Fourth Round: K.J. Wright
Fourth round, fourth consecutive player from Seattle’s Legion of Boom. The 2011 draft won’t go down in history quite like the 2012 draft for the Seahawks, but snagging James Carpenter, K.J. Wright, Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell and Malcolm Smith is perhaps one of the greatest, and most underrated, single-team drafts in NFL history.
Wright takes the cake among fourth rounders in the past 20 years, primarily because he’s an elite Will linebacker who is among the team’s franchise leaders in tackles, but also because the fourth round has been a sore spot for Seattle.
Wright had a renaissance year in 2019, starting all 16 games and recording career highs in combined tackles (132), passes defended (11) and interceptions (3). He has quietly been an absolute rock alongside Wagner in Seattle’s linebacker corps, and is a huge part of his team’s success on the defensive side of the ball this past decade.
Other fourth round picks include defensive tackle Red Bryant, who had six quality seasons in the Emerald City – first as a backup and eventually as a starter for Seattle’s Super Bowl teams, and Will Dissly, a 2018 selection who has looked like one of the best tight ends in the league, but who suffered a season-ending injury in each of his first two NFL campaigns.
Otherwise, the fourth round has netted Seattle largely busts, including last year’s selection of Gary Jennings, a wide receiver who was released without ever even appearing on the active roster.