The 2025 NFL Draft was a major success for the Seattle Seahawks. While not all of the rookies played significant roles, at least a couple of them looked like building blocks for years to come, not to mention being pillars to the Super Bowl-winning campaign.
That's why it's not much of a surprise to see that multiple Seahawks players would've gone significantly higher if every NFL team had a mulligan on last year's draft. Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic (subscription required) did that exercise in his redraft of the 2025 NFL class.
In that scenario, Grey Zabel would've gone at No. 16 to the Arizona Cardinals, and Nick Emmanwori would've been the No. 5 pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars. While that would've been a bit of a disaster for the Seahawks' aspirations, this speaks volumes about the scouting department's work and about the general manager.
John Schneider deserves a lot of credit for the Seattle Seahawk's success
Schneider got Zabel two picks later and Emmanwori in the second round. The first is a building block in the interior of the offensive line, and the second is probably the most entertaining hybrid safety to watch in the entire league right now.
Zabel went through some growing pains but excelled as a run-blocker. Emmanwori, on the other hand, was a dominant force in the box and in the secondary, anchoring the championship-winning defense.
In this scenario, the Seahawks would've landed UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger in the first round, which isn't half bad. Then again, even if he was the Defensive Rookie of the Year, chances are the Seahawks would rather keep things intact.
Now, the Seahawks enter the 2026 draft with just four selections to make. That's not an ideal scenario for most teams, but Schneider has put them in a position where they only need to add a couple of depth pieces here and there, and this class isn't particularly deep anyway.
Schneider played chess instead of checkers again this offseason. He saved just enough money on the side to keep most of the guys in town and extend Jaxon Smith-Njigba without hurting his team's compensatory pick formula for a much deeper class of 2027.
That's the type of forward and strategic thinking that has helped Schneider put together two entirely different Super Bowl-winning rosters since he took the reins of the organization.
And even though the Seahawks gave Schneider a lucrative contract extension that will keep him tied to the club through 2031 after the 2025 NFL Draft, the way things turned out for this team in the past 12 months should get him a raise.
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