THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The impact of Jody Allen on next week's Seahawks draft

Six days until the NFL draft.

I have to confess I’m really intrigued by this year’s allocation of elite football talent.

The draft is no longer a sideshow.

The league has turned it into a massive party that’s covered by media around the world.

According to Front Office Sports, this draft in Kansas City will have the largest stage and the biggest screens in league history.

The screens will be part of a structure the size of a football field.

The event has already registered 100,000 people, and the league estimates 300,000 total visitors.

Having lived about half my life in Kansas City, I can confidently predict that attendance number will be about double the official estimate.

However, please understand …
 I’ve never spent months studying prospects, nor ever thrown together a mock draft — so basically, my part of the whole grand process is to scan the results and offer a columnist’s wild (but sometimes partly accurate) assessment of the affair once it’s complete.

THIS YEAR, however, I’m far more curious about the draft for two reasons.

You can easily guess the big one, which is that the Seahawks have two selections in the first round — including the No. 5 overall pick.

Even the second pick (No. 20) and the 37th slot in second round are places to find genuine talent.

That trade unloading Russell Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving — since the Seahawks acquired that fifth pick in the first round and No. 37 in the next as part of the Bronco theft.

I mean …

Fair exchange, right?

Adding in Denver’s picks, plus the fact that Wilson and the Broncos were awful last season, means that possibilities for helping reshape the Seahawks roster in this draft are exciting, to say the least.

There’s another reason, however, that the whole process fascinates me as we head through this year’s selections.

Seahawks owner Jody Allen apparently has been, and continues to be, a major voice in the team’s plans going forward.

Allen, the 64-year-old sister of former owner Paul Allen, has been mostly a quiet boss since her brother died in 2018.

Apparently, though, Jody has always kept a close eye on the Seahawks (she’s believed to have sanctioned, perhaps even initiated, Wilson’s trade to Denver).

One thing is certain …

Jody Allen is most certainly in charge.

When Paul died, she was named executor and trustee of his estate, and also chief executive officer of his investment and project management company, Vulcan Inc.

She is also the co-founder and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Although Jody has remained mostly in the background regarding the family’s sports interests – ownership of the Portland Trail Blazers and investment in the Seattle Sounders, in addition to the Seahawks — it has long been known that she encouraged her brother to buy the football team in 1997.

THAT TRUE interest seems to be coming full circle.

“Jody has been involved in every phase of it,” coach Pete Carroll said last week when discussed the upcoming draft.

Remember, less than a year ago, Jody was quizzed directly about ownership of Seahawks and Blazers.

She replied unequivocally that the teams were not for sale, and added: “My focus, and that of our teams, is on winning."

You could make a case that Allen could be the deciding vote on how the Seahawks approach things — especially that No. 5 pick.

We all know that Carroll is very much a win-now, win-always, never-rebuild coach.

You’d guess that Pete and GM John Schneider are almost always looking for what can benefit the team in the short term.

In practical terms, that might be using the fifth pick to grab controversial defensive lineman Jalen Carter — arguably the best overall player in the draft.

Meanwhile, CEO Jody Allen could see a chance to give the Seahawks a foundation for the future.

YOU COULD imagine her asking Carroll and Schneider …

“Since we hope we won’t be drafting this high again anytime soon, shouldn’t we take this chance to get our long-term quarterback – however we have to do it?

“Is there one of these quarterbacks you like as a fit, someone that could learn the NFL game under Geno (Smith) for a year?

“If we CAN get a quarterback with a really high ceiling, doesn’t that give us a better chance to reach the Super Bowl sooner than just planning year-to-year?”

We know that Jody has faith in Carroll and Schneider — she backed them forcefully and immediately in the mess with Wilson — but she may want to look a little further ahead than every day, boots-on-the-ground football people tend to do.

It may come down to whether they can honestly tell her that it’s feasible to get a quarterback they truly believe can be a star.

Either way, though, Jody Allen will make the final decision, and she’ll be trying to safeguard the Seahawks’ future.

What’s more, the lady knows football.

As I said, it will be a fascinating draft.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”