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When Geno Smith was the starting quarterback in Seattle, some people repeatedly tried to tell you he was a top-10 player at this position.

When the Seahawks traded him to the Raiders for a third round pick, the same people reacted with shock and disbelief.

What a move by the Raiders! What are the Seahawks thinking!

Twelve months later the Seahawks were Super Bowl Champions and the Raiders were picking first overall. But there’s probably 17 reasons why none of this was Geno’s fault. Or Pete Carroll’s, for that matter.

I’ve always been confused as to how Smith earned such vocal, passionate backing on social media. It was a ridiculous hill to die on — yet many charged up the incline, leaping chest-first onto the sword of average-to-bad quarterback play.

There was a real air of arrogance around the folks who held this position. They acted like anyone who didn’t share their admiration for Smith was a complete imbecile. The phrase “you don’t know ball” became synonymous with the movement — partly because they loved to say it and partly because many of us loved to ridicule the line.

The reality with Smith was that he had clear physical talent and could make some extremely impressive throws. He was streaky — having good and bad spells in Seattle. The turnovers and redzone problems were legit. He wasn’t anywhere near as bad as some on the internet claimed — but he was also nowhere near as good as ‘top-10 quarterback’ crowd claimed either.

The opposing extremes were two cheeks from the same arse — both combining to release a problematic level of flatulence.

The discourse genuinely made following the Seahawks a lot less fun. The anti-Geno crowd were easier to ignore though. Not as self-assured, not as patronising. Just wrong — but in a more palatable way.

Having experienced the last year, I’m willing to confess. Smith and the Raiders turning into the worst team in the league and the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl was even more enjoyable because it showed up a lot of people who thought they knew better than everyone else.

I don’t think this collection of individuals truly owned how wrong they were either. It was so in your face, so lacking in self-awareness. It takes more than a reply on X to ‘eat crow’ in this instance.

Nevertheless, the Seahawks are still Super Bowl Champions. So who really cares? We’d all moved on. Until today.

Blame Jeff Simmons and Curtis Allen for bringing to my attention a podcast by two of the biggest members of the Geno Smith appreciation society — Mina Kimes and Benjamin Solak.

Remember, this is the same Ben Solak who said the Raiders had the ninth best coaching staff in 2025 (the Seahawks were 16th), stating:

“It required an unspeakable amount of personal control to not put the Raiders in the top five. There are few head coaches I have more faith in than Carroll, who consistently does the following: gets great performance out of rookies; prepares backups well (and accordingly coaches around injury); and adjusts his defensive scheming to the players available, protecting them from their faults. There are few better culture coaches in football, but his scheming — much lauded in the early 2010s — has become underappreciated.

“I also have a huge amount of faith in Kelly. An offensive coordinator role suits him better than the head coaching jobs (Eagles and 49ers) that overwhelmed him in the mid-2010s, as he won’t have control over personnel. Indeed, his offense over the past few years (in college at UCLA and Ohio State) has become far more oriented to heavier personnel and a diverse running game — the sort of stuff that’s cooking in the league right now.”

He also said the Vikings had the third best off-season a year ago, and the Seahawks were ranked 31st — claiming:

“Seattle’s approach of downgrading at quarterback while loading the roster with aging veterans simply does not jibe.”

Kimes, meanwhile, called the Smith trade to the Raiders, “flat out terrible” for the Seahawks, adding, “Chances of upgrading are extremely low.”

Let’s also not forget the tone of this video, which really optimises the smug, too-clever-by-half attitude some had to Smith’s performances in Seattle.

Kimes and Solak took turns on their latest pod to pick quarterbacks to produce a joint ranking. The objective was to consider a three-year window — so there’s some wiggle room for projection.

Even so…

Sam Darnold came in at #19. Ahead of him in the ranking was:

Kyler Murray
Fernando Mendoza
CJ Stroud
Jayden Daniels

Shall we say it? Maybe, “they don’t know ball”

It’s a list so bad, ESPN should consider forcing them to watch highlights of the 2025 Raiders on repeat for a whole 24-hour cycle as a punishment.

