With 4 Top 100 Picks, Seattle Hopes to Cash in on Deep Draft

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — It is down to a final few hours of prepping for Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider ahead of the NFL draft that unfolds starting Thursday.

Seattle will have nine total picks when the draft begins and is hoping to cash in on what experts suggest will be a deep draft class.

The Seahawks picks include the No. 26 overall pick in the first round and four picks among the top 100. After middling draft results in recent years, the Seahawks have needs at a number of positions — most notably on the offensive and defensive lines — that could be solved in the short and long term with a successful weekend of selections.

Since the 2012 draft where the Seahawks landed a bounty of future stars, including quarterback Russell Wilson, Seattle's draft success has fallen off. But that was a transition year when Seattle went from building a championship contender to now trying to maintain its place among the NFL elite.

Schneider says he views this draft as the deepest since arriving in Seattle in 2010. That means there could be more late-round gems for the Seahawks to unearth and potentially more options among undrafted rookie free agents, an area in which Seattle has excelled in finding future contributors.