![\"Boye](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/boye-mafe-seattle-seahawks.jpg\")
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(Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The upcoming NFL Draft will allow the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> to fill the holes left by players who were key in their Super LX run, but left this offseason in free agency. <\/p>\n One player who left was edge rusher Boye Mafe<\/a>, who signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>, per The Athletic<\/a>. <\/p>\n Mafe turned in a solid 2025 season for Seattle, finishing with a 69.2 overall PFF grade<\/a>, which placed him 46th among 115 edge defenders. He posted a 68.7 pass-rush grade and a 65.1 mark against the run.<\/p>\n As a pass rusher, he generated 40 total pressures, highlighted by two sacks, 36 hurries, and a pair of hits. He also contributed 21 solo tackles in run defense and came away with one forced fumble.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, to replace this production, Evan Winter of A to Z Sports predicted the Seahawks will take former Oklahoma Sooners<\/a> edge rusher R Mason Thomas. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Seahawks lost Boye Mafe in free agency and DeMarcus Lawrence<\/a> turns 34 a few days after the draft, so Mike Macdonald\u2019s defense needs a pass rusher for both the short- and long-term,\u201d Winter wrote in A to Z Sports\u2019 mock draft that was published on April 5<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cEnter R Mason Thomas, who\u2019s one of the draft\u2019s twitchiest and fiercest pass rushers. This would be the first time the Seahawks picked an EDGE in the first round under Macdonald, so there\u2019s not much precedent to go off of when talking about body style and whatnot.\u201d<\/p>\n R Mason Thomas Would Fit Seattle\u2019s Defensive System<\/p>\n Thomas put together a strong 2025 season for the Sooners, earning an 85.3 overall PFF grade<\/a>. He was especially effective rushing the passer, posting a 90.4 grade, while his run-defense grade was 79.4.<\/p>\n He finished with 28 total pressures, including six sacks, 19 hurries, and three hits. Against the run, he added 14 solo tackles and forced one fumble. As a result, Winter believes that this production would be ideal for Seattle to help replace Mafe.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is known, however, is Mason Thomas\u2019 fit in this defense,\u201d Winter added. \u201cHe\u2019d immediately give the pass a rush a boost as a specialist and can certainly turn into an early-down defender as time progresses. It would be so much fun watching Macdonald help Mason Thomas wreak havoc against opposing offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n Seahawks Get Clear Warning Ahead of NFL Draft<\/p>\n Like every draft, some prospects slide further than expected, which can tempt teams to move up for a player they never thought would be within reach.<\/p>\n That could be the case here, but Seattle Sports\u2019 Mike Salk pointed out that if the Seahawks consider trading up, it shouldn\u2019t come at the expense of one key factor.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NFL<\/a> draft is less than three weeks away, and one of the things I keep hearing is people excited about the idea of the Seattle Seahawks trading up from pick No. 32 in the first round,\u201d\u00a0Salk wrote in his article that\u00a0<\/a>was published\u00a0on April 4.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not necessarily opposed\u00a0the\u00a0idea of trading up, but I want to throw two big caveats in that.\u00a0One,\u00a0I\u2019m not giving up any of\u00a0the picks from\u00a0next year, certainly not next year\u2019s\u00a0first round.\u00a0Next year is supposed to be an incredible draft.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is supposed to be a mediocre draft where there are starters, not stars. If you got the opportunity to get stars next year, I want to take as many of those as possible, so please do not trade away certainly your first-round pick for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/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 (Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images) The upcoming NFL Draft will allow the Seattle Seahawks to fill the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-856428","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\/116356252973389184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856428","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=856428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}