Seahawks take a bold risk to replace a key player they lost in free agency in a new 2026 NFL mock draft
The Seahawks do something no team has ever done in the history of the NFL Draft in a new mock draft.
No one is enjoying the offseason more than the Seattle Seahawks, who have been soaking in their Super Bowl LX victory.
The players still on the roster are enjoying their time off, and the team is hard at work to ensure they are in a good position to defend their throne come the 2026 season. The team has lost some key contributors who helped them hoist the Lombardi trophy last season, though.
A new mock draft from A to Z Sports has the Seahawks taking a risk in order to replace the team’s top free agents who left Seattle in free agency.
Seahawks select Texas A&M Cashius Howell in a new mock draft
“The Super Bowl champion Seahawks lost significant talent in free agency as other teams poached players from their roster. The target on their back is huge, and they will need to use the 2026 NFL Draft to address multiple holes created by it. One of which is at edge rusher, where they lost one of their key rotational pieces in Boye Mafe. Cashius Howell’s arm length makes him a bit of an outlier, but his ability as a speed-rusher off the edge makes him one of the best fits in the class to replace Mafe for Seattle.” – New A to Z Sports mock draft
The Seahawks saw several notable members of last year’s team leave this offseason, including corner Riq Woolen, running back Kenneth Walker, safety Coby Bryant, and, as mentioned above, Mafe. Mafe may get lost in the team’s departures a bit, given how the team deployed their edge rushers last season.
He signed with the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason, and I think it makes a bigger hole on the defensive line than many realize. This makes EDGE one of the top possible options for the team to consider at pick 32. Howell is an interesting prospect because, if you were just going off production, he would be a shoo-in to be drafted in the first round, but other factors at play are impacting his draft stock.
His arm length is a major deterrent, but some may also look at him as a one-year wonder in a sense, because he only had one year of first-round caliber production at Texas A&M. This past year, he finished with 11.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, both of which led the Aggies. This was his second year with the team after making the jump to the SEC from the MAC with Bowling Green. And his first year with the Aggies wasn’t as solid a production, with only four sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.
He did have a big year in his final year with Bowling Green, though, by leading the team with 9.5 sacks and tied for the team high with 10.5 tackles for loss. So if a team can get past his short arms, I do think he has proven enough as a pass rusher to carve out a role in the NFL. Making him an every-down starter may be a tall ask for a lot of teams, but in the Seahawks system, they wouldn’t really have to allocate such a large role to Howell early in his career. Instead, he could be the team’s one-for-one replacement for Mafe, which could make the two a perfect fit in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Edge rusher Cashius Howell’s college stats
- Bowling Green 2021: 4 games, 6 total tackles
- Bowling Green 2022: 13 games, 22 total tackles, 2 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss
- Bowling Green 2023: 13 games, 28 total tackles, 9.5 sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss
- Texas A&M 2024: 13 games, 40 total tackles, 4 sacks, 8.5 tackles for loss
- Texas A&M 2025: 13 games, 31 total tackles, 11.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss
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