Seahawks depth chart snapshot: Needs, contracts, strengths on OFFENSE
And the dark horse first round options for Seattle
The statement “The ideal draft strategy is to pick the best player available” is as logically sound as anything you could say about adding college prospects to your NFL roster.
It’s sort of like ordering at a restaurant and asking “What’s popular here?” You want to eat what they’re known for because you’re assuming that the safest option is the one that’s loved by the masses. And if the restaurant is out of the thing that’s really popular, naturally that might lead you to the next-most popular and so on.
*I feel like this tends to happen at bakeries the most, “if you’re here at 9 AM, you’re already too late”
But sometimes what’s right for you isn’t what’s most popular. Sometimes what’s right for you what’s right for you.
So if you’re on a keto diet but the restaurant is known for its “giant bowls of plain pasta”, you have to decide between breaking your diet or kale salad.
In the NFL Draft, drafting the best player available is both totally logical because players are what make teams good more than anything else, but at the same time those additions are complicated by the fact that rosters are already 75-80% full by the draft.
Grey Zabel is kind of a bad example because he’s got position versatility, but let’s just say for argument’s sake that he will never move off of left guard and we know that. Should the Seahawks draft another strictly-left guard left guard with their first pick if he’s the best player available?
No. Because Seattle controls Zabel’s rights for four more years.
Sometimes it’s more important to stick to your diet for long-term health than to do what feels right because of immediate gratification. The best player available might be totally wasted on your team to the point where now you’ve poisoned him or the players already on your roster.
I’ll give you a non-food example:
In 2002, the Lions drafted QB Joey Harrington. In 2003, the Lions drafted WR Charles Rogers. It made sense for a team to try and build up its passing offense with back-to-back top-3 picks.
But then in 2004, the Lions drafted WR Roy Williams and Detroit passed over good CB and DT players left on the board. Were they drafting BPA over need?
“Well, so what? Drafting QB-WR-WR isn’t that crazy. Let’s no overreact, Joe!”
Then in 2005, the Lions drafted WR Mike Williams at pick 10! They went WR-WR-WR with three straight top-10 picks. It wasn’t good for Harrington. It wasn’t good for Rogers. It wasn’t good for Mike Williams. It wasn’t good for the Lions as they were still one of the worst offenses in the league.
It’s that Simpsons gif of Mr. Burns being healthy because he has EVERY disease known to man so they all just cancel each other out:
(In 2007, the Lions drafted Calvin Johnson but remarkably by then WR was a need again.)
I have recently written that the best possible pick to make is the best players available. Conversely, I also wrote this week that the Seahawks almost can’t pick a wide receiver at all unless they plan to oust Cooper Kupp because good receivers never get stashed and Seattle is all out of targets.
But it would be a phenomenal idea to draft a wide receiver in 2027 because Kupp will almost certainly by gone by then and receivers don’t need ramp-up time like other positions.
I did a roster check-in two weeks ago but I want to do it again with a visual aid.
Let’s review Seattle’s offensive depth chart, including players who are locked in for next season, those who are under contract for the longest amount of time, and when does it make sense to invest a draft pick or an undrafted free agent contract into filling out this depth chart.
These are OFFENSIVE player signed to the Seahawks right now.
Pink: 2026 is a contract year
Red: Signed for the next 2 seasons
Blue: Signed for the next 3 seasons
The red boxes are sort of where I’d draw a line for being a need and the green boxes are sort of where I’d assume it’s a need and what level of investment makes the most sense. I still don’t feel that there are any dramatic needs on offense with the exception of guard which I’d argue is not making John Schneider lose any sleep at night.
Seahawks 2026 pre-draft Offense
What do you notice?
Seahawks offense notes
Running Back
This week’s meeting with former Steelers first round pick Najee Harris just emphasizes how little Seattle cares about the need at running back that has had some panicking over Kenneth Walker’s exit.
Harris is recovering from a Week 3 Achilles tear but even a healthy version of him is a rather underwhelming starting running back despite having four career 1,000-yard season. That being said, Javonte Williams was an underwhelming free agent pickup of the Cowboys last year and he had a breakout season.
I think the Seahawks will continue to explore running back options on the level of Harris and Cam Akers over using an early (1st-2nd round) pick on it.
Z Wide Receiver
Although the receiver position is CLEARLY log jammed, the irony of it all is that it’s hard to totally rely on Kupp, Rashid Shaheed, and Tory Horton. Seattle’s especially lacking speed at receiver, which is where a late pick or an undrafted free agent could come into play.
I’d be really surprised if the Seahawks brought in a first or second round pick at receiver, as many are assuming could happen, but if it does that tells me that Kupp won’t be around for much longer. You can’t just draft a player hoping that the starter gets injured or something.
Guard
The biggest reason to draft a guard in the first three rounds would be that Anthony Bradford is entering a contract year and the most likely player to replace him — Bryce Cabeldue — is an unproven former sixth round pick.
Given that Schneider has already invested in extensions for Abe Lucas and Charles Cross, there’s only so much money allocated for offensive linemen and it seems more likely that the team would extend Jalen Sundell (a 2027 restricted free agent) over Bradford.
If the Seahawks used pick 64 on a guard and struck gold, then wow that could give Seattle a top tier offensive line for at least a couple more years to come.
Dark Horse Pick: Offensive Tackle
When it comes to first round predictions, I recommend staying close to classic “first round positions” and one of the first to come to mind on offense is a tackle.
Unlike receiver, offensive tackles can be stashed, developed, and moved around to other positions as needed.
Lucas is a right tackle today, but maybe he’s a right guard by next year. Then suddenly what’s a big need? Right tackle.
When the topic of drafting “the best available player” comes up and fitting a prospect’s ceiling over a team need, in Seattle’s case I would definitely think of it being an offensive tackle. Obviously the Seahawks have extended Cross and Lucas, so tackle seems like the furthest thing from a possibility, but maybe someone like Max Iheanachor is on the board at 32 and Schneider thinks “wow give John Benton two years with this guy and he’s going to be an All-Pro”.
That might be worth it. That might be the type of player who you stash.
Saying “Best Player Available” seems to me to be a somewhat overly simplistic way of stating the drafting method that should be utilized. As if there is a strict, regimented order of potential draftable players with clear delineations and no overlap. Two years ago I heard JS speak to this and he brushed the question off but mentioned that a lot goes into ranking players and one of them was team needs that played a part of ranking players into tiers. I think their ranking also plays a big part of when they try too trade up or trade down. The BPA at 32 might be a WR with a first round grade, but there may be a CB with an early 2nd round grade still available. In this instance I would think trading back to 37 might be preferred to picking a WR. You get the CB where the pick matches the value, AND you get another pick. It’s far more involved and complicated than just taking BPA if that matches with the timing of the pick.
I think they draft the best safety at 32 to free up Eman for MM to use as a wild card. 1 pick fixes 2 positions. After that it's BPA.