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Draft Intel
The Seahawks’ Pre-Draft Visitor List Just Got Longer. The Pattern Is Impossible To Ignore.
There are two ways to read a pre-draft visitor list. You can take it at face value and assume every name on it is a smokescreen designed to confuse the 31 other war rooms. Or you can look at the accumulating evidence and accept that the Seahawks are telling you exactly what they’re thinking.
Field Gulls reported Tuesday that Seattle’s growing list of pre-draft top-30 visits now includes LSU safety A.J. Haulcy, Georgia cornerback Daylen Everette, Kennesaw State running back Coleman Bennett, along with previously reported visits from Toledo DB Andre Fuller, San Diego State CB Chris Johnson, and South Carolina DB Jalon Kilgore. That’s four defensive backs, one safety, and a small-school running back. The theme, as Field Gulls put it, is the secondary.
Haulcy is the headliner. He’s a first-team All-American and first-team All-SEC at LSU who’s played at three different schools and earned all-conference honors at every single one of them. At 6-foot, 215 pounds, he’s the kind of rangy, instinctive safety that Aden Durde’s defense can deploy in multiple roles. With Coby Bryant now a Bear and Tariq Woolen an Eagle, the secondary cupboard isn’t bare, but it’s not exactly overflowing either.
Then there’s Everette, who ran a 4.38 forty at the combine (second-fastest among corners) and earned the third-best athletic score from NFL Next Gen Stats. SI on Seahawks described him as “a project with special traits” who could replace the ceiling Woolen offered. If Seattle can land him in the second or third round, it frees up pick No. 32 for the other glaring need.
Which brings us to Coleman Bennett. The Kennesaw State back rushed for 764 yards in 2025 and added 27 catches for 314 yards and three touchdowns. He’s a 6-foot, 210-pound bruiser with pass-catching upside, and here’s the kicker: he graduated with a Master’s in Public Administration with a perfect 4.0 GPA. This is the Jake Bobo playbook. Seattle has used top-30 visits on projected UDFAs before to get a head start on the signing pitch, and Bennett fits the mold of a diamond-in-the-rough back they can develop behind whoever they draft on Day 1 or Day 2.
4.0 GPA
Kennesaw State RB Coleman Bennett graduated with a Master’s in Public Administration with a perfect 4.0 GPA, fitting Seattle’s diamond-in-the-rough UDFA playbook.
Between the visitor list, Michael-Shawn Dugar’s confirmation that a draft pick will be used on running back, and the five mock drafters who now have Jadarian Price falling to Seattle at 32, the picture is getting clearer by the day. Schneider is building this roster the way he always does: through the draft, with the secondary and the backfield at the top of the shopping list. The only question is which need he addresses first when the clock starts in Pittsburgh on April 23.
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Cap Watch
Witherspoon Is Next. The Math Says Sooner Is Better Than Later.
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The Witherspoon extension is the next domino, and every outlet in the Pacific Northwest knows it. SI on Seahawks projected a deal in the neighborhood of four years, $125 million. Stacy Rost at Seattle Sports noted the Trent McDuffie comp sits at $31 million per year, making it the floor Witherspoon’s camp will negotiate from. But here’s the wrinkle Rost flagged: Witherspoon and Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez share an agent, which gives Reginald Johnson the ability to play both teams against each other.
$125M
SI on Seahawks projected a Devon Witherspoon extension in the neighborhood of four years, $125 million.
Spotrac’s initial projection was more conservative: a three-year, $82 million extension at roughly $27.4 million annually. That number feels low for a player who’s made the Pro Bowl in all three of his NFL seasons and just won a Super Bowl. The longer the Seahawks wait, the more expensive this gets. If Witherspoon has another All-Pro season in 2026, the price tag climbs past McDuffie’s record into territory that makes accountants involuntarily wince.
The good news? The JSN deal was specifically structured to give Schneider room to maneuver. ESPN’s Brady Henderson noted the Seahawks staggered option bonuses on odd years for JSN and even years for Charles Cross, presumably to smooth out year-to-year cash spend. Over The Cap has Seattle with roughly $32 million in remaining cap space even after the JSN extension, which is eighth-most in the NFL. That’s enough to get a Witherspoon deal done without gutting the rest of the roster. The question isn’t if. It’s how fast Schneider can get it to the finish line before the market resets again.