Darnold is far from flawless. His 14 interceptions were the third most in 2025. He’s thrown 27 in the last two seasons. It’s a problem.

Yet within those two seasons he’s also thrown 66 touchdowns (including playoffs). He’s thrown 68 ‘big time throws’. The Vikings and Seahawks have won 31 games with him under center.

He had huge performances against the Rams in week 16 and in the NFC Championship game. He is still only 28 and appears to be showing he’s a really good quarterback in the prime of his career.

He’s also now a Super Bowl Champion.

How can you possibly have Kyler Murray ahead of him? Or CJ Stroud?

Whatever potential Jayden Daniels showed as a rookie, how is he nine places ahead of Darnold?

Then there’s Fernando Mendoza. A rookie.

Even though I don’t agree, you might be able to argue a case for the Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence types, if you just happen to believe completely they will eventually rise to the level Darnold has shown in the last two seasons.

Murray and Stroud though? A rookie who hasn’t played a down in the NFL?

It’s a list so bad it also deserves to be traded to the Raiders.

The Jets are paying Breece Hall $15.25m a year on his new contract. That makes him the third highest paid running back in the league based on average salary.

Eventually he’ll be overtaken by Bijan Robinson, who will likely become the top paid runner in the league on more than $21m a year. Jahmyr Gibbs will also probably move above Hall when he gets his new deal.

Ken Walker is currently the fifth highest paid running back on $14.35m a year. He’s two spots ahead of Jeremiyah Love, who will earn a guaranteed contract worth $13.3m a season.

Jadarian Price’s rookie deal will pay him an estimated $4.2m a year. That will likely place him as the 33rd highest paid runner in the NFL.

Provided running production doesn’t suffer a dramatic drop-off based on what you had over the last four years with Walker working with Zach Charbonnet, that will be a bargain. There’s also the possibility that he could even be more successful, making this an even better move.

The Seahawks are in a healthy cap situation as Curtis Allen brilliantly laid out last week. Yet when you’re in a position where you’ve already paid Charles Cross and Jaxon Smith-Njigba big money, you will extend Devon Witherspoon’s contract in the coming weeks or months, you will eventually hope to give Derick Hall a new deal and you face the prospect of talking to players like Sam Darnold, Byron Murphy and AJ Barner in the next off-season, while potentially having to replace some of your experienced D-linemen, you have to find savings where you can.

Building a NFL roster is like piecing a puzzle together. The Seahawks won a Super Bowl because they did a better job than any other team creating a depth of balanced talent across all three units.

The best way to maintain that is going to be calculated gambles to save money where you can. Not keeping Walker and pivoting to Price is a good example. There will be similar challenging decisions to come in the future — possibly including at quarterback, depending on how the next season plays out.

The Seahawks appear very aware of these challenges. There’s no guarantee they’ll get all of the big decisions right but it should be seen as encouraging that they are detaching emotion from the situation and are reviewing each call with a nod to the present and future.

For everyone wringing their hands about spending the 32nd pick in a mediocre draft on a running back — they’d be better off acknowledging that rather than making a massive investment at a position they see as fungible, the Seahawks actually made a very calculated move to limit their investment at running back because they know they’ll need the cap and cash dollars down the line.

This is a guest article by Curtis Allen…

The Seahawks stand in a very good position with their salary cap.  They currently have a Zen-like balance on the roster — featuring a mix of productive young players and veterans who set the pace for the team while carrying cap numbers that are not debilitating.

Added to that, they have cap space to pay the bills and add or further retain talent without putting much strain on the company credit card.

To be in such an advantageous position right after winning the Super Bowl is a major testament to the way John Schneider and the rest of the Front Office have coalesced with the coaching staff.

