn't have the final say on how good Seattle's picks will turn out. Their careers will, but he has proven to be a good judge of talent over the decades. If he likes what Schneider and the Seahawks did, that likely bodes well for the team in the future.