![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775458579_696_john-schneider-seattle-seahawks_f68dc7.jpg\")
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(Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Seattle Seahawks<\/a> are the reigning Super Bowl LX champions, but they have holes on their team after key players from last season\u2019s championship run left via free agency.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, with the NFL Draft approaching, the Seahawks can fill those holes. Moreover, as in any draft, players who were supposed to go higher can fall, and that can lead teams to be tempted to trade up for a player who wouldn\u2019t be anywhere near where they\u2019d be drafting.<\/p>\n While that\u2019s certainly a possibility, Seattle Sports\u2019 Mike Salk noted that any decision to trade up shouldn\u2019t come at this one major cost.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NFL 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 Salk wrote in his article that <\/a>was published on April 4. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not necessarily opposed the idea of trading up, but I want to throw two big caveats in that. One, I\u2019m not giving up any of the picks from next year, certainly not next year\u2019s first round. Next 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 Seahawks Get Blunt Message Before NFL Draft<\/p>\n One of the players Seattle decided to let walk as a free agent was Kenneth Walker<\/a> III, who signed with the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. Moreover, Zach Charbonnet<\/a> suffered a torn ACL during the playoff run, and the Seahawks\u2019 running back situation has many question marks to start the 2026\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0season.<\/p>\n Charbonnet\u00a0isn\u2019t expected\u00a0to miss the entire year, but the early part of the campaign will be challenging for Seattle. As a result, the Seahawks likely take a running back at the 2026 NFL Draft. Furthermore, ESPN\u2019s Matt Bowen believes that former\u00a0Arkansas Razorbacks<\/a>\u00a0running back Mike\u00a0Washington Jr. is the perfect team fit.<\/p>\n \u201cWashington could go later on Day 2, but he has the tape and speed to move up into the final slot of the second round. Seattle has a need at the position, as Kenneth Walker III signed with the Chiefs and Zach Charbonnet is still recovering from a torn ACL,\u201d\u00a0Bowen wrote in his article published on March 31<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder\u00a0new coordinator\u00a0Brian Fleury \u2014 who coached with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco \u2014 we should expect a run game that leans on motion and movement in both zone and gap concepts. Washington has the lateral agility to fit in that scheme, and he can dart through daylight with his 4.33 speed. His frame can handle NFL volume, plus he can produce on swings and screens as a pass catcher. Washington averaged 8.1 yards per reception in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n Seattle Named Ideal Fit for Mike Washington Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s name shouldn\u2019t be a surprise, as ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes floated two names that should be on the Seahawks\u2019 radar, and one of them was the former Razorbacks star.<\/p>\n \u201cJust throw out running back because [the Seahawks] really need one,\u201c\u00a0Kimes said on the\u00a0March 18\u00a0edition of \u201cThe Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny.\u201c<\/a>\u00a0\u201cKenneth Walker III\u2019s gone. Zach Charbonnet\u2019s hurt. They brought in Emanuel Wilson<\/a>, who\u2019s just depth. [Seahawks general manager] John Schneider will probably get to do his favorite thing in the entire world, which is draft a running back in the second round.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind, like, Jonah Coleman from Washington, although he apparently is just not athletic testing, which is weird. But he\u2019s a good back\u2026 There are some interesting mid-round backs. We talked about this. Mike Washington Jr., who\u2019s a really, really fast Arkansas back, would be an interesting one for them as well. But it is a glaring area of need.\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 Seattle Seahawks are the reigning Super Bowl LX champions, but they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854923,"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-856496","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":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856496","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=856496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}