Draft for need or best available? How Seahawks can do both

It’s an age-old NFL Draft question.

Should teams draft to fill a need? Or should they simply take the best available player on the board?

Rost: 5 Seahawks nuggets from NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who recently published his 600-plus-page draft guide known as “The Beast,” was asked Monday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy what direction he expects the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks to go in next week’s draft.

“I think traditionally they’ve done a nice job of blending both,” Brugler said. “They’re not going to force the issue if the right player is not there. But at the same time, they’re focused on, all right, what makes us better not only in 2026 or the next season, but the next few seasons.”

The Seahawks currently have just four picks in this draft – a first-rounder (No. 32), a second-rounder (No. 64), a third-rounder (No. 96) and a sixth-rounder (No. 188). As a result, Brugler and many others expect Seattle general manager John Schneider to look for an opportunity to trade back and acquire additional picks.

But if the Seahawks pick at No. 32, Brugler thinks there could be a natural alignment between need and best available at that spot.

Aside from running back, two of Seattle’s biggest needs are at edge rusher and cornerback. And in Brugler’s overall draft prospect rankings, he has five edge rushers and four cornerbacks ranked between No. 24 and No. 39.

“The Seahawks are in a spot where they can kind of sit back, wait, see who falls with them,” Brugler said.

“It could be a little bit difficult to choose, all right, which direction do we go first?” he added. “But that’s where you let the board fall to you and you trust your board and see, all right, in terms of impact potential, this is who we would draft here in the first round that’s going to make the biggest impact for us – whether it’s a running back, whether it’s a guard, whether it’s a defensive player.

“And so just letting the board fall to them, that’s something where a veteran general manager (like Schneider), he’s been through this a lot of times. He has a good feel for that.”

Listen to the full conversation with The Athletic’s Dane Brugler at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Seattle Seahawks offseason coverage

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