This could be pretty straight forward.

How much time did we spend discussing Obi Melifonwu and Kevin King?

Highly athletic players enter the league every year — but hardly any combine size, length, quickness and explosion like Melifonwu and King.

In terms of pure upside and ceiling, both players are off the charts.

Let’s recap why they stand out so much.

Since 2010, only four CB’s have run a sub-4.00 short shuttle and measured with 32 inch arms (Seattle’s apparent cut-off):

2017 — Kevin King (3.89)

2016 — DeAndre Elliott (3.94)

2015 — Byron Jones (3.94), Tye Smith (3.96)

2010-2014 — No qualifiers

The Seahawks drafted Tye Smith and signed DeAndre Elliott as an undrafted free agent. They might’ve taken Byron Jones had they not traded their 2015 first rounder to New Orleans for Jimmy Graham.

Look at how King compares to the rest of the defensive back class in the short shuttle:

Kevin King — 3.89

Quincy Wilson — 4.02

Budda Baker — 4.08

Obi Melifonwu — 4.09

Fabian Moreau — 4.12

Jamal Adams — 4.13

Ahkello Witherspoon — 4.13

Chidobe Awuzie — 4.14

Shaq Griffin — 4.14

Gareon Conley — 4.18

Shalom Luani — 4.21

Rasul Douglas — 4.26

Sidney Jones — 4.28

Cordrea Tankersley — 4.32

Tre’Davious White — 4.32

The fact King is able to express this level of short area quickness at 6-3 and 200lbs is quite unnatural. Then you throw in a 39.5 inch vertical, a special 6.56 three-cone and a 4.43 forty yard dash and he’s pretty much the ideal ball of clay to mould at the cornerback position.

Furthermore, before the draft we highlighted the issue of wingspan within this class. The Seahawks haven’t drafted a cornerback in the Carroll era with a sub-77.5 inch wingspan. Despite all the hype around this group, only six cornerbacks had the kind of length Seattle has tended to favour:

Kevin King — 32 (arms) 77 7/8 (wingspan)

Ahkello Witherspoon — 33 (arms) 79 3/8 (wingspan)

Marquez White — 32 1/8 (arms) 77 3/8 (wingspan)

Treston Decoud — 33 (arms) 77 1/4 (wingspan)

Brian Allen — 34 (arms) 78.5 (wingspan)

Michael Davis — 32 1/4 (arms) 77.5 (wingspan)

The Seahawks haven’t drafted a cornerback earlier than the fourth round since 2010. If they were ever going to buck this trend, it’d need to be for a very special athletic profile.

That is what King possesses.

Obi Melifonwu could also be considered in the same way. Some teams will think about trying him at cornerback. And if you view him as a corner, his numbers also match-up to Seattle’s apparent desires:

Height: 6-4

Weight: 224

Arms: 32.5

Wingspan: 79 1/4

Forty: 4.40

Vertical: 44

Broad: 11-9

Short shuttle: 4.09

Three-cone: 7.05

He has the arm length and wingspan, the explosive broad jump, the fantastic forty yard dash and the short-area quickness.

And who can forget Carroll and Schneider’s reaction to his forty yard dash at the combine:

Watch Pete Carroll turn to Kris Richard after watching Obi Melifonwu run a 4.40 #Seahawks pic.twitter.com/eA4JGHuJaZ — Rob Staton (@robstaton) March 6, 2017

They could try him at corner, at big nickel, as a hedge for the future at strong safety.

Is he a fit for the Seahawks’ mentality on defense? According to PFF, he finished 2016 ninth in run-stop percentage and 17th in tackling efficiency among safety’s.

John Schneider said they didn’t lose anyone they wanted moving from #26 to #34.

This all could be very predictable for the Seahawks today.

That said, while there’s plenty of evidence to suggest they will look very closely at King or Melifonwu, there are other names to monitor too.

You’ll notice how high Quincy Wilson is on the list of those short shuttle times above. He doesn’t have the wingspan or the broad jump they’ve typically drafted before — but there’s something about his style of play and attitude that says ‘Seahawks’. He might also be in a better position than King and Melifonwu to have a relatively quick impact in 2016.

It’s very easy to imagine the Seahawks liking Wilson a lot.

Jourdan Lewis isn’t big but his tape is really good and he’s gritty working in the slot. Chidobe Awuzie is still available — a player with tremendous versatility to play the slot and drop back into a cover-2. Budda Baker can act in a similar role.

There are so many good defensive back options available — they might be tempted to move down again.

Two big name offensive linemen in Forrest Lamp and Cam Robinson remain on the board. It’ll be interesting to see where they’re drafted today. Not that long ago Daniel Jeremiah was tipping both to go in the top-20. Are they falling for legit reasons or will the Seahawks see an opportunity to get some value here? For me both players are in the 30-45 range in terms of talent in this class and I highlighted that in my big board. Lamp is the most explosive O-liner in the draft according to TEF.

We’re also at the point now where value comes in to play. Marcus Maye, Zay Jones, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Dalvin Cook and others could be attractive.

The D-line also provides plenty of possible options including Malik McDowell, Demarcus Walker, Tyus Bowser, Daeshon Hall, Chris Wormley and Tim Williams.

We’ll see whether Seattle’s priority is to go for value, to replenish the Legion of Boom, add to the pass rush or find another O-liner.

And with four picks in round three, plus an early fourth rounder acquired from San Francisco, it seems increasingly likely they will move back into the top-50 to get another one of the names above — making for a high-value, very productive start to the draft for the Seahawks.

Green Bay will impact things at #33. They too are very much in the market for cornerbacks.

It’s been said many times over the last few weeks — the grades at pick #22-30 are going to be very similar to the grades at pick #40. If you want value in this draft, you want to be picking where the Seahawks are today with the ammunition to move up and be aggressive.

This should be a lot of fun.

Seattle’s remaining picks

Round 2 | No. 34 overall

Round 2 | No. 58 overall

Round 3 | No. 90 overall

Round 3 | No. 95 overall

Round 3 | No. 102 overall

Round 3 | No. 106 overall

Round 4 | No. 111 overall

Round 6 | No. 210 overall

Round 7 | No. 226 overall

Round 7 | No. 249 overall