{"id":852639,"date":"2026-04-04T04:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852639\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T04:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T04:13:18","slug":"seahawks-2026-nfl-draft-profile-ucf-edge-malachi-lawrence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/852639\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks 2026 NFL Draft profile: UCF EDGE Malachi Lawrence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 3, 2026, 3:59 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Seattle Seahawks are free to chase edges in the 2026 NFL Draft, and won\u2019t be dictated by needs over potential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One edge they could chase is literally shooting for the most upside possible with another edge rusher at No. 32. While T.J. Parker would be a fun choice, he\u2019s no sure thing to be available. Texas A&amp;M\u2018s Cashius Howell played so well in college but his short arms limit his upside. However, Central Florida\u2019s Malachi Lawrence would be no consolation prize.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">NFL.com\u2019s Lance Zierlein <a href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=83224X1595658&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfl.com%2Fprospects%2Fmalachi-lawrence%2F32004c41-5744-2372-4072-f0219bd11c67&amp;xcust=SC1-SSEA&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fseahawkswire.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fseahawks%2F2026%2F04%2F03%2Fseahawks-2026-nfl-draft-profile-ucf-edge-malachi-lawrence%2F89443633007%2F\" data-v-afl=\"\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lists his NFL comparison<\/a> as Josh Sweat. If the Seahawks could get that type of player in this draft, it might be a perfect fit. The profile also mentions him as \u201centicing for pressure-hungry defenses\u201d. Boye Mafe was a pressure monster for the Seahawks last year, but after receiving $20 million\/year in free agency, the Seahawks will need to find a lot of pressures without paying as much. Lawrence could be the ideal replacement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">He has all the physical tools one could want in a next level edge rusher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With elite explosiveness and speed testing all in the 97th-99th percentile range and extensive 33.630 inch arms, he\u2019s in elite company as a prospect.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Of course, if he truly were projected to play at the level of a T.J. Watt or Myles Garrett, he would be taken well before No. 32. Being a smaller-school player and a little more raw actually might cause the perfect storm for Seattle to have a shot at him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 3, 2026, 3:59 p.m. PT The Seattle Seahawks are free to chase edges in the 2026 NFL&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[95878,7,6,238,237,261,2635,96186,96187,95882,107118,96066,95896,95888,95899,96099,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-852639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-seahawks","12":"tag-seattle","13":"tag-seattle-seahawks","14":"tag-seattleseahawks","15":"tag-sstssportsnflseahawks","16":"tag-sstsnseahawks","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagboye-mafe","19":"tag-tagjosh-sweat","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","23":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116344494966614325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852639","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=852639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}