A brief overview of the near future bears that out.  We will start with the basics and then talk about options and decisions that need to be made.

The 2026 Salary Cap

OvertheCap.com currently has them with $32.74 million.  They estimate it will cost them about $3.4 million to sign their draft class, leaving them with a little over $29 million of room.

Earmarking the standard $10 million for the Practice Squad and injury replacement players, that leaves them with about $19 million free and clear to spend.

The addition of Dante Fowler Jr for a reported “up to” $5 million number is a brilliant depth move that effectively replaces Boye Mafe in terms of production at a very reasonable cost.

If we count the full value of that contract towards the cap, that takes the number down to $15 million ($5 million cap hit + $1 million they get back for kicking player #51 off the top 51 that count towards the cap).

The other primary move that most likely will happen is the extension of Devon Witherspoon.  The Seahawks picked up their fifth-year option for 2027 at $21 million and intend to work out a contract extension.

Witherspoon currently accounts for $10.13 million on the 2026 cap.  As a #5 overall pick, his cap number is a healthy one for the fourth year of his contract.

As an exercise, I took the Trent McDuffie contract (4y/$134m), gave it to Witherspoon and modeled it after Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s deal:

So even if he becomes the highest-paid corner in the league, with the Seahawks structuring his contract similarly to Smith-Njigba’s, it will only eat about $2 million more for 2026.

That leaves the Seahawks with about $13 million to spend.

One option to explore if they wish: They can easily pick up another $8.25 million or so in cap room with a simple restructuring of Sam Darnold’s contract.  This could be for a specific purpose, or just to give John Schneider the capacity to make one of his patented in-season value trades to address a need.  If they do not use that space, they can just roll it into 2027 and apply it as they wish.

Just to reiterate: Bringing back every critical element from your Championship team, extending your core players, drafting to fill key needs, collecting compensatory picks, adding that one-more-veteran from the marketplace and still having cap room left over for the year is tremendous work.

The 2027 Cap

Currently OTC has the Seahawks’ number at $54.58 million with 35 players under contract.

That number does not include:

— Any cap rolled over from 2026

— The 2026 rookie class salaries

— Any cap adjustments resulting from the Witherspoon extension

— Any new contracts or adjustments made this summer or fall

The cap charges for the ’26 rookie class will be about $12 million in 2027.  That leaves about $42.5 million left with 43 players under contract.

Another draft class will likely clock in around the same, about $12 million.  That leaves about $30 million of room with the full 51 players.

(As a side note – let’s just tuck the projected eleven draft picks for 2027 – twelve if Defensive Coordinator Aden Durde is hired as a Head Coach – in our back pocket for now.  Having that many choices in a strong draft with a roster already loaded is like playing with a whole extra pile of money.)

To know:  that 2027 number includes a $21 million cap hit for Witherspoon’s fifth year option.  From the above, I estimated the team saves about $8.7 million with the extension and structuring, so call that about $38 million in cap room before the September costs for the Practice Squad.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents include Leonard Williams, Derick Hall, Uchenna Nwosu, Dante Fowler, Zach Charbonnet, Anthony Bradford and Jason Myers.

Jalen Sundell will be a Restricted Free Agent.  The Seahawks will almost certainly tender him barring something drastic happening this year.

Also — DeMarcus Lawrence is under contract but his 2027 is undetermined.

That $38 million can be used to extend or replace nearly all those players.

They also have levers they can pull to create much more cap space.  Two straightforward methods: Extending or restructuring Sam Darnold’s contract and Cooper Kupp has $14 million in non-guaranteed money on his 2027 number.  They could more than double their available space with moves on these two players alone.

Later in the year, they can consider extending Ernest Jones Jr and Julian Love, both of whom will still be under age 30.  That will make a healthy portion of salary cap room.

This is a snapshot of what will be on the menu when 2027 comes around.  Much can and will change between now and then.

