Bud Clark’s ballhawking ways could be the key to creating more turnovers for the Seahawks in 2026.
Seahawks 2026 rookie predictions: Will Bud Clark fill Coby Bryant’s role?byJust like their first-round selection, the Seattle Seahawks used their native pick in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft, .
Clark brings Energizer Bunny-like attitude and a penchant for grabbing interceptions to an already stacked Seahawks secondary. Much like Jadarian Price, Bud Clark gets knocked down a peg in his RAS for his weight at only 197 lbs. Clark has a lanky build, looking more like a traditional cornerback than a safety. He has a lot of green in that chart, however, including a very good 40-yard dash time of 4.41 seconds and a “great” explosion grade.
There’s no comps really worth mentioning in either Mockdraftable or RAS so once again I decided to look for some fun ones. These three comps present a Goldilocks scenario in terms of weight for Clark. He’s 15 lbs lighter than Byard, who has a similar athletic profile albeit slower than Bud. Clark is 9 lbs heavier than Dawkins with a markedly better RAS, which surprised me.
Then we have Rod Woodson, who’s just right, both in terms of size and caliber of athlete. I will note that Woodson’s ridiculous 4.33 second 40-yard dash is a noticeable step up from Clark. I’ll state this warning every time - we’re just looking at these comps to get an idea of the overall athletic profile, not the style or aptitude of the player.
Although it would be pretty sweet if Bud Clark had even half as good of a career as either Dawkins or Woodson! Now that we’ve done the random NFL comps at safety, let’s go over the Seahawks-specific ones. Up first would be the man that Bud Clark is expected toAs we can see here, the only thing that Coby has on Bud is some height.
After floating between a few secondary positions, Bryant found his footing as an excellent all-around safety by the time he was finishing his Seahawks career. Clark will hopefully be able to use his athleticism to his advantage in eventually replacing the popular Bryant. While we’re on the topic of athleticism, I’ve heard some lazy narrative about how Bud Clark will unseat Ty Okada as the starting safety opposite Julian Love sooner rather than later based on his athletic advantage.
Would it surprise you to know that Okada from little ol’ Montana State actually has a higher RAS than Bud Clark? Yeah, some of these “experts” didn’t do their research…what else is new? Maybe Clark will take Okada’s spot by the time the regular season kicks off, but it won’t happen because Okada is a poor athlete. He’s also grown up in this system and played really well last season after he settled in when injuries hit the secondary.
Let the competition begin! Clark’s build really reminds me of Marquise Blair, and I had high hopes for him early on. Does anyone remember when he nearly decapitated a member of the Denver Broncos in his first preseason? Bud says he looks up to Kam Chancellor and wants to lay the wood.
Blair showed that you can do that with a similar physical stature. The Earl Thomas RAS is crazy considering how good he was at erasing the entire middle of the field. It shows that RAS isn’t the end-all be-all. I had to throw the Eugene Robinson one in there just because of the size similarities.
I really wish we had an athletic profile on him for comparison purposes. This is the same thing that happened a few years ago with Byron Murphy and John Randall, who also didn’t have testing data. The main point here is that Clark has a superb athletic profile to pair with his ball skills which makes for a very intriguing combination. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t familiar with Bud Clark.
Once Gabe Jacas went off the board at No. 55, I didn’t really have a dog in the fight and was leaning toward a trade down for more bites at the apple. Again, John Schneider tried his best, but there wasn’t a deal that made sense. After all, the Seahawks needed help in the secondary after losing both Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen in the offseason.
Taking all that into account, the selection of Bud Clark fit one of Seattle’s few remaining needs just like first-round running back Jadarian Price. Then, I was able to learn a little more about Bud and quickly jumped all the way on board as ball skills like this will play well in the Pacific Northwest. These are pretty neat…and look, a Kevin Byard sighting! Maybe I wasn’t so far off with my comps after all.
If the wunderkind Super Bowl winning coach is a fan of Bud, count me in. We all saw how he was able to use Nick Emmanwori as a rookie last season, so I imagine Macdonald has a clear vision for Clark. Although I favored a trade back , I’m not going to complain about picking Bud Clark.
He’s got the right temperament to fit in with the Dark Side defense, and will have the opportunity to bring some much-needed turnover potential to the secondary in a post Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen world. Last year, I undersold Nick Emmanwori in my predictions not thinking he would have such a heavy role early on.
Knowing that Mike Macdonald was so fired up about Bud Clark, should I roll with the idea that he’ll be on the field an awful lot come September? I really do think that Clark will end up supplanting Ty Okada, probably as the calendar rolls into November. Before that, Clark will be part of the dime package, essentially replacing Riq Woolen. Clark can play the nickel spot that Devon Witherspoon was playing in Dime, allowing Spoon to stay outside.
Witherspoon, Josh Jobe, Clark, Emmanwori, Love, and Okada could all be on the field at the same time in those Dime looks. That surplus of versatility will allow Macdonald to call some wicked coverages and pressure packages. When it comes to concrete numbers, Clark will end up starting six games with 50 tackles, 2 INTs, 1.0 sacks and 1 fumble recovery which is roughly equivalent to what Okada put up last season.
Bud will bring even more juice to the secondary, helping cause more turnovers and creating a fun vibes dynamic with Spoon.
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