NFL Draft | Hawks trade down in first, move up in second

KIRKLAND -- It took about three hours Saturday to get to the 25th overall pick of the NFL draft. The Seahawks owned that choice and were on the clock.

Three hours, and the Seahawks didn't even use the pick. They traded it to the Dallas Cowboys, moving three spots down to the 28th spot.

That just prolonged the suspense another 15 minutes. The trade, not unexpected the way Seahawks president Tim Ruskell was talking in the days leading up to the draft, set the stage for Seattle to choose USC defensive end Lawrence Jackson of USC with their first-round pick at 3:14 p.m. Saturday.

The Seahawks weren't finished. Before the first day of the draft was over, the Seahawks reached a deal with Baltimore to move up in the second round and pick up Notre Dame tight end John Carlson. Seattle was a big player in a trade-heavy draft that saw nine swaps in the first round.

"Jerry Jones called us, and we hashed it out," Ruskell said of the Cowboys owner, "and to go down to a place where we thought we could still get Lawrence Jackson, who was one of our targeted guys, we said 'Let's do it, it's a minimal risk,' and it turned out great for us."

Jackson fit the Seahawks' preferred profile for a draftee: a four-year starter at a major program who also graded out high on the character scale. Jackson was wearing Seahawks blue and fixing himself a hamburger just before learning the Seahawks had taken him.

"I did want to play for Seattle," said Jackson, who will play right defensive end, where Darryl Tapp tops the depth chart. "That would be a team worth slipping [down in the draft] for, and I'm glad I fell into the right team's hands.

"I'm just fortunate that they picked me to help them in that process of getting back to the top and getting over the hump."

The hubbub at team headquarters over that trade was just beginning to settle, however, when the Seahawks announced another. They moved up from the 55th overall choice of the second round to the 38th pick in a deal with the Baltimore Ravens and took Notre Dame tight end John Carlson.

The price for doing so was the 55th pick and Seattle's third-round pick, the 86th overall.

"That was the perfect scenario, to be able to get Jackson and Carlson," Ruskell said. "They [Ravens] wanted to move down for a guy they thought was going to go in the third."

In discussing the team's willingness to trade down, Ruskell on Thursday cited the team's desire to obtain extra picks. The Seahawks did just that, picking up the Cowboys' fifth-round pick (No. 163] and their seventh-round choice (No. 235) with the first trade. The Seahawks didn't have a fifth-round pick entering the draft.

"All week we wanted more picks," Ruskell said.

Trades littered the first round. There were nine deals made, the Seahawks-Cowboys deal the second-to-last of a 3-hour, 30-minute round.

Jackson said he can contribute as an inside pass rusher from the defensive-tackle position if needed. He added that his optimum playing weight is between 268 and 275 pounds.

"He can go inside ... and rush pretty hard," Seattle defensive line coach Dwaine Board said. "We're going to put him in there over the guard on passing downs."

Ruskell and coach Mike Holmgren decided through various staff meetings that defensive end was a position of more need than originally thought.

"We didn't necessarily want [starter] Patrick Kerney playing 110 snaps a game and wearing him out," Holmgren said. "We had two good players, but we felt that the defensive end was the direction we wanted to go."

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