The Seahawks didn’t just spend a fifth-round pick on Beau Stephens. They spent next year’s flexibility, too. And after one preseason, that decision looks a lot shakier than it did on draft day.
John Schneider’s move fit a familiar pattern. In each of the three drafts before 2026, he had added at least one lineman who would eventually play guard in the NFL.
In 2025 alone, he drafted three future NFL guards. Sataoa Laumea, Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman all arrived without having played inside in college, but Seattle saw guard potential in each of them.
Stephens looked like the latest swing at the same spot.
The part that raised eyebrows was the trade itself. Schneider sent a pick in next year’s draft to get the Iowa lineman, which turns Stephens into more of a fourth-round investment than a fifth-round one. That kind of move comes with a cost, and it strips away some of the flexibility Seattle would normally want in April.
At the time, the read was simple: Seattle must have seen something special.
That case is a lot harder to make now.
Stephens is still early in his NFL career, and nobody is pretending otherwise. But after a preseason with plenty of snaps, he has not shown much that screams impact player. The Seahawks may still get something out of him down the line, but right now it’s tough to argue he has looked like a player worth a 2027 fourth-rounder.
That matters even more when you compare him to Anthony Bradford. Bradford was a fourth-round pick in 2023, and while he has his flaws - especially in pass protection - he entered the league at 22, became a starter right away, and in his third season started every game for the Super Bowl champions.
Bradford is also a pending free agent in 2027, which is exactly why Schneider has kept adding options at guard. The Seahawks clearly want answers ready for the future, and that explains the group of Haynes, Cabeldue, Richman and Stephens.
On paper, Stephens checks boxes. He came out of Iowa, the same program that produced Richman, and he was coached there by George Barnett. Iowa’s line won the Joe Moore Award in 2025 as the best unit in the country, and Stephens arrived in the NFL with a reputation as a strong, technically polished blocker.
But the athletic profile is harder to ignore. His arms are very short by NFL standards.
He is not especially quick or nimble. Through the preseason, there has not been much evidence that any part of his game is above average.
Richman, meanwhile, had given Seattle a reason to keep watching. He didn’t light the world on fire as a rookie in 2025, but he entered his second season looking like the best backup interior lineman on the roster. Then he got hurt, and that should have opened the door for Stephens.
Instead, Stephens has not seized it.
Christian Haynes, now in his third year, looks much more active and appears to be Seattle’s first option if Grey Zabel or Bradford goes down. Joash Jones can also handle guard, which pushes Richman - even with the injury - into what looks like the fifth- or sixth-man range on the interior depth chart.
For a pick that effectively cost Seattle a fourth-rounder, that’s not much return so far.
It also stands out that 12 picks after Schneider took Richman, Tampa landed Notre Dame guard Billy Schrauth, a prospect that virtually every scouting service rated higher than Stephens. That doesn’t prove anything on its own.
Schneider has earned enough trust over the years that a bet like this usually comes with some reason behind it. His instincts often pay off.
Still, the board had other interior line talent when he made the trade, and he clearly believed Stephens was the right one.
Maybe that eventually proves true. Richman looked like a completely different player in his second season before getting hurt. But that kind of promise is easy to see in Richman right now, and much harder to find in Stephens.
There was a time when some writers, myself included, floated the idea that Stephens might even pass Bradford this year. That talk has cooled fast. Right now, Stephens looks more like a roster-bubble player fighting for a depth role behind several others.
After one preseason, the Seahawks’ bet on Beau Stephens already looks a lot less convincing.
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