John Schneider only has four picks in the upcoming NFL draft, but you’d never know it based on the number of pre-draft interviews the Seattle Seahawks’ general manager has held with prospects. According to publicly available sources, Schneider and his staff have conducted either formal or informal meetings with 25 players over the past few months.
Looking at those names offers a peek into what Schneider may be planning, but we need to be careful about drawing any definite conclusions. For one thing, tracking these meetings can be very tricky.
Though teams do report a number of them, they may not report all of them. News may leak out, or it may remain hidden. Bottom line, the Seahawks scouts and coaches have almost certainly had conversations with more players than we currently know of.
What can we learn about the Seattle Seahawks draft plans from their pre-draft meetings?
And the mere fact of a meeting only means that the team at some point has had an interest in the player. It’s always possible that the meeting went poorly. With some prospects, Seattle probably has no intention of spending one of its four picks, but may be setting up a potential signing after the draft concludes. Three or four of the known interview targets project to be undrafted free agents.
Still, a few things seem apparent when you look at the names of the players Schneider has met with. First and foremost, there has been an overwhelming emphasis on defense.
That may seem odd given that Seattle’s defense is what carried them to the championship last year. Conventional wisdom might have you believe that Schneider would want to bolster his offense this Summer.
But when you consider that nine of his eleven picks in 2025 were devoted to offense, a tilt toward defense this season is more understandable. Add in the fact that three of his four key losses this offseason were on defense, and it becomes even more obvious.
Schneider lost an edge (Boye Mafe), a cornerback (Riq Woolen), and a safety (Coby Bryant). Is it any wonder that 16 of his 25 confirmed prospect meetings have come at those three positions?
If we can’t say for sure what position Schneider will pick at the end of round one, there does seem to be a lot of evidence that he is most interested in a cornerback. Three of the formal meetings have come with cornerbacks projected to go late in the first round or early in the second.
He has also been targeting a number of front-seven players who carry similar projections. It is expected that four of the six edge rushers Schneider has met with will be off the board by the time his pick at the end of round two comes up.
The sheer number of players with mid-second round grades on Schneider’s list lends some credence to the thought that he might be looking to trade out of the first round if the right deal comes along. That 32nd pick could return a mid-round pick in both the second and third rounds, and Schneider seems to have met with a lot of prospects expected to go in that range.
The consensus highest-rated player on the Seahawks list thus far has been Ohio State’s mammoth defensive tackle, Kayden McDonald. Though some view him as a one-dimensional run stopper, it seems unlikely he will fall far enough for Schneider to choose him.
That emphasis on defense does not merely apply to the top of the draft. The Seahawks have met with at least one prospect at corner, edge, and safety who figures to be either a late seventh-round pick or else a UDFA. Don’t be surprised if they go defense with three of their four picks – perhaps even all four.
If they are going to take an offensive player, it will most likely be a running back. That makes sense given the loss of Kenneth Walker to free agency. Arkansas’ Mike Washington, Jr., has been a popular choice in mock drafts. Schneider has met with him, and taking him in the second or third round is a definite possibility.
But he has also met with a couple of under-the-radar backs in Kennesaw State’s Coleman Bennett and Toledo’s Chip Trayanum. Trayanum is particularly interesting because I’m not at all sure he projects as a back in the NFL. He played some linebacker in college before making the switch to offense.
Perhaps the biggest wild card amongst Schneider's pre-draft meetings is Oregon’s Emmanuel Pregnon. The dynamic offensive guard could potentially step into the Seahawks’ starting lineup the way Grey Zabel did last year. If he lasts until the end of the second round, don’t be surprised if Schneider steps away from defense to add a very good offensive lineman.
We’ll keep monitoring the meetings and following the rumors, but pretty soon all the guesswork will be over, and we’ll know exactly who John Schneider and his crew have decided to add to their championship roster.
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