Seahawks predicted to draft successor to key starter in way-too-early 2026 mock

At this time of year every NFL fanbase has cause for hope - not counting the usual hopeless cases like the Jets and the Browns - and we can probably start including the Saints in that club, as well. For the Seattle Seahawks, there are legitimate reasons to believe this team will be better than they were last year.

Most of all, this will be the team's second season under defensive genius head coach Mike Macdonald, who turned the Baltimore Ravens from a decent D into an NFL-best juggernaut in Year 2 as their defensive coordinator. Pickups like DeMarcus Lawrence and Nick Emmanwori and the addition-by-subtraction of Dre'Mont Jones should only help move things in that direction.

That being said, even an elite defense may not be enough to overcome this team's greatest weakness. Speciically, if your favorite team's offensive line is hot garbage it only takes about 30 seconds for all those offseason hopes and preseason hype to go down the drain come Week 1. Fans of the Seahawks should be well familiar with this dynamic by now, having suffered with perpetually terrible offensive lines for the entire John Schneider era.

Grey Zabel gives the Seahawks one very serious upgrade - at the moment at left guard - but he's only one man and that's not enough to completely turn around what was arguably the league's worst offensive line unit going into the draft. Unless Seattle's super-athletic sixth-round draft pick Mason Richman (who only played tackle at Iowa) becomes the greatest right guard in the world between now and Week 1, odds are this is still going to be a very bad unit.

If that line is as thin as it looks on paper, there's a good chance Seattle will miss out on the NFL playoffs next season yet again, despite scoring an upgrade at QB with Sam Darnold.

It seems a new way-too-early 2026 mock draft scenario from Sports Illustrated is predicting that's what will happen. SI has the Seahawks slated to pick at No. 14 overall, and they use it on Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa with an eye on replacing oft-injured right tackle Abe Lucas.

SI on mocking Francis Mauigoa to Seahawks

"Seahawks right tackle Abe Lucas is a free agent after 2025. Owning a five-star pedigree, Mauigoa has started all 26 games at right tackle since arriving on campus in '23. The 6'6", 315 pounder gave up just one sack and one quarterback hit last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and he's in the mix to be the first tackle off the board next April."

The scouting report on Mauigoa is that he's a freak athlete with violent hands and an exceptional anchor. Hand placement and overagression are mentioned as negatives. Nevertheless, he's expected to grow into a star tackle at the next level.

Francis Mauigoa highlights

Whether the Seahawks are capable of developing even an extremely talented OL prospet is a question worth asking, but all you can do is make the right picks where you need them and hope the new OL coach is finally someone who knows what they're doing.

Bottom line - Seattle needs a mauler at right tackle to make their outside zone game work the way they want it to. If Lucas can stay on the field for most of the 2025 season and his knee doesn't impact him when he is out there he may be worth a long-term investment - but there's already a strong case to start over at this spot given the way things have gone the last two seasons.

SI on mocking Francis Mauigoa to Seahawks

Francis Mauigoa highlights

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