Conclusions

The Seahawks are in a very sweet spot.  They have a championship roster, featuring a Quarterback on a bargain contract, an Offensive Line that is both young and team-controlled for the near future, a Wide Receiver coming off an Offensive Player of the Year campaign, a defense blended with a mix of youth, experience and toughness led by a Head Coach who is confounding some of the league’s best offensive minds.  It is all tied together by a reasonably-priced depth chart that is one of the NFL’s best Special Teams units.

In years past, Seahawk teams were loaded down by ‘comatose cap space’ — players on the roster with sizable cap hits that could not provide the value they were signed for.  Those days are done.

The team ethos, the blend of talent, the coaching, and the contract constructions are working together beautifully.

Would it be ideal for the team to have more cap space?  Sure.  More cap space is fun.

But this saying comes to mind: ‘A ship is safe in the harbor but that is not what ships are for.’

Having a large bank of cap space on a spreadsheet is fun.  But that is not what cap space is for.  Its purpose is to be spent wisely on quality players.  It is a ‘good problem’ when you must maneuver your cap space a bit and choose between bringing back players or taking the compensatory pick because of having so many quality players on your team.

That is where John Schneider has led the Seahawks.

And we can trust he will continue to recognize core needs for the team and successfully address them.

Speaking of core needs…

The Challenge of the Defensive Line in 2027

It has not escaped anyone’s notice that as of this moment, Leonard Williams, Derick Hall, Dante Fowler and Uchenna Nwosu are not under contract for next season.  Add to that the uncertainty over DeMarcus Lawrence and that Jarran Reed may need to start rationing snaps to stay fresh and it is currently an area of real concern.

If Lawrence decides to retire that will open $20 million in cap space ($9.5m this year, $10.5m next year) that can be directly applied to filling his spot.  I think everyone involved or interested in the team would rather have Lawrence than the cap space but the situation still needs to be played out.

Nwosu played his first full season after back-to-back injury-shortened years and played well but seemed to fade a bit down the stretch, recording only 1.5 sacks and eight pressures in the last nine games of the season (although he did clinch the Super Bowl win with a huge play).

John Schneider indicated to Brady Henderson that the team will not work to adjust his contract this year, perhaps feeling they want to wait and see how he responds to a ‘finally healthy offseason’ and then decide what to do.

That leaves Williams and Hall.  If those two were secured beyond this season, that would lend a great deal of stability and continuity to the defensive front.  The team would not need to rebuild one of the most important position groups on the roster and could rather focus on only supplementing it with further moves.

Assuming both are agreeable to signing extensions and Williams wants to continue playing, could the team work out something with both that is equitable and makes sense with their current cap situation?

Absolutely yes.

In fact, rather than being a burden, extending Williams could provide the opportunity to improve the Seahawks’ cap outlook for this year and next year.  Let me illustrate.

Earlier this year, I proposed a two-year $40 million extension for Williams.  You can read my reasoning on it here.

Currently, Williams has a big $29.6 million cap hit for 2026 and $9.37 million in 2027 for dead money that hits the cap when his contract voids on February 20 (more on that in a minute).

An extension retains a core player, evens out the cap burden and – maybe most importantly – is cash-neutral for 2026.  It also provides the kind of flexibility and options that the Seahawks need to continue to make beneficial moves as they see fit.

Have a look:

The $40 million is split between salary for 2027-28, the per game roster bonuses and a $15 million roster bonus that hits early 2027.

We convert the bulk of Williams’ 2026 salary to a signing bonus and add two void years to spread out the cost.  That takes his cap number down by $11.6 million this year, giving the team the flexibility to use that for further moves or to simply roll it into 2027.

Currently, the cash layout for Williams this year is $16.65 million ($15.8 million salary and $850k for PG roster bonus).  This extension keeps the layout the same amount, just changes the proportions ($1.3 million salary, $14.5 million bonus and $850k for PG roster bonus).

