Doing a 2026 mock draft for the Seattle Seahawks can be very boring. Or very fun. I’m opting for fun. Here are the facts of the case.
On the downside. general manager John Schneider only has four total picks with which to work. He dealt away his fourth and fifth rounders for Rashid Shaheed last season. I think we can give him a thumbs up for that. He traded his sixth-round pick for Roy Robertson-Harris back in 2024.
OK – not so good. And he gave up his seventh as part of a pick swap that brought back Cleveland’s sixth-rounder in the Nick Harris deal, also in 2024.
Seattle Seahawks 2026 mock draft: Post-first wave of free agency edition
On the plus side, Schneider still has his own picks in the first three rounds and a roster without very many holes. So I think I’m playing with some house money here. It’s a position that allows for some risk-taking. It also lets me take advantage of the fact that the 2027 draft class is projected to be stronger than this year’s.
Seattle already would seem to be playing the compensatory pick game that their rival, the San Francisco 49ers, works so well. Based on this year’s free agency, Schneider will probably have a few extra picks next year.
Spoiler alert: I’m going to lean into that big time in this mock.
Round 2, pick 43: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo
I traded out of the first round. Then I traded back again. By dropping back from 32 to 43, I walked away with a third-rounder in the 2027 draft, plus an extra third-rounder this year. (I did also have to give up this year’s sixth-round pick and my seventh rounder in 2027.)
I passed on some very good players by dropping back, but I got the one I wanted anyway. McNeil-Warren was built for Mike Macdonald’s defense. He’s 6’4”, 201 pounds, and runs a 4.52 40. He is a killer on defense, forcing fumbles and breaking up passes all over the field. He has good agility for such a long player.
If you are losing both Riq Woolen and Coby Bryant in the same year, McNeil-Warren is the ideal replacement. Given Seattle’s great talent and depth in the secondary, he can be developed over time. Macdonald will find plenty of ways to deploy him, much like he did with the safety he got in the early second round of last year’s draft.
Round 2, pick 64: Ja’Kobi Lane, WR, USC
I got a speedy 6’4”, 200-pounder on defense with my first pick, so I figured, why not get a player with the same physical dominance on offense with my next pick? Lane played second fiddle to Makai Lemon at USC, but he figures to carve out a niche in the NFL based on his dominant red zone ability.
Lane has an outstanding contested catch percentage. He is fast enough to stretch coverage. There is concern that he doesn’t have the sophisticated route-running skill to make him a consistent threat in the NFL, but again, I’ve got some leeway here. With Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Horton already in hand,
Lane can come along more slowly, playing a specialist role at first. And if you have to teach a physically gifted young receiver how to run routes like a pro, could you ask for better instructors than Professors Smith-Njigba and Kupp?
Round 3, pick 72: Connor Lew, IOL, Auburn
This might be my favorite pick. Lew is going to be a fabulous center in the NFL. But he may need time to recover from a torn ACL. That will delay his development, but it will also knock him down in the draft to where a team with the patience to wait will get a genuine steal.
Though he has been an outstanding center against top-tier SEC competition, there is nothing about Lew’s game that suggests he couldn’t be equally at home at guard. He has the size and power, and he moves very well.
He is already an elite pass blocker and profiles to excel in a zone scheme at the next level. Seattle has a lot of good young prospects on the line, and adding another of Lew’s talent level will make the blocking scheme even more secure.
Round 3, pick 96: Demond Claiborne, RB, Wake Forest
This is a bit of a gamble, but the upside is too good to pass up. Claiborne is undersized at 5’10”, 190 pounds. He has never shown much as a pass catcher, and he has had issues with ball security. So why am I investing a top-100 pick?
Watch him run. He has exceptional speed. And he has even better quickness and elusiveness. Claiborne may not be big, but he is hard to bring down. The combination of contact balance and change of direction makes him a threat whenever he touches the ball.
Claiborne does not have the sheer power of Kenneth Walker, but in a more tailored role, he can provide the same kind of juice this offense will be missing with Walker’s departure.
So I admit, this is something of a reckless draft. Lew is the only player I am convinced will be a star, and he is coming off a serious injury. But if even one of the other three hits, this is a great haul for a team with only four picks. And if two others hit, watch out.
Besides, the 2027 draft is looking very promising, and I’m walking into it with extra picks in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, along with whatever I get in terms of compensatory picks.