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RENTON, Wash. -- John Schneider's priorities in the 2026 NFL draft went beyond filling the Seattle Seahawks' remaining positional needs and adding to their league-low four selections.
The longtime general manager also wanted to reinject the Super Bowl-winning roster with a certain attitude.
It was rooted in a lesson Seattle's front office learned a decade ago, in the years that followed the team's first Super Bowl win in 2013. The franchise had drafted players to eventually replace the Legion of Boom-era stars, but by Schneider's admission, too many of them lacked the mindset to push the veterans they had grown up idolizing and had watched win a Super Bowl.
So as Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald embarked on their third draft together, in the wake of Seattle's victory in Super Bowl LX, the right competitive wiring was a prerequisite for any prospect they might consider.
It would be an unmistakable theme with their eight-man class. Comments from Schneider and Macdonald as well as conversations with sources inside the draft room shed light on how the Seahawks arrived at those decisions, the trades that doubled their pick total as well as some that fell through, and the common thread of Seattle making competitiveness a priority.
It started with the selection of running back Jadarian Price at No. 32 after Schneider struck out in his attempts to move out of the first round.
"Great player, the person's outstanding, the competitor," Schneider said. "He's a Seahawk."
Among the reasons the Seahawks were so high on Price was that while he had limited production as a pass catcher in college, they believed some of his skills as a runner compared favorably to the player he backed up at Notre Dame, Jeremiyah Love, who went third to the Arizona Cardinals. They also saw a high-character individual raised and inspired by a single mother, Jessica Butler, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 12.
"Watching her go through that -- the chemotherapy, all that -- and still overcome that, I felt like I can overcome anything," Price said.
Macdonald noted the loyalty Price showed by staying in South Bend despite lucrative offers to start for other programs. That meant making significantly less money than he could have made elsewhere, but Price said he wanted to challenge himself to split reps "with the best player in college football ... and I showed that I can do it at the highest level."
According to sources with knowledge of the selection, Seattle's other top target was San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson, who went 27th to the Miami Dolphins after they traded up. With Johnson gone, the Seahawks' options were to take Price at 32 or trade back and hope to land him a few spots later. They discussed deals with the Tennessee Titans (No. 35) and New York Giants (No. 37) that both fell through.
Five of the six spots immediately preceding Seattle's pick at 32 changed hands amid a flurry of trades, including Tennessee moving up to 31. That led to a few nervous minutes in the Seahawks' draft room, with some fearing that the Titans -- who were heavily linked to Love with the fourth pick -- were jumping ahead of Seattle for Price. There was also concern that the San Francisco 49ers might take him with the first pick of the second round; Seattle's division rivals later drafted Indiana running back Kaelon Black in Round 3.
With Kenneth Walker III gone and Zach Charbonnet expected to miss part of next season following ACL surgery, running back was easily Seattle's top need. Like many draft analysts, the Seahawks saw a significant gap between Price and the next-best backs in this class. According to a source, that was Washington's Jonah Coleman and Arkansas' Mike Washington Jr., two prospects viewed as potential Day 3 fallbacks if they didn't land Price.
With the Vince Lombardi Trophy on display in the Seahawks' draft room, serving as a reminder of why they were picking 32nd, Seattle chose Price to close out the first round.
"Great player, great person," Schneider said. "We thought he had some opportunities for a minute. They fell apart. There was a lot of trading going on right ahead of us, but he kind of stood alone."
What Jadarian Price brings to the Seahawks
What Jadarian Price brings to the Seahawks
AMONG THE PLAYERS the Seahawks brought to team headquarters for a predraft visit was TCU safety Bud Clark, whom they picked 64th.
The Seahawks view those meetings as a vital part of their evaluation process, helping them gauge how a prospect may or may not fit into their culture. They don't always go well.
Schneider told a story about one player who openly bemoaned that his time at Seahawks headquarters had run longer than scheduled. Having apparently not done much homework on the organization, he thought he was complaining to a staffer. He had no idea it was actually the general manager.
There were no such turnoffs when the Seahawks brought in Clark. They knew about his ball skills (15 interceptions over the past four seasons), his speed (4.41-second 40-yard dash) and his versatility (he can play nickel and corner), and how those traits would make him a viable option to replace Coby Bryant. Macdonald noticed his competitiveness at the Senior Bowl, when it seemed like he stepped in on every other one-on-one rep in practice.
