Hawks ready to get picking

KIRKLAND — The NFL draft is still a day away, but if it were to start now instead of Saturday, Seattle is ready to make its pick.

"It doesn't mean we won't change our mind on a player," Seahawks president and general manager Tim Ruskell said Thursday. "You should probably stop us and go ahead and draft, because you get to the point that you over-analyze. So I think we're at that [point]."

Ruskell is ready. So is vice president of player personnel Ruston Webster. So are coach Mike Holmgren, the team's college scouts and all of Holmgren's assistants.

Jim Mora, the assistant head coach who inherits the team from Holmgren after this season, has had his input as to whom he thinks the team should draft, the same as all of the other assistants. He and assistant secondary coach Larry Marmie have rated the defensive-back prospects.

Beyond that, the team isn't looking ahead to when Mora is coach and tailoring the draft specifically to his type of player.

"This process has been exactly the same in terms of [Holmgren's] involvement, in terms of what we are asking from the coaches," Ruskell said. "It has not been different. Even if Mike was going to be here the next 10 years, you want the player to be long-term and transcend schemes."

Holmgren is known as an offensive coach. Mora has a reputation for being defensive-minded. It's anybody's guess whom the team will pick in the first round, if it even has one since a trade is still a possibility.

It's no secret that tight end is a position at which the Seahawks not only have a need, but are targeting in the draft. To that end, Webster said Thursday that even though this is a good draft for that position, he doesn't expect one to chosen in the first 15 picks.

The Seahawks have the 25th overall pick. A good tight-end prospect seems almost sure to fall to them, even if they trade the selection. The first day of the draft is two rounds.

Webster was asked how many tight ends he expects to see chosen on Day 1.

"I'd say five or six," he said.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com