One of the first things people tend to do when summing up a draft class is to ask themselves — is this class tall, or is it wide? In other words, is it packed with talent at the top and relatively thin on Day 3, or are there fewer real field-tilters, and the value really happens from Round 3 on down?
As regards the 2026 NFL Draft class, I’d say it’s wider than tall. A lot of evaluators will tell you that they struggle to assign first-round value to more than 12-15 prospects in this class, and that could lead to a lot of teams trying to trade down to get extra picks later in a draft that presents all kinds of opportunities to add foundational roster pieces who may not be future Hall of Famers, but do what they do particularly well.
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I would bet that Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider sees the width of this class as opposed to the height, and that he’ll do his level best to act accordingly.
Right now, Seattle has exactly four picks: 32, 64, 96, and 188. The team sent its fourth- and fifth-round picks to New Orleans in the Rashid Shaheed trade (which they’d do again 101 times out of 100), their original seventh-round pick went to Cleveland in 2024 along with center Nick Harris, and the Seahawks got a sixth-round pick in return there. Seattle’s original sixth-round pick went to the Jacksonville Jaguars (also in 2024) for defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris.
Given that Schneider has never been averse to trading down, and given that roughly two-thirds of the Seahawks’ picks have come in rounds 4-7 since Schneider became GM in 2010, this seems like the thing to do. The man wants his draft picks. So, in the Pro Football Network mock draft simulator, I proposed one trade with the Tennessee Titans before the draft began, and was hit with one from the Green Bay Packers just before I was to make Seattle’s 32nd overall selection at the bottom of the first round.
Here’s what happened:
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The Tennessee Titans get: Seattle’s 2026 third-round pick (96) and a 2027 Seattle third round pick.
The Seattle Seahawks get: Tennessee’s picks 101, 142, 184, 194, and 225.
The Green Bay Packers get: Seattle’s first-round pick (32) and a 2027 Seattle fourth-round pick.
The Seattle Seahawks get: Green Bay’s picks 52 and 84, and a 2027 Green Bay second-round pick.
With these moves, the Seahawks go from four picks to nine, and now, it’s time to find out just how wide this draft class really is.
(From Green Bay Packers) Round 2, Pick 20 (52): Mike Washington Jr., RB, Arkansas
Running back is a clear need after Kenneth Walker’s departure — as many nice things as Mike Macdonald said about Zach Charbonnet, George Holani, Kenny McIntosh, and Emanuel Wilson at the owners meetings this week, there is still a need for an alpha guy with alpha skills at the position. Charbonnet is the closest to that, and here, we add Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr. The 6’1”, 223-pound Washington announced his presence at the scouting combine with a 4.33-second 40-yard dash, a 1.51-second 10-yard split, and the Spider Chart Of Doom with all the other drills.
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Washington isn’t just a track star, either — last season for the Razorbacks, he totaled 1,066 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and eight touchdowns in 167 carries with 34 forced missed tackles and 17 runs of 15 or more yards. New offensive coordinator Brian Fleury will likely continue Klint Kubiak’s outside zone festival, but given his history with Kyle Shanahan, he’ll bring his own ideas for the run game, as well. Washington is an underrated runner in this class, capable of taking it all on.
Round 2, Pick 32 (64): Caleb Banks, DI, Florida
Banks is a bit of a projection after the broken foot that caused him to miss most of the 2025 season, but it says something about him that he did his level best to come back for the Gators’ final two games of the season. Some guys would have shut it down until the Senior Bowl, but Banks came back, played well, and really showed up in Mobile.
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When you go back to the 2024 tape, and you see the player who could win from any gap at 6’6” and 327 pounds, who put up four sacks, 32 total pressures, 13 stops, two tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles… well, it’s not hard to see how Banks would fit in a Mike Macdonald front that demands of its interior defensive linemen that they do some of everything at a very high level. And if a player of Banks’ caliber is there at the bottom of the second round? Well, Seattle hasn’t had value like that with the 64th overall pick since that DK Metcalf guy in 2019. The way Banks looked at the combine should ease any worries about his health and his future.
(From Green Bay Packers) Round 3, Pick 20 (84): Malik Muhammad, CB, Texas
With Riq Woolen and all his attendant inconsistencies off to Philadelphia, Seattle needs at least one big, smart, aggressive cornerback to align with Josh Jobe and Devon Witherspoon. They get two in this mock draft, and we’ll start with the 6’0”, 182-pound Malik Muhammad, who patrolled Texas’ secondary last season pretty well — he allowed 21 catches on 35 targets for 168 yards, 87 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 57.8.
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Muhammad improved in each of his three seasons with the Longhorns, and he now projects as a defender who would fit very well in Macdonald’s defense with his excellence in both press and off coverage, plus the fact that he doesn’t really have an obvious schematic liability in coverage. We’re guessing that the Seahawks would also appreciate his snap-to-snap efficiency and consistency.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 4, Pick 1 (101): Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor
Are the Seahawks already set at tight end with AJ Barner, Elijah Arroyo, and Eric Saubert? Sure, but when you see a player at any position that just explodes on tape with a great value pick, you’ve got to at least look at the overall picture. And of all the tight ends in this class behind Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq — the obvious No. 1 and a first-round lock — Baylor’s Michael Trigg is my favorite.
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With Trigg, I like that he can be a chaos generator with his catch radius (Holy wingspan, Batman!) and willingness to withstand contact at the catch point. He’s willing if not entirely technically proficient as a blocker, and while he could stand to fill out his route tree to a point (a lot of seam balls to accentuate the slants and hitches), he’s already got the capability to create explosive plays from anywhere in the formation.
