Tag: Luke Easterling

Seahawks RB Ken Walker III is a top rookie to target in fantasy drafts

Here’s a look at why Seattle Seahawks running back Ken Walker III is a top rookie to target in your 2022 fantasy football draft.

It’s almost that time of year when armchair quarterbacks begin to put together their fantasy football rosters ahead of the start of the regular season.

To help the general managers in all of us, Luke Easterling over at Draft Wire recently recently his list of rookies to target in 2022 fantasy football drafts and Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III made the cut.

“Despite Rashaad Penny’s impressive finish to the 2021 season, the Seahawks still spent an early second-round pick on Walker,” Easterling writes. “While that might muddy the waters in this backfield, Walker has the talent to establish himself as the lead back, especially if Penny continues to struggle with injury issues.

“Walker’s combination of vision, patience, instincts and physicality could make him the full-time starter early in his rookie season.”

With Chris Carson’s future in Seattle – or in the NFL, for that matter – is murky, Walker will have the chance to prove his worth sooner than later.

Walker and the rest of the Seahawks players are set to report to training camp on July 26.

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4-Down Territory: Rams’ Dream Team, Bengals’ fixes, Aaron Donald’s legacy, worst-to-first?

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling review Super Bowl LVI, and posit which team could be the NFL’s next worst-to-first.

Each week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire, take on the NFL’s (and occasionally the NCAA’s) most pressing topics. In this week’s episode, our fearless experts get into why the Rams’ Dream Team plan actually worked, how likely it is that the Bengals get back to the Super Bowl, which other NFL team could mirror Cincinnati’s worst-to-first path, and what Aaron Donald’s legacy is if he actually retires.

You can watch the video right here:

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4-Down Territory: Going over the NFL’s most important topics

In “4 Down Territory,” Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling discuss the NFL’s most important subjects.

Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now.

This week, Doug and Luke discuss:

  1. Why NFL officiating is so bad, and how the league can (and should) fix it;
  2. Which team that was upset last week should be the most worried about their postseason prospects;
  3. In a very muddled picture, which team is the AFC’s best coming into Week 11, and…
  4. Whether Patrick Mahomes is really “back,” or whether the Raiders give Mahomes the perfect defense to light it up last Sunday.

You can watch “4-Down Territory” below.

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Behind Enemy Lines: 11 questions with The Bucs Wire in Week 6

We sat down with the great @LukeEasterling Managing Editor of @TheBucsWire for 11 questions about the #Bucs #Eagles #TNF matchup at Lincoln Financial Field #NFL

The NFL’s closest thing to the Los Angeles Lakers arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday night, and as the Buccaneers prepare to take on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, we sought out some background on our Week 6 opponent.

We sat down with Luke Easterling of The Bucs Wire for 11 burning questions about Thursday night’s showdown.

WATCH: USA TODAY Sports Network 2021 NFL mock draft

Watch USA TODAY reporters play the role of general manager and make their picks in the 2021 NFL mock draft.

Watch as Luke Easterling, editor of Draft Wire, hosts reporters from across the USA TODAY network as they make their picks playing general manager in the 2021 NFL mock draft.

https://youtu.be/7pZhKS6KjO8

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Draft Wire has Seahawks selecting another tackle in latest mock draft

Luke Easterling of USA TODAY’s Draft Wire has the Seattle Seahawks selecting tackle Jackson Carman out of Clemson in his latest mock draft.

Luke Easterling of USA TODAY’s Draft Wire is convinced the Seattle Seahawks will be selecting an offensive tackle in the 2021 NFL Draft.

In his mock draft from two weeks ago, Easterling projected Texas tackle Samuel Cosmi out of Texas to Seattle. This week, he’s sticking with the position, but mocking a different tackle to the Seahawks  . . . Clemson’s Jackson Carman.

The swap is based on his latest mock draft which assumes Carman’s Clemson teammate, quarterback Trevor Lawrence, isn’t selected at No.1 overall, but instead falls to the Jaguars with the No. 2 pick.

Easterling’s draft order is based on the latest Super Bowl odds.

The Seahawks are always looking for ways to protect superstar QB Russell Wilson and have already made some changes to the starting lineup for the 2020 season.

Depending on how things play out, Seattle very well could be looking at some prospects to plug some holes by the start of next year.

Here’s a look at some lesser-known options the Seahawks could pursue in the 2021 NFL Draft.

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Draft Wire ranks Seahawks LB Jordyn Brooks No. 29 in 1st-round value

Draft Wire ranks Seattle Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks at No. 29 in 1st-round value after a -33 difference between his pre-draft rank.

The Seattle Seahawks, as usual, surprised fans and analysts alike when they selected linebacker Jordyn Brooks in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft at No. 27 overall.

Linebacker, most felt, was not a glaring position of need for Seattle at the time. However, with veteran K.J. Wright having undergone shoulder surgery this offseason and Mychal Kendricks’ sentencing hearing still looming, adding more depth at the position has started to make more sense.

Now that the dust from the draft has settled, Luke Easterling of USA TODAY’s Draft Wire took a look at every first-round pick this year and compared where each was actually selected relative to his ranking on Easterling’s Top 300 Big Board.

Brooks received a Draft Wire ranking of No. 60, with a difference of -33 compared to his actual draft position of No. 27 overall.

Clearly, the true value of each draft pick won’t be able to be determined until years down the road as Easterling notes, but it’s interesting to see how each team has its own need and value system in place every April.

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Draft Wire’s latest mock draft has the Buccaneers becoming unstoppable

Luke Easterling of Draft Wire thinks the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could make a surprise pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.

It still doesn’t feel real that Tom Brady is a Buccaneer and not a New England Patriot. Given the travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve yet to see Brady conduct a press conference with a Buccaneers helmet sitting in front of him.

Still, just the thought of Brady teaming up with wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin already has Bucs fans, and fantasy football owners, thinking championship.

After striking gold in free agency with Brady, Tampa Bay will now turn its attention to the NFL draft, with the main priority being finding someone to plug in along the porous offensive line. Brady was sacked only 27 times last season in New England, while former Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston was sacked 47 times.

The consensus in most mock drafts is that the Bucs will use the 14th pick in round one to find a reliable offensive lineman. But, in Luke Easterling’s latest mock draft over at Draft Wire, he has the Bucs making a selection that would basically make their offense unstoppable — Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III.

Per Easterling:

“Just hear me out on this. Yes, the Bucs already have two Pro Bowl wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But this draft is all about helping Tom Brady win immediately, and there’s not an offensive lineman or running back worth taking at this pick, especially over an explosive playmaker like Ruggs. He immediately gives Brady the NFL’s most dangerous trio of wide receivers, bringing elite speed Evans and Godwin simply don’t have.”

You know what? Brady is fine. He doesn’t need protection up front. 43 is the new 23. Let’s go get Ruggs.

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