The Draft has come and gone, rookie mini-camp is over, pretty much all free agents of consequence are signed, so what could there be to talk about in the NFL? For the Seahawks, there's plenty.

For Seahawks fans, the draft has sort of become ho-hum in the Schneider-Carroll era. No big time college names make there way to the Pacific Northwest - save for Russell Wilson, who wasn't projected to be much of anything in the NFL at the time - and if you tune in on the first day, you likely won't see Seattle make a pick.

Where the real excitement lies is in the undrafted free agent signings. The Seahawks seem to have a better acumen in spotting undrafted talent than can't miss first rounders. Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Garry Gilliam and now Thomas Rawls have all been passed over by all 32 NFL teams in the draft yet have carved out significant roles for a perennial championship contender like the Seahawks. 

The 2016 crop of signees features some promising prospects to make the Seahawks' final 53-man roster come September. Among them are former TCU star quarterback Trevone Boykin, and FB/DT Taniela Tupou and Brandin Bryant. Tupou and Bryant are unique in that they can play both sides of the ball, although they're even more unique in that they can play fullback, a dying position in today's NFL. Will Tukuafu played a similar role last year, primarily playing fullback while also stepping in at defensive tackle, so it's not unprecedented in Pete Carroll's scheme. 

At the moment, Boykin has the backup QB job all but wrapped up, other than him and Wilson, the only other quarterback on the roster is former Skyline superstar and college and NFL journeyman Jake Heaps. Not much word on Heaps' performance in practice so far, but he's undersized for a quarterback. Granted we've seen the stereotype disproved before our own eyes with RW, but Heaps is not a mobile QB, or at least he's not known for being one. Point is, Heaps likely won't make Boykin too nervous about his spot.

In other news, fan favorite and special teams maven Ricardo Lockette retired this past week, citing his love for his family and that he'd, "rather walk" as his reasoning. No shame in that. At 29, Lockette had already exceeded the expected lifespan of a pro football player, and maximized his god given talent into a stable career. Even more impressive was that he did so coming out of Fort Valley State, not many coming out of Louisiana State can do what he did in the league.

And after the vicious hit he took against the Cowboys late last season, it's refreshing to see a player consider life outside of football over life on the gridiron. It would be terrible for Lockette and the game to see him hang on and then suffer from more pronounced defects later in life. Everyone would point to that hit and criticize him for hanging on past his due date. But like the classy man that he is, he knew it was time, and we wish him the best in his post football endeavors. 

Photo: Flickr/Ben Rea