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The Seattle Seahawks<\/a> may own the final pick of the first round, but ESPN draft analyst Field Yates does not see Seattle as a team eager to make an aggressive news up the board.<\/p>\n Instead, Yates identified the Seahawks as the team most likely<\/a> to trade down in Round 1, pointing to two obvious reasons: Seattle enters the 2026 NFL<\/a> Draft with a league-low four selections, and the No. 32 pick could be attractive to another franchise hoping to secure the fifth-year option that comes with a first-round rookie contract.<\/p>\n That idea should get Seahawks fans\u2019 attention, because Seattle\u2019s roster situation makes the logic easy to follow.<\/p>\n This is not a team entering the draft with one small need to clean up. The Seahawks lost running back Kenneth Walker III, cornerback Riq Woolen<\/a> and edge rusher Boye Mafe in free agency. That is a meaningful hit to a roster still trying to defend a championship, and it makes it harder to justify staying put and using one premium asset on only one player.<\/p>\n Seahawks Have a Pick Problem Heading Into Round 1<\/p>\n Seattle currently holds just four draft picks: No. 32, No. 64, No. 96 and No. 188.<\/p>\n That is not much flexibility for a contender with multiple spots to address. A trade down would not be about backing away from the chance to add top-end talent. It would be about giving general manager John Schneider more chances to fill real holes on the roster.<\/p>\n And this is where Yates\u2019 point lands. Answering the question \u201cwhich team is most likely to trade down in Round 1?\u201d Yates replied: \u201c\u2026 But the Seahawks are a sensible pick for two obvious reasons. They enter the draft with a league-low four selections and can offer the 32nd pick to another team that wants to secure a fifth year of contract control for a prospect.\u201d<\/p>\n The last pick of the first round is often one of the most movable spots in the draft. Teams looking to jump back into Round 1 for a quarterback, pass rusher or another premium prospect often see value there because of that extra year of contract control. If Seattle can turn No. 32 into more middle-round ammunition, the move would line up with both the board and the roster.<\/p>\n Kenneth Walker III and Riq Woolen Changed the Equation<\/p>\n Walker\u2019s departure alone changed the draft conversation.<\/p>\n Seattle\u2019s offense lost one of its most explosive players, and even if the Seahawks believe Zach Charbonnet<\/a> can handle a larger role once healthy, running back is no longer a spot they can casually ignore. Walker gave Seattle game-breaking speed and finishing ability, and replacing that kind of production is rarely as simple as plugging in the next name.<\/p>\n Woolen\u2019s exit matters too.<\/p>\n Whatever fans thought about his consistency, Seattle still lost a starting-caliber corner with length, range and playmaking traits that are not easy to replace. Josh Jobe<\/a> gives the Seahawks another option, but Woolen\u2019s departure still leaves a premium position looking thinner than it did a year ago.<\/p>\n Add in Mafe\u2019s departure off the edge, and suddenly Seattle\u2019s draft becomes less about chasing one ideal prospect and more about building enough volume to address several needs.<\/p>\n Why Trading Down Could Be Seattle\u2019s Smartest Move<\/p>\n That is why Yates\u2019 take feels more practical than dramatic.<\/p>\n The Seahawks do not need a flashy draft-night headline nearly as much as they need flexibility. With only four picks, every miss would hurt. Trading down from No. 32 could allow Seattle to stay in range for a useful player while adding another selection that helps address running back, cornerback or the pass rush.<\/p>\n For a team trying to stay in contention, that may be the smartest path.<\/p>\n So if the Seahawks move on draft night, the most sensible bet may not be a move up.<\/p>\n It may be exactly what Yates suggested, a move back that gives Seattle more chances to repair the roster after losing some of its biggest names in free agency.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tErik Anderson<\/a> is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Seahawks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Seattle Seahawks may own the final pick of the first round, but ESPN draft analyst Field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-851950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-seahawks","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-seahawks","13":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116342784433805618","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}