Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider staked his case as arguably the best general manager in the NFL by building two Super Bowl champions in Seattle a dozen years apart with different head coaches, quarterbacks and really no overlapping pieces whatsoever.
And with Mike Macdonald putting himself squarely in the conversation for best coach in the league, building an elite defense in just two seasons while delivering one of the more dominating Super Bowl performances of all-time, it really feels like the Seahawks are just starting what could be a wide championship window.
But, as happens with Super Bowl winners, the Seahawks roster was picked apart in free agency with teams paying the premium that comes with poaching pieces off a championship roster.
– EDGE Boye Mafe got 3 years and $60 million from the Bengals. I’m sorry, what?! He had 31 tackles and 2 sacks last season while mostly serving as a rotational reserve. (Mafe’s representative is an early candidate for agent of the year.)
– RB Kenneth Walker III, the Super Bowl MVP, got 3 years and $43.05 million from the RB-needy Chiefs. That’s a lot, but no surprise in this case. Walker was the top free agent running back coming off an incredible postseason performance and was going to get paid accordingly.
– S Coby Bryant got 3 years and $40 million from the Bears. Bryant is an impact player and had 66 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, 7 passes defended and a forced fumble. But that’s a lot of money for a safety who has never made a Pro Bowl or received All-Pro recognition.
– CB Riq Woolen got a 1-year, $12-million deal from the Eagles. Woolen had 41 tackles, an INT and 12 PDs. That’s actually relative market rate for an above-average cornerback, but the Seahawks still have Devon Witherspoon, Josh Jobe and nickel Nick Emmanwori, so they weren’t going to meet that price.
That’s the point — outside of maybe splurging to retain Walker — Seattle didn’t even have a decision to make on the others at those rates.
At the same time, the Seahawks did still prioritize retaining their own players. They gave out only four contracts worth more than $2 million — all to re-sign their own players with wide receiver Rashid Shaheed getting 3 years and $51 million, Jobe getting 3 years and $24 million, fullback Brady Russell getting 2 years and $4.8 million and right tackle Josh Jones getting 1 year and $4 million.
As of now, Seattle has only four picks in the 2026 NFL Draft this week, selecting in Round 1 (32nd overall), 2 (64), 3 (96) and 6 (188).
That’s another cost of having built a Super Bowl winner.
So what should the Seahawks prioritize in this draft? Let’s break down their top needs …
What Are Biggest Needs For Seattle Seahawks In 2026 NFL Draft?
All of that said, the Seahawks’ roster is still remarkably intact and set up for 2026 as is.
Let’s start on offense.
Seattle returns its entire starting offensive line, quarterback Sam Darnold, all of its notable wide receivers (NFL receiving leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Shaheed, Tory Horton, etc.), both of its top tight ends (A.J. Barner and Elijah Arroyo) and half of its running back duo with Zach Charbonnet working back from a torn ACL sustained in the playoffs.
That leaves only one real need on the offensive side.
Running Back
It remains unclear when Charbonnet will be back on the field, and it’s very likely he isn’t ready for the start of the season. Even if he is, it’s questionable if he’ll be back to peak form in his first year back from knee surgery. And with Walker gone, this is a glaring need indeed.
That’s why so many mock drafts have naturally slotted Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price — considered the second-best RB prospect behind his Fighting Irish teammate Jeremiyah Love — at pick 32 to Seattle.
That feels like lazy mock-draft work, though, considering Schneider has found RB value later in the draft and the only first-round RB he ever took (Rashad Penny) turned out to be a bust (No. 27 overall in 2018).
He got Charbonnet in the second round at pick 52 back in 2023 and took Walker in the second round at No. 41 in 2022.
As for defensive needs, well there’s not many of those either.
In fact, Seattle returns 10 of its top 11 tacklers (12 of 14) from last season aside from Bryant (and Woolen) and every player who recorded a sack except Mafe.
That’s frankly incredible.
If Seattle wants to go defense early in the draft, it would be either:
Safety
Even in losing Bryant, the Seahawks still have two starting-caliber safeties in Ty Okada (65 tackles, 1 INT, 6 PDs last season) and Julian Love (37 starts for the team the last three seasons). But the depth is thin and Okada, who was pressed into a starting role for the first time with Love missing half the season, is on a one-year contract and could just as easily slide back into a reserve role.
There is value at safety late in the first round in either Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who could be off the board already, and Arizona’s Treydan Stukes.
Cornerback
Woolen only started four of the 17 games last season, but he played 817 snaps and was a major piece of the Seahawks’ defensive puzzle.
They’ll surely look to add a cornerback at some point in the draft, but the value at that position can expire quickly.
It wouldn’t be a total surprise to see the Seahawks consider San Diego State’s Chris Johnson, Clemson’s Avieon Terrell, Tennessee’s Colton Hood to name a few cornerbacks who should still be on the board at this point.
Who Should Seahawks Draft In First Round Thursday?
Schneider hasn’t hid his preferred intentions of trading out of the No. 32 spot to acquire extra draft picks. Whether the Seahawks find a taker for such a deal is another story.
This isn’t to say we don’t like the upside of Price, the Notre Dame running back who rushed for 674 yards and 11 TDs on 6.0 yards per carry last season while stuck behind Love.
There’s just a lot of intriguing running back value to be had on Day 2, and the drop-off at both safety and defensive back comes much quicker.
Seattle’s identity is as a dominant defense and remaining fully loaded on that side of the ball is the play here.
If the Seahawks stay at No. 32, they should take the top defensive back available. If all the above names are in play, we’d go McNeil-Warren, a big-hitter and ballhawk all in one, but we’re guessing he’s already gone.
Stukes may be a mild reach at that point then, so we’d flip to cornerback in that case and take Johnson or Hood.
Seattle will be able to draft a running back in the second round. If Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr., who rushed for 1,070 yards and 8 TDs on 6.4 YPC last season in the SEC and then ran the fastest RB 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine (4.33 seconds) fell to them, that would be an ideal outcome.