Last season, Trigg caught 50 passes on 85 targets for 694 yards, and six touchdowns. Drops are a bit of an issue (seven last season), but you need to bake in degree of difficulty to a point. Getting a move tight end at this level with the first pick on the third day might be too much of a bargain to resist, positional “fullness” be damned.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 5, Pick 2 (142): Hezekiah Masses, CB, Cal
Masses is a guy I came to a bit late in the process, but when I started watching his tape, I didn’t want to stop. This dude has a nose for the ball like few prospects you’ll see, and if he was a slightly better hands-catcher, he might have set NCAA records for interceptions. As it was, he led the NCAA in pass disruptions with 18, which is a good way to allow just 30 catches on 61 targets for 413 yards, 125 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, five interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 59.0.
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The yardage and touchdowns allowed tell you that Masses is still putting it all together to be more than a boom-or-bust defender, and the tape backs it up, but there’s more than enough to like to take the 6’1”, 179-pound Masses in the fifth round and not think twice.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 6, Pick 3 (184):
George Gumbs Jr., EDGE, Florida
Losing Boye Mafe to the Bengals in free agency leaves Seattle a bit edge-light beyond DeMarcus Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu, and Derick Hall, and since nothing was done in free agency to build the room back up, we can assume that the Seahawks will draw from a very loaded EDGE class. Florida’s George Gumbs Jr., one of the combine’s better testers, has some freaky athleticism at 6’4” and 245 pounds to provide all sorts of quarterback disruption.
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In 2025, Gumbs missed time with a meniscus injury in his right knee, but when he was on the field, he had moments where it all came together at a really high level. Overall, on 136 pass-rushing snaps and 345 total snaps, Gumbs had three sacks, 13 pressures, 21 solo tackles, 18 stops, three tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles.
How had Gumbs recovered from that injury? The combine told a big story. No worries there. And when you watch him take on some of the better tackles out there, you can project him to NFL success as he continues to refine his pass-rushing palette.
Round 6, Pick 7 (188): Cyrus Allen, WR, Cincinnati
Receiver doesn’t seem like a huge Seahawks need per se, but you always want the right kinds of prospects in the room if you can get them, and I absolutely love the value of Cincinnati’s Cyrus Allen in the sixth round. In 2025, the 5’11”, 185-pound Allen caught 49 passes on 69 targets for 661 yards and 12 touchdowns, and while he spent 90% of his snaps last season either in the slot or tight to the formation, that doesn’t matter as much in an offense like Seattle’s which will continue to feature a lot of condensed formations. It’s more about creating space with scheme than dominating with traits, and with Allen… this guy just knows how to get open with one of the better route buckets in this class. Over time, he could be an ideal Cooper Kupp replacement, and imagine how Allen would be able to add to his existing acumen learning from Kupp and that JSN dude.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 6, Pick 13 (194): Red Murdock, LB, Buffalo
The 6’2’, 232-pound Murdock is an old-school, forward-facing thumper of a linebacker who in 2025 totaled 93 solo tackles, 56 stops, six sacks, 20 pressures, seven tackles for loss, six forced fumbles, and two pass breakups in coverage. Basically, Murdock does a bit of everything, though he is somewhat limited in coverage. Still, his versatility as an edge player and second-level blitzer would add nicely to Macdonald’s nickel packages, and there’s no question about his play demeanor — Murdock hits people like he wants them to remember it for a good, long time.
(From Tennessee Titans) Round 7, Pick 9 (225) Kaleb Proctor, DI, Southeastern Louisiana
So, where does a 6’2”, 291-pound interior defensive lineman fit in with Seattle’s behemoths? Well, Byron Murphy II came out of Texas at 6′ 0½” and 297 with relatively short arms and a smaller wingspan, and I don’t hear anybody complaining about Murphy’s developmental path. And Southeastern Louisiana’s Kaleb Proctor is a guy for whom I’m going to pound the table to an annoying degree, because the tape and the production are so good, and he’s proven to be a damned dawg against bigger schools. Watching Proctor beat blockers into submission with gap jumps and stunts makes me think that he’d be a great fit in Seattle’s various stunt-fu concepts.
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Last season, Proctor had nine sacks, 39 total pressures, 18 solo tackles, 22 stops, and two tackles for loss. He then aced the combine, which will have everybody going back to look at the tape. I don’t think Proctor will last until the seventh round based on potential, but if he does? He could be a surprise hero in the Emerald City sooner than later.
Full 7-round Seahawks mock draft class
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Round 2, Pick 52: Mike Washington, RB, Arkansas
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Round 2, Pick 64: Caleb Banks, DI, Florida
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Round 3, Pick 84: Malik Muhammad, Texas
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Round 4, Pick 101: Michael Trigg, TE, Baylor
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Round 5, Pick 142: Hezekiah Masses, CB, Cal
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Round 6, Pick 184: George Gumbs Jr., EDGE, Florida
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Round 6, Pick 188: Cyrus Allen, WR, Cincinnati
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Round 6, Pick 194: Red Murdock, LB, Buffalo
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Round 7, Pick 225: Kaleb Proctor, DI, Southeastern Louisiana
What do we think of this mock, dear readers? Are the trade-downs insane? Should the Seahawks have addressed the interior offensive line? Are there other holes you would like to see filled? Sound off in the comments below!
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