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Draft Intel
The Seahawks Just Hosted Their First Offensive Lineman of Draft Season. That’s the Story.
Iowa guard Beau Stephens visited the VMAC for a top-30 visit, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. He’s the first offensive lineman the Seahawks have brought in this entire pre-draft cycle. Edge rushers, cornerbacks, running backs, even a safety from LSU walked through the door first. The O-line had to wait.
Why now? Because the right guard spot is the one place on Seattle’s championship roster that underperformed. Anthony Bradford allowed 38 pressures and five sacks last season, ranking 36th in run blocking among qualified guards. Stephens was PFF’s top-graded pass-blocking guard in college football and a first-team AP All-American at Iowa, where his offensive line won the 2025 Joe Moore Award. He didn’t allow a sack over his final three seasons.
92.5
Beau Stephens’ PFF pass-blocking grade at Iowa, first among all college guards.
Stephens ran a zone-blocking scheme in Iowa City. The Seahawks run a zone-blocking scheme in Renton. That’s not a coincidence. At 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds, he’s got the frame, but his arm length and athleticism scores are concerns that could push him to Day 2 or 3. Seattle doesn’t have a fourth or fifth-round pick, so the math is simple: take him at 96, trade back to create a slot, or hope he falls to 188.
Garafolo confirmed Stephens also visited Dallas and Atlanta as part of a half-dozen-team tour. But the Seahawks visit matters most because it signals Schneider isn’t treating the O-line as settled. When a Super Bowl champion brings in a guard for a formal visit, someone on the current roster should be nervous.
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League News
The NFLPA Just Picked a Side in the Ref Standoff. It Wasn’t the League’s.
Keep Reading ↓
The league has already ordered all 32 teams to submit OTA and minicamp schedules by April 22 so replacement officials can be assigned starting June 1. Training starts May 1. The current CBA expires May 31 with the two sides still far apart on economics: the NFL offered 6.45% annual raises over six years, while the NFLRA wants 10% plus $2.5 million in marketing fees.
The last round of talks collapsed after one morning session. The NFLRA walked out. Owners have now joined the negotiations directly, which is either a sign of progress or a sign that everyone else has failed. Seattle fans lived through the 2012 replacement era. The Fail Mary was born 14 years ago in a Seahawks game. History has a sense of humor, and it isn’t subtle.
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History has a sense of humor about this franchise and replacement officials, and it isn’t subtle.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Illinois QB Luke Altmyer confirmed a virtual meeting with the Seahawks. He’s a likely Day 3 pick or UDFA. But when you already have Milroe on a third-round investment and you’re still doing homework on developmental QBs, that’s not depth scouting. That’s a message. Field Gulls
Seahawks.com’s linebacker draft preview dropped: Penn State’s Reese draws Micah Parsons comps. Seattle’s LB room is set with Jones IV and Thomas, so this is luxury shopping. Mills recorded a sack in five Super Bowl snaps. The kid’s healthy now. Seahawks.com
Thibodeaux’s fifth-year option is $14.75 million for 2026, cheaper than any veteran edge rusher on the market. Schneider called the Giants. The Giants haven’t said yes. The draft is in eight days. The clock is the leverage now. Yahoo Sports
Seahawks.com confirmed the D-line/OLB draft preview: nearly everyone from the championship front is back. Mafe is the only loss. The preview name-checks Mills, O’Toole, and Ivey as young depth. Translation: this room competes, it doesn’t panic. Seahawks.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Wide receiver is still the most common projection for the Rams at pick 13, per theRams.com’s own mock tracker. Davante Adams turns 34 this December, Stafford turns 39 in February, and the Nacua extension remains unsigned. Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ receiver room is locked through 2031 at the top and the Rams are about to open their season in Melbourne against the 49ers, which is just logistically hilarious for everyone except Sean McVay’s sleep schedule.
NINERS
The NFLPA just publicly sided with the referees over the league, and the 49ers’ offseason strategy is banking on Nick Bosa and Fred Warner both returning from ACL and ankle injuries. Bosa tore his ACL in Week 3. Warner fractured and dislocated his ankle in Week 6. The entire 2026 plan depends on two players who combined for roughly 9 healthy games last season. Purdy’s $265 million extension starts this year. The pressure falls on a quarterback whose two best defensive players might not be themselves until October.
CARDINALS
Todd McShay says trading out of No. 3 remains a priority for Arizona. ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss reports the pick decision will come down to owner Michael Bidwill. The Cardinals went 3-14 last season. They released Kyler Murray. They hired Mike LaFleur from the Rams. And now the biggest draft decision in franchise history reportedly belongs to the owner, not the GM. Somewhere, a spreadsheet is weeping.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Jim Zorn, the Seattle Seahawks’ original starting quarterback, was a left-handed passer who signed with the franchise as a free agent in 1976 after being cut by another NFL team the previous year. He went on to start 100 games for Seattle, throw for 20,122 yards and 107 touchdowns, and earn induction into the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor in 1991 as the second player so honored (after Steve Largent). Which NFL team cut Zorn before the 1975 season, sending him on the path to Seattle?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
The Dallas Cowboys. Zorn signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent out of Cal Poly-Pomona in 1975 but was released before the start of the regular season. He signed with the expansion Seahawks the following year and became the face of the franchise for nearly a decade.
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Draft predictions, cap math complaints, existential dread about the running back room — send it all. Drop your question and your best Seattle neighborhood nickname into the mailbag. If it’s good enough, it runs. If it’s great, I steal the joke.
Eight days to Pittsburgh. Five days to the VMAC. The board is almost locked, but Schneider's still opening the door. Go Hawks. — The Rooster