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Monday Round-Up: Which NFL Teams Have Drafted The Best Against Expectations?

The Seahawks' 2011 and 2012 draft classes rank as some of the best in the NFL over the past 20 years.

Good morning, 12s.

Here's a look at what's "out there" for today - Monday, April 24 - about your Seattle Seahawks:

How Seahawks Drafts Have Exceeded Expectations

In advance of this week's NFL Draft, which runs Thursday, April 27 through Saturday, April 29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Washington Post put together a detailed look at which of the League's 32 teams have made the most of their draft selections dating back to 1996.

The story uses Approximate Value, a metric created by Pro Football Reference to measure how well an individual player performed in a season, to see which clubs have drafted better against expectations over the past 20 years, and the Seahawks' 2011 and 2012 draft classes, which included players like linebacker K.J. Wright, cornerback Richard Sherman, linebacker Bobby Wagner, and quarterback Russell Wilson, rank at No. 1 (2012 draft class) and No. 4 (2011 draft class) on their list.

Here's some of what the Washington Post had to say: 

Once you account for the picks they had, the 2011 and 2012 Seattle draft classes look even better. The 2010 class also beat expectations, and in these three seasons the Seahawks built the league's best defense with Earl Thomas (14th overall), Bruce Irvin (15th), Bobby Wagner (47th), K.J. Wright (99th), Kam Chancellor (133rd), Richard Sherman (154th) and Malcolm Smith (242nd).

Plus Seattle added quarterback Russell Wilson in the third round of 2012, after lesser QBs like Ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler were off the board. Wilson has been selected to three Pro Bowls, and his AV through his first five seasons (84) was better than Peyton Manning's (76). With an AV gap of +70, Wilson is the single best pick in our data set.

Tweet Of The Day

Today's 'Tweet of the Day' comes from Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril, whose trip to Haiti with his Cliff Avril Family Foundation featured a football camp in Port-au-Prince on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/cliffavril/status/855935929919438848

More From Around The Web

Seahawks.com digital media reporter John Boyle recapped the team's sixth annual 'Prime Time' celebrity waiter event that raised more than $665,000 for Ben's Fund.

In case you missed it over the weekend, Seahawks single-game tickets are on sale now. 

Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times wonders if Seattle can rediscover the success it had in some of its early drafts under Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll. 

Gregg Bell at the Tacoma News Tribune mocks Utah offensive tackle Garrett Bolles to the Seahawks with the No. 26 overall pick in the draft. 

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