SBNation Reacts Results: Fans expect Seahawks to draft for the trenches

It’s the first draft of the post-Pete Carroll era, and fans expect the Seattle to add guys up front on Day 1.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Each week we ask questions of the most plugged-in Seattle Seahawks fans and fans across the country.

The long wait is finally over, as NFL teams head to Detroit for the 2024 NFL Draft. Fans have spent months concocting the perfect plan to improve their teams ahead of the 2024 season, and tonight front office personnel from across the league will take to the stage to begin a three-day process of stomping the life out of those hopes and dreams.

Fear not, though, as fans will readily talk themselves into believing the hype and upside of the prospects their favorite team does select in the coming days, and hold onto the belief in potential and upside longer and stronger than is likely warranted in most cases.

With that being the case, the overwhelming majority of Seattle fans expect the team to use its first pick to build in the trenches, though sentiment is split as to whether the trench player selected will be on the offensive or defensive side of the ball.

Of course, one of the big questions is whether Seahawks general manager John Schneider will actually make a pick in the first round, or whether he will trade down in order to add additional picks over the remainder of the draft. The Hawks had traded down almost religiously for years, but have stayed and selected every time they they have come on the clock in the first round since 2020. The players added on Day 1 since then include Jordyn Brooks, Charles Cross, Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Seattle should have no shortage of quality players available at 16 should they decide to make a pick instead of trading down.

Staying and making a selection, however, is not what most fans believe the team will do.

Trading down would allow Schneider and Mike Macdonald to add to their stockpile of picks to replenish the roster, and given fans expect the Hawks to trade down it makes sense that fans expect the team to finish the draft having selected more than seven players.

It’s only a few hours before fans learn what the Seahawks actually opt to do on Day 1, and Field Gulls will work to keep fans up to date on all the news and reactions.

Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.