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The visit left the Seahawks excited about adding another dynamo to their secondary. In Clark, they see a super-charged playing style and spirited demeanor that remind them of cornerback Devon Witherspoon, one of their defense's physical and emotional tone-setters.
"He's a blast," Schneider said. "Mike and I were talking about the personalities throughout the process. Like, man, if we put Bud and Spoon in the same room, what's going to happen?"
The Seahawks closed out Day 2 by addressing another need in their secondary with Arkansas cornerback Julian Neal, taking him 99th after moving back three spots in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While not a burner (he ran a 4.49-second 40-yard dash), Neal is a big corner at almost 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds, and he plays like it. He began his college career at Fresno State, briefly enrolled at Stanford and then, as Schneider put it, decided to challenge himself in the SEC.
Among the reasons Seattle didn't give Riq Woolen a second contract was that he wasn't as sound or as willing a tackler as they preferred. That's a strength of Neal, who will try to replace Woolen as their No. 3.
Confidence and passion poured out of him as he spoke with reporters during a conference call for the ages. As his voice quivered with emotion, Neal called himself the most physical corner in the draft, talked about punching receivers at the line of scrimmage and at one point declared that the Seahawks were "going back-to-back this year."
"He has great traits, he's got a great work ethic, super competitive, he's smart," Macdonald said. "Those are all the ingredients that we believe can add up to playing even better football as his career grows."
ON SATURDAY MORNING, Schneider made a detour through the Seahawks' defensive meeting room, which gets converted into a media workspace during the draft.
The GM had time to kill with no picks in the fourth or fifth rounds after trading for Rashid Shaheed last year.
Schneider was wearing his usual Day 3 attire: a short-sleeved, navy blue button-up with a Seahawks patch on the front and "John" stitched beneath it in cursive. The work shirts, as he calls them, are supposed to look like something an auto mechanic or repairman would wear. The meaning behind them is that while the first round has the glitz and glamour, Day 3 is the blue-collar portion of the draft.
As Schneider clocked in Saturday morning, he set out to find trade partners.
By virtue of losing Walker, Bryant, Woolen and outside linebacker Boye Mafe in free agency, the Seahawks are projected to receive four compensatory picks in 2027, giving them 12 selections in all. With that extra capital coming, Schneider was willing to strike at the right opportunity.
It came in the fifth round, as Iowa guard Beau Stephens was still available. According to sources, some in the organization preferred him to Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge, who went in Round 1. Seattle got a better feel for Stephens the individual -- he has talked publicly about dealing with anxiety and ADHD early in his college career -- after bringing him in for a visit.
The Seahawks gave up their own fourth-round pick next year to move into the Cleveland Browns' spot at No. 148, where they took Stephens with the expectation that he'll push incumbent starter Anthony Bradford at right guard.
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Their sixth-round selection (No. 199) of Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. was made with special teams in mind. He was a favorite of coordinator Jay Harbaugh in part because of his ability to return and cover kicks a la Dareke Young, another free agent departure.
The 2026 draft was not considered a strong one. The Seahawks had first-round grades on roughly 15 players, according to a source -- a lower number than usual. Schneider noted beforehand the lack of depth in later rounds compared with other years.
But the Seahawks managed to find some value on Day 3. They thought Stephens would be long gone by pick No. 148. They had a fifth-round grade on Toledo's Andre Fuller, another big (6-1, 200 pounds), physical corner whom they drafted in the seventh (No. 236 overall). With picks added by trading back two more times, the Seahawks rounded out their class with Minnesota defensive tackle Deven Eastern (No. 242) and Arizona cornerback Michael Dansby (No. 255), two players they thought they'd have a hard time signing as undrafted free agents given what Seattle already had at those positions.
As always, the Seahawks suffered some "upsets," as they call them -- players they targeted but missed out on. Kentucky's Kendrick Law, who went 20 spots after Stephens in Round 5, was another special teams standout they wanted.
The board never aligned for an edge rusher, with Oklahoma's R Mason Thomas as well as Michigan teammates Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham among the players Seattle liked. With the Seahawks having yet to replace Mafe in their outside linebacker rotation, veteran Dante Fowler Jr. -- who was coached by defensive coordinator Aden Durde in Atlanta and Dallas -- remains one of their top options in free agency.
The Seahawks addressed every other need in the draft, and they did so with players they believe will come in with the mindset of taking jobs, not back seats.
"They weren't going to be on our board if we [didn't feel] that way," Schneider said.
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