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The longer the Seahawks wait, the more expensive this gets.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
SI on Seahawks floated Najee Harris as a wildcard free-agent addition at running back, noting he’s 28, still unsigned, and recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in Week 3 with the Chargers. His agent posted video of him sprinting on a treadmill this week. The projected price tag? About $2.95 million per CBS Sports. That’s less than Jake Bobo’s new deal, which tells you everything about the running back market and also, perhaps, about the running back market. SI on Seahawks
The NBA Board of Governors wraps up two days of meetings in New York today with an expected vote to explore expansion to Seattle and Las Vegas. Shams Charania called it a “formality to pass.” Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson issued a resolution declaring the city “ready to welcome the Sonics home.” The expansion fee could land between $7 billion and $10 billion per franchise. That’s more than the estimated Seahawks sale price, which means somebody in this city is about to write the two largest checks in Pacific Northwest sports history within the same calendar year. Seattle Sports
Field Gulls’ free agency tracker confirms all 18 of Seattle’s free agents are now accounted for. The Seahawks kept the overwhelming majority of them. Only five of nine unrestricted free agents left. The entire free agency class from the active roster and IR is resolved in less than two weeks. A Super Bowl champion that kept its core intact and barely broke a sweat doing it. Boring offseasons are underrated. Field Gulls
The Seahawks currently have just four draft picks: Nos. 32, 64, 96, and Cleveland’s sixth-rounder at No. 188. That’s it. The fourth and fifth-round picks went to the Saints for Rashid Shaheed. Seattle’s original sixth went to Jacksonville for Roy Robertson-Harris. Schneider has been known to trade back and accumulate capital, but he’ll need a willing partner and a convincing sales pitch. Four picks to fill the backfield, add secondary depth, and maybe find an edge rusher feels like bringing a pocketknife to a sword fight. Seahawks.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Nacua extension saga is entering its “we’ll get to it eventually” phase. Mike Garafolo said on Good Morning Football that the deal could drag into the summer because the Rams have too many other players to pay first: Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Steve Avila, and eventually Jared Verse. Meanwhile, Nacua is entering the final year of his $4.1 million rookie deal while JSN just set the market at $42.15 million per year. Every day the Rams don’t get this done is a day Nacua’s agent gets to point at Seattle and smile. Spotrac’s system model projects a deal in the range of four years, $154 million. Schneider’s timing on the JSN deal wasn’t just good for the Seahawks. It was perfect for making the Rams’ offseason incrementally more expensive.
NINERS
The Trent Williams standoff has graduated from “uncomfortable” to “genuinely alarming.” According to Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom, the two sides “aren’t anywhere close to a deal yet.” The 49ers declined his $10 million option bonus last week, inflating his cap hit to roughly $47 million. Williams has no guaranteed money left on his deal and zero motivation to accept a pay cut from his scheduled $33 million in cash. Kyle Shanahan’s response? A serene “we love Trent too much and eventually that will work out.” This is the franchise that has managed to turn every star extension into a hostage negotiation. Deebo Samuel. Nick Bosa. Brandon Aiyuk. And now the best left tackle in football, who famously sat out an entire season in Washington when he felt disrespected. Surely this time will be different.
CARDINALS
Arizona holds the No. 3 pick and nobody, including Arizona, seems to know what they’re going to do with it. The official Cardinals mock draft tracker shows analysts split between Francis Mauigoa (OT, Miami), David Bailey (EDGE), Arvell Reese (LB, Ohio State), Sonny Styles (LB, Ohio State), and a trade-down scenario where they grab two first-rounders. PFF argued Arizona should take a right tackle because new OC Mike LaFleur’s outside-zone system requires one and the current offensive line wasn’t built for it. Meanwhile, PFF’s Jordan Plocher mocked a trade-down with Dallas where the Cardinals end up with Kadyn Proctor AND Ty Simpson. The franchise that went 3-14 has seven picks, holes at quarterback, right tackle, edge rusher, defensive line, and inside linebacker, and precisely one top-three pick to fix all of it. The rebuild isn’t going to rebuild itself.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Kam Chancellor was one of the most feared hitters in Seahawks history, anchoring the Legion of Boom from the safety position. A fifth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2010, Chancellor made four Pro Bowls and recorded 12 career interceptions before a neck injury ended his career in 2017. What round and overall pick number was Chancellor selected in the 2010 NFL Draft?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Kam Chancellor was selected in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, with the 133rd overall pick.
Got a Question for The Mailbag?
Tax implications of the team sale? Witherspoon extension math? Whether Schneider should draft a running back or an edge rusher with the 32nd pick? Send your questions, rants, and conspiracy theories to the Seachickens mailbag. We read every one of them. We answer the best ones. We judge all of them.
Clock starts April 23. Don't blink. — The Rooster