Seahawks 2024 7-round mock draft kills it with a 6-for-1 trade on Day 1

Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider weaves his trade magic on Day 1 and completely restocks the defense for head coach Mike Macdonald. Not to worry, the offense gets a couple of presents, too.

I don't think many 12s would be surprised to see the Seahawks go heavy on the defensive side of the ball in the 2024 draft. They did hire the league's best defensive coordinator as their new head coach, after all. They completely rebuilt the linebacker room and two-thirds of the core safety group, so we can certainly expect to see more changes. The fact that Seattle was only 25th in scoring defense last season underscores the need for more talent on that side of the ball.

For those thinking if the new players are so great, why do they need to draft even more defenders, take a look at the contracts involved. Two of the three core safeties - Julian Love and K'Von Wallace - have one year left on their deals. The same is true for new linebackers Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson. In fact, only 14 Seahawks are under contract after 2026. So whether the team needs a player at a particular position this season is immaterial. Only a fool would draft based solely on immediate needs.

Seattle Seahawks pull off a huge trade on Day 1

Yes, normally I'm the right fool for any job. But in this case, I looked to the future of the team, not just what they need in 2024. As we've repeated ad infinitum by now, the Hawks have seven selections in the 2024 draft, but none in the second round. I think we can all agree that Leonard Williams was well worth that pick, but with five picks in the fourth round or later, Seattle could use an upgrade in this draft.

Enter my impersonation of John Schneider. As discussed in my most recent mock draft, Schneider has never gone through a draft without making at least one trade. Typically the Seahawks moved down to obtain multiple picks. Hey, I'm not about to buck tradition again, so to the phones we go. In this mock draft, I swung a deal with the Colts, a pretty sweet deal at that. As with my previous mock drafts, I used Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

One of the reasons for this is that the software suffers no fools - that is, it won't accept bad deals. I traded Seattle's 16th overall pick for Indy's 46th, 82nd, 117th, 151st, 191st, and their second-round selection for 2025. That last detail was the cherry that made the sundae, of course. An interesting twist to this deal was that I had three paired selections: 81 and 82, 117 and 118, and 191 and 192. With that 46th pick, I hoped to land a defender projected to go early in the second round. I had much better luck than that.