This is important to the team, as they have spent a ton of cash this year and will very likely end up in the top-three in the NFL once Witherspoon’s extension (and maybe Hall’s as well) is worked out.

2027 is also set up nicely.  A juicy $15 million roster bonus is there as a nice carrot for Williams to consider when deciding whether to keep playing.  It also could help the Seahawks’ offseason planning, since a roster bonus comes with a trigger date.

It also takes advantage of the $9.37 million in void money and spreads it out to even out the impact.  If they can agree to this extension before February 20 (or mutually agree to push out the void date like the Eagles did with Dallas Goedert’s contract), they can defer $4.68 million to 2028 and lessen the cap charge.

The result is an impact to the cap of “only” $23.06 million in 2027.  If you consider the  cumulative change to the cap in both years, the additional impact is $11.46 million.  A small price to pay for a player of Williams’ stature.

And further, the Seahawks can easily convert the 2027 Roster Bonus to a Signing Bonus and split out the impact over the rest of the contract, making 2026-27 nearly cap-neutral:

In this scenario, if Williams retires in 2028, $24.6 million dead money is left and can be split between 2028 and 2029.  The Seahawks pick up about $14 million in 2028 cap room.

The point being the Seahawks can retain Williams without significantly impacting their ability to make other moves.  It just takes both parties to work together to make it happen.

Compared to Williams, Derick Hall’s contract is straightforward.  He will be coming off his rookie contract, and the Seahawks can easily make it workable for both parties.

I gave Hall a three-year, $70 million contract with an $18 million signing bonus.  Boye Mafe got $60 million over three years from Cincinnati in Free Agency and it is clear the Seahawks value Hall more than Mafe.  A nice bump helps him sign now and not be tempted by a crazy market in 2027.  He also lines himself up for another very healthy contract at age 28 or 29:

As you can see, the cap impact to 2026 is easily affordable for the team.  2027 is not terribly prohibitive and even 2028 is not too heavy.

Getting Williams and Hall to sign extensions would be another very good day’s work for the team.  It would build continuity on the defense and ensure that key players like Devon Witherspoon, Byron Murphy and Nick Emmanwori can deliver the maximum impact possible.

All of this is possible due to the strategic handling of their cap and contracts, married to a coaching staff that knows how to deliver the best from the players provided to them.

For the last few years, John Boyle has written a great article discussing some of the events from within the Seahawks’ draft room. Obviously no trade secrets are shared — but there’s always a fed tidbits to get into.

You can read the full piece here.

When you combine the piece with the one written by ESPN’s Brady Henderson last week, I think there are a few ‘secrets’ to discuss…

— Boyle references the reaction to a pick in the 20’s that was seen as a reach by the Seahawks. In Brady’s piece, he noted, “some in the organization preferred (Beau Stephens) to Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge. It’s pretty easy to assume that the pick the Seahawks thought was a ‘major’ reach (as they call it) was the Texans selecting Rutledge at #26.

— When there were 10 picks left in round one, according to Boyle, the Seahawks had two players remaining with first round grades, “plus a handful more that are right on the line of being late-first or early-second rounders.” My guess is the two players with first round grades were Dillon Thieneman and Chris Johnson.

— Per Boyle, “At least one defensive player the Seahawks liked went off the board late in round one, drawing a reaction from the room.” With Brady also reporting the Seahawks were prepared to select Chris Johnson, it seems fairly straight forward to assume it was Johnson being taken by the Dolphins that disappointed the Seahawks.

— Going back to the comment of their being “a handful” of players right on the line of the first round, it does feel like the Seahawks had a collection of similarly graded players. Brady had noted in the past they liked R Mason Thomas. I can well imagine Treydon Stukes might’ve been in the conversation. Then there’s obviously Jadarian Price, who they took at #32. I’d said a few times before the draft I’d spoken to very respectable people in the league who viewed Price as an early second round prospect.

