The Seattle Seahawks went secondary on Day 2 as they drafted safety Bud Clark in Round 2 and cornerback Julian Neal in Round 3. As a result, Seattle is hoping these two are part of the secondary that will give opposing offenses trouble in the passing game.
Although the 2026 NFL season is still a few months away, Day 1 of rookie minicamp is underway for the Seahawks. On May 1, Clark spoke with the Seattle media and shared his thoughts on Neal, whose size made an impression on the safety when they first met.
“Honestly, I feel like it’s going to be a great duo between me and Julian for sure,” Clark said to reporters. “[When I first met Neal] I was like, ‘Who is this big old corner, bro?’ I was trying to see because I’m a safety, and he’s bigger than me.
“I was like, ‘You’re sure big, dog.’ But getting to know him has been amazing. I feel like we’ve grown our friendship and our bond as teammates, so I think we’re going to be great together.”
Last season for the Arkansas Razorbacks, Neal turned in a 79.5 overall PFF defensive grade, ranking 82nd out of 896 qualified cornerbacks. His 76.5 coverage grade placed 162nd, while his 85.9 mark against the run ranked 36th at the position.
He picked off two passes and broke up eight more. When targeted, opposing quarterbacks posted an 82.5 passer rating and completed 27 passes against him. Moreover, Neal added 42 solo tackles.
Marcus Freeman Gets Blunt About Jadarian Price
Before Seattle took Neal and Clark on Day 2, the Seahawks opted to go for a running back on Day 1, selecting former Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jadarian Price at No. 32 on April 23.
During an April 30 appearance on Seattle Sports, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman let Seahawks fans know what they are getting in Price.
“[Price is] a complete running back, and what I love about him is his ability to make explosive plays,” Freeman said. “His ability to get east and west and then vertical is as fast as anybody I’ve ever seen.
“He can truly outrun a defense horizontally and then get vertical at the drop of a dime, and then he brings so much special teams value. He’s had multiple kickoff returns for touchdowns, and at any moment, he’s a home run threat. That’s in multiple phases of the game.
“The other thing he’s doing is improving out of the backfield, catching the football. He’s becoming a guy you can depend on to throw the ball to out of the backfield. He’s getting better at pass protection. I still think he has a ceiling that’s higher than what he’s even hit yet, and his best is yet to come.”
Seahawks’ Jadarian Price Gets Big Prediction
Now that Price is in the fold, ESPN’s Brady Henderson shared that he sees the Seahawks giving Price an important role right out of the gate.
“I believe them when they say that they’re high on what they’ve got, or what they had there before Price and [George] Holani,” Henderson said during an April 24 appearance on Seattle Sports. “They really feel like he can be a No. 2, and they’re obviously excited about Emanuel Wilson, the guy they signed in free agency.
“But they also signed him to a very inexpensive one-year contract. Even if you feel good about both of those guys as kind of the No. 2, you still need a No. 1. You need somebody to fill that co-No. 1 role, that role that Walker filled last season.
“This will be something of a jump for Price, but it’s not like he’s going from a backup to a bell cow. They’re not going to ask him to carry the ball 25-plus times a game, but I think they’re going to ask him to kind of slide into that Ken Walker III role and be that co-No. 1 guy.”
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