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Draft Recap
Four Picks Walked In. Eight Walked Out. And Schneider Still Has Work to Do.
John Schneider entered this draft with four picks. The fewest in the league. The math didn’t add up, and everyone knew it. So he grabbed a calculator. By Saturday night, he had doubled his class to eight through four trades, turned two Day 3 picks into five, and addressed nearly every hole on the defending champions’ roster.
8
Total players drafted by Seattle after entering with just four picks, the fewest in the NFL.
Nearly.
The final tally: Jadarian Price at 32, Bud Clark at 64, Julian Neal at 99, Beau Stephens at 148, Emmanuel Henderson Jr. at 199, Andre Fuller at 236, Deven Eastern at 242, and Michael Dansby at 255. One running back, one guard, one wide receiver, one nose tackle, and four defensive backs. That’s a roster composition that tells you exactly what Schneider thinks about this team: the secondary lost Woolen and Bryant and needed bodies, and he was going to get them.
The Stephens pick might be the sneakiest win of the weekend. He traded a 2027 fourth-rounder to Cleveland just to move into the fifth round and grab the Iowa first-team All-American guard who didn’t allow a single sack in 581 pass block snaps over his final three college seasons. Macdonald told him on the phone they had been watching him sit on their board all morning. Henderson adds return game speed from Kansas, Eastern gives the D-line a developmental nose tackle, and Fuller and Dansby push the corner room to seven deep.
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Schneider walked into Pittsburgh with four picks and a phone that wouldn’t stop ringing. He walked out with eight players and an edge rusher room that’s still holding its breath.
What’s missing is obvious. Edge rusher was not addressed. Not in Round 1, not in Round 7, not anywhere in between. The UDFA market is now the last avenue before free agency and trades, and Schneider’s history there is strong. But the pass rush gap Boye Mafe left behind is still wide open, and Nwosu, Lawrence, and Hall are the only names on the depth chart with NFL sacks.
SOURCES →
UDFA Watch
The Draft Is Over. The Real Schneider Season Starts Now.
Keep Reading ↓
Doug Baldwin. Jermaine Kearse. Thomas Rawls. Poona Ford. Jake Bobo. Last year’s class produced Jared Ivey, Nick Kallerup, and Connor O’Toole on the 53-man roster. The UDFA pipeline in Seattle isn’t a consolation prize. For some of these kids, it’s a better path than being a seventh-round afterthought on a team without a culture worth joining.
With edge rusher completely untouched in the draft, the UDFA class and the free agent market are now the only remaining routes to adding pass rush depth before training camp. The phones in Renton didn’t stop when the draft ended. They just got more interesting.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Beau Stephens didn’t allow a quarterback hit in all of 2025. Not a sack. Not a hit. 581 pass block snaps over three years without giving up a sack. Anthony Bradford, enjoy the competition. Seahawks.com
Michael Dansby, the last pick of Seattle’s draft at 255, told reporters the Seahawks defense was the defense he watched the most all year. He also said his money will be made as a gunner. A man with a plan and a remote control. Seahawks.com
Emmanuel Henderson Jr. is the first Kansas wide receiver drafted since 2010. He ran a 4.44 forty, returned a kick 94 yards for a touchdown, and started as a running back at Alabama. The Swiss Army knife nobody knew they needed. KU Sports
Bud Clark had 15 interceptions across four years at TCU, including seven in 2025. The last time the Seahawks drafted a ball hawk in the second round from a Texas school, it worked out fine. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams’ final draft class: Ty Simpson (QB, 13), Max Klare (TE, 61), Keagen Trost (OT, 93), CJ Daniels (WR, 197), and Tim Keenan III (DT, 232). Five picks. Three offensive players in the first five rounds. CBS Sports said picking Simpson at 13 “feels early for a prospect who was no sure thing to go in the first round.” They traded three picks just to move up ten spots for a sixth-round receiver who Yardbarker says “won’t beat press coverage.” Stafford turns 39 in February. The succession plan is an Alabama backup who never started a full season. Sleep well, LA.
NINERS
The 49ers drafted eight players and somehow still look worse. They couldn’t trade out of 33, took a receiver (Stribling) with their first pick despite needing edge help more than oxygen, then burned a fourth-round pick on a Washington offensive lineman (Willis) and traded away linebacker Dee Winters to Dallas for a fifth-rounder. Their edge rusher addition? Romello Height, a sixth-year college player from Texas Tech. Six years of college to become a 49er. That’s not a pipeline, it’s a warning sign.
CARDINALS
Arizona used the third overall pick on a running back, spent their second-rounder on a guard, then drafted Carson Beck at 65. CBS gave Beck a D grade, noting “your offseason investment at the most valuable position is a 24-year-old with limited tools.” Beck’s UCL injury clouds his future. His arm is a concern. And he’s supposed to go toe-to-toe with Darnold and Stafford in this division. The Cardinals went 3-14 and their franchise-altering draft strategy was: halfback, guard, damaged quarterback. FanDuel has them at 4.5 wins. The under is -140.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Dave Brown holds the Seattle Seahawks’ all-time franchise record for career interceptions, a number he accumulated over his 11 seasons patrolling the secondary from 1976 through 1986 as one of the original Seahawks. Brown was a cornerback and safety who also holds the franchise record for career interception return yards. How many career interceptions did Brown record during his time in Seattle?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
50. Dave Brown picked off 50 passes during his Seahawks career, a franchise record that has stood for nearly four decades. He also returned those interceptions for 643 yards, another franchise record. No Seahawk since has come close to touching either number.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
1983
April 26, 1983
Seahawks Draft Curt Warner Third Overall
On this date 43 years ago, the Seattle Seahawks selected Penn State running back Curt Warner with the third overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. Warner followed future Hall of Famers John Elway and Eric Dickerson off the board. He led the AFC in rushing his rookie season with 1,449 yards and 13 touchdowns, earned AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, and carried Seattle to its first conference championship game. He was inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor in 1994. Exactly 43 years later, the Seahawks used the 32nd pick on another Notre Dame running back, Jadarian Price, continuing a franchise tradition of betting big on the backfield.
Got a take on the draft class? Let us hear it.
Tell us which pick you love, which one you hate, and whether you’re losing sleep over the edge rusher room. Drop a question in the mailbag and The Rooster might answer it in a future issue. No promises. No refunds.
Eight picks. Four trades. Zero edge rushers. One trophy still in the case. The work continues tomorrow. Go Hawks. — The Rooster