— After the 55th pick, Boyle says the Seahawks had two players left on their board with second round grades — one was a pass rusher, the other was Bud Clark. I think this is interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly — I wasn’t very high on Emmanuel McNeil-Warren or Anthony Hill Jr and thought both players were overrated in the media. Based on John’s article, the Seahawks didn’t consider either player worthy of a second round grade. Who was the pass-rusher? The next two to go were Keyron Crawford and Romello Height. They had Crawford in for a visit. If nothing else, it shows we were somewhat on the right track.

In my final mock I had Chris Johnson at #32, Keyron Crawford at #64 and Jonah Coleman at #96. That sounds like a plausible scenario based on what’s being discussed here.

— A defender the Seahawks liked at #96 apparently came off the board just before they picked. Brady’s piece noted the Seahawks liked pass-rushers Derrick Moore, R Mason Thomas and Jaishawn Barham. The Cowboys took Barham with the 92nd pick — so again, it seems pretty clear he was the player they were showing interest in. Boyle notes they had similarly graded players in that range, presumably that included Julian Neal.

— We discussed before the draft that there were opinions in the league that Beau Stephens warranted a day-two grade. I did a couple of mocks with the Seahawks taking him as high as #64. Per Boyle’s report, they clearly thought highly of him. By the end of the fourth round, Stephens was, “well above the rest of the field on their draft board.” It was a dynamic move to be aggressive and go get him. He might’ve been taken in round five but the Seahawks clearly rated him much higher than that.

— Brady, who as usual has been on top of things (and it was great to see him featured on ESPN with Dan Graziano), reported today that the Seahawks had a third round grade on Ty Simpson. It shouldn’t be a surprise — I imagine that was probably the league consensus on Simpson. Adam Schefter previously suggested that Simpson wouldn’t have been taken in round one, or at #34 by Arizona, had the Rams not selected him at #13.

It was a bizarre decision by LA, especially with the likes of Vega Ioane, Rueben Bain Jr and several others still on the board. They passed on an opportunity to load up an already strong roster with a quality player, to reach for a quarterback with only 15 college starts and a not altogether high ceiling.

Tomorrow Curtis will have a great cap review to dig into, be sure to check it out.

This was my final visit with Bump & Stacy today for draft season, so please check it out and if you can — leave a comment and a like!

Brady Henderson has published a typically excellent breakdown of the Seahawks draft, with a few very interesting nuggets included. I wanted to touch on a few things we should remember for next year.

Tackling is important at cornerback

Brady noted, as he did during our recent conversation, that San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson was a target with the 32nd pick. He was selected by the Dolphins at #27.

Johnson’s ‘missed tackle percentage’ in 2025 was 5.6% — fifth best among a deep cornerback draft class. Julian Neal wasn’t far behind (7.3%) and neither was Colton Hood (6.6%) — a player touted as a possible alternative had the Seahawks not been able to select Jadarian Price.

Other players I’d discussed before the draft, such as Hezekiah Masses and Chandler Rivers, both struggled in this area. They are both good players but with 15.3% and 16.2% missed tackles respectively, they ranked among the worst in the class. This possibly made them less appealing.

In future, when considering cornerback options for the Seahawks, this is something I will keep in mind. Especially with higher picks (rounds 1-3). Andre Fuller’s rate was a 10.9% and Michael Dansby’s was an eye-watering 21.4%. Clearly the later you go in the draft, it’s not a deal breaker.

It’s possibly not such a key factor at safety either. Bud Clark missed 14.5% of his tackles. That ranked 94th among draft eligible safeties.

Zone-blocking fit is key for offensive linemen

The Seahawks have really benefitted from zoning-in (no pun intended) on a specific blocking scheme and tailoring their decision making to outside zone. Last year, Grey Zabel and Bryce Cabeldue were among the top graded zone-blockers eligible. This year, they selected Beau Stephens.

