The Seattle Seahawks lost a bunch of talent in free agency, but thankfully, general manager John Schneider has built the roster in a way that has elite depth. More of that could come from the 2026 draft, but as the team has hosted both AJ Haulcy of LSU and Jalon Kilgore of South Carolina, how Schneider sees the safety spot is confusing.
Both Haulcy and Kilgore will have taken a top 30 visit with Seattle by the time the draft arrives in late April. 2025 starter Coby Bryant left for the Chicago Bears as a free agent, and while the Seahawks have a built-in replacement in the person of Ty Okada to replace Bryant, the team hosting at least two safeties means Seattle could go a different way than Okada.
After all, Okada, as solid as he was this past season, has never been expected to be a starter entering a season, so his long-term production is still unknown. If he falters, Seattle doesn't have a proven option behind him.
Seattle Seahawks eyeing two different types of safeties in the 2026 NFL draft
Should the team take Haulcy or Kilgore, they could be Week 1 starters next to veteran Julian Love. What could be fascinating for fans, though, is that Haulcy and Kilgore are different types of players.
Haulcy has relatively short arms for a player who projects to be a strong safety, and that could hurt his tackling radius in the NFL. He also isn't overly comfortable coming forward. He does have good tackling form, though, and hits in a way Kam Chancellor would admire.
He also created turnovers, which is something head coach Mike Macdonald likes from his defensive players. The ability to take the ball away can give a player a leg up on getting reps, just as it did for Okada last season. In the past seasons in college (one year at Houston and one at LSU), Haulcy had eight interceptions and forced a fumble.
Haulcy ran a 4.52 40-yard dash in pre-draft workouts. Fast enough for a safety, but might not give Macdonald much positional flexibility to disguise his pre-snap alignments, so he won't appear much at cornerback.
Kilgore has longer arms and, at 6'1" and 210 pounds, is an inch taller than Haulcy but five pounds lighter. He should be able to work in the slot a bit better than Haulcy, as his arm length will be able to keep tight ends and running backs from simply running past him.
He is more comfortable playing downhill than Haulcy, too, and whiffs on fewer tackles (11 percent in his college career compared to the LSU product's 14.4 and 15.8 percent missed tackle rate in each of the last two years, respectively).
Should AJ Haulcy and Jalon Kilgore both be available at pick 32 (or later, if the Seattle Seahawks trade back into the early second round), the question might come down to whether John Schneider and Mike Macdonald want more of a pure strong safety or a player with positional flexibility. Either Haulcy or Kilgore would be a good choice.