James Carpenter has never been to Seattle. That is fitting, because he
was the NFL draft pick no one saw coming. Not in Seattle anyway. Not
until the Seahawks exhausted the 10 minutes allotted to make the 25th
pick on Thursday, and then chose the offensive tackle from the
University of Alabama — a selection that surprised just about everyone,
including Carpenter. James Carpenter will wear
James Carpenter Seahawks Jersey and play for Seattle Seahawks. James Carpenter will wear
Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys and definitely strengthen Seahawks team. ”It was crazy,” Carpenter wore
New York Giants Jerseys
and said later in a telephone interview. “I was so shocked. I thought I
was going to go in the second round, but somebody had faith in me. I’m
glad to be in Seattle.” He is 6 feet 4, weighs 321 pounds and started
27 games at left tackle in his two seasons at Alabama. He will have a
chance to compete for a starting spot at right tackle on a line where
Russell Okung and Max Unger are the only starters you can write into the
2011 lineup. “This is a bit of a statement,” Seahawks coach Pete
Carroll said of Carpenter’s selection. Carroll said the selection last
year of Okung with a first-round pick — No. 6 overall — was a statement
by the team. And adding Carpenter “is just a continued commitment
displayed. “We are a long ways away, but we are moving in the right
direction,” Carroll said. And that direction is straight ahead in the
ground game. “This is a pick that we needed to make a move on,” Carroll
said. “We have watched this guy all along. We had him targeted
throughout.” And they did not let anyone in on that secret. Much of the
buildup to Seattle’s draft focused on quarterbacks. Four were chosen in
the first 12 picks, including Washington quarterback Jake Locker with
the No. 8 overall pick, by Tennessee. TCU quarterback Andy Dalton was
available when Seattle picked. So was Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith,
who was chosen by Baltimore at No. 26. Carpenter was the fourth
offensive tackle drafted, and Seattle chose him ahead of Wisconsin’s
Gabe Carimi, a more touted prospect. Carpenter was Seattle’s target,
said general manager John Schneider. “Quite frankly, our top-rated guy
came to us and he stayed there the whole time,” he said. It is not like
Carpenter came out of nowhere. He started at left tackle on an Alabama
team that won the national championship after the 2009 season. He never
missed a game in two seasons after transferring to Alabama from a
Kansas community college. But one of the oddities of the increased
attention of the draft is that fans and analysts developed adamant
opinions about the perceived value of specific college players, many of
whom they have never seen play. So what would Schneider say to
Seahawks fans who waited nearly three hours and 24 picks for their team
to be on the clock, only to watch it pick an offensive lineman
considered a relative surprise? “They should take reassurance from the
fact that we have been busting our tail since last May covering this
guy,” Schneider said of Patterson. “We spent countless hours evaluating
this thing, and this guy has never changed.” And all that mattered
once the Seahawks were on the clock is what they thought of Carpenter.
“Whether somebody else saw it that way, we do not care,” Carroll said.
“We evaluated this thing very carefully, and we are really fired up it
worked out the way it did.”