His zone grade of 89.5 was third overall in the class. Brady notes there were certain members of the Seahawks’ front office who liked him more than Keylan Rutledge. For what it’s worth, Rutledge’s zone grade was a 77.4.

I never thought it was likely the Seahawks would take Chase Bisontis early (66.0 grade) and while they passed on Emmanuel Pregnon, who had the top zone grade in the class, there may be other reasons for that. It may never have been their intention to spend a high pick on an interior O-liner and they just saw a great opportunity to trade back into the fifth round to get Stephens.

I know there were people who viewed Stephens as a day-two talent and he possibly lasted deep into day three due to limitations in his physical profile.

Still, the Seahawks made their move, and having great clarity on what they want in their offensive system is something we probably need to be aware of. It seems clear they want players who played well in zone coming into the league.

Thoughts on the EDGE rushers they reportedly liked

Brady mentioned three names — Oklahoma’s R Mason Thomas and Michigan duo Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham. It’s hard to decipher what that means we should look for, other than to say all three play with a lot of ‘juice’.

Thomas (20.3%) and Moore (19.8%) had strong pass-rush win percentages but Barham (13.1%) did not. Thomas’ max-speed via GPS (19.6mph) was second only to Keyshawn James-Newby among the names I have data for — but his max-speed over 0-10 yards (14.4mph) was the lowest on my list. He also only ran a 1.63 10-yard split at 241lbs.

Size also doesn’t seem to be a big factor. Barham was 240lbs at the combine, so he’s in the same range as Thomas.

It might simply be a mentality thing. I thought Moore was average on tape but he was physical and played with a lot of effort. Thomas was relentless. Barham played with a lot of physicality and was a terror vs the run.

One thing I would note — a year ago there was a feeling the Seahawks would be interested if Jalon Walker fell into range (he was drafted 15th overall by the Falcons). He was a linebacker/EDGE hybrid who played with a great level of aggression and motor. He was 243lbs at his combine.

I know, speaking to people in the league, there were discussions about how best to use R Mason Thomas at the next level — and whether he needed to be more of a hybrid. That is what you’d be getting with Barham for certain.

It’s possible the Seahawks are on the look out for that type of rusher. It’s perhaps not a surprise — Aden Durde has first-hand experience with Micah Parsons in that role in Dallas.

It doesn’t mean they’ll exclusively look at these types — but it appears they do have some interest in hybrid type rushers and that’s something to remember going forward.

Special teams matters

The fact that Brady name-checked Kendrick Law as an alternative to Emmanuel Henderson Jr was interesting. It made it clear that the Seahawks were specifically targeting a player with special teams in mind.

It’s hardly a big revelation that they value special teams. Being supremely balanced across the three units on the roster is a key reason why the Seahawks are Super Bowl Champions. It’s not something we spent much time looking at though before the 2026 draft. That’ll be different next year — I’ll be sure to dig around, and ask around, to find out who provides the best special teams value later in the draft.

Final thoughts on Jadarian Price

I’m trying to get more data for the running back class, to find an angle on the fact he ran a surprisingly slow 1.61 10-yard split.

What I do know is his GPS max-speed over 0-10 yards last season was 17.1mph. That compares favourably to the rest of Seattle’s class:

Michael Dansby — 18.2
Andre Fuller — 17.9
Emmanuel Henderson Jr — 17.5
Jadarian Price — 17.1
Julian Neal — 17.0
Bud Clark — 16.8

Price is heavier than all of the names above apart from Julian Neal (they both weighed 203lbs at the combine). Emmanuel Henderson Jr, Bud Clark and Andre Fuller all ran 1.56 10-yard splits, while Neal ran a 1.59.

It’s not something I’m overly concerned about. A running back needs to combine vision, burst, decisiveness and power when they receive the football — they aren’t just sprinting off a standing start. I never watched Price on tape and thought he lacked initial quickness. The one area I think he can stand to improve is lower body power for short yardage plundering.