Seahawks take Julian Neal of Arkansas in third round of the NFL draft

RENTON - The Seahawks took care of two needs with one pick at the end of the third round Friday night.

First, they made a trade with the Steelers to move down from 96 to 99 and added pick 216, fulfilling a goal of adding to their haul of four picks they had entering the draft. Seattle also has pick 188 and will now have two in Saturday's final day of the draft and five overall, unless they make another trade to add more.

The Seahawks used pick 99 - a compensatory pick at the end of the third round - to take cornerback Julian Neal of Arkansas, bolstering a spot that took a hit when Riq Woolen signed with the Eagles as a free agent.

The 6-foot-2, 208-pound Neal began his career at Fresno State and was called by Lindy's in its scouting report as "physically imposing.

Neal said the pick may have been preordained, saying that he had a good meeting with the Seahawks at the NFL Combine earlier this year.

"It wasn't a surprise at all after that meeting at the combine," he said during a conference call with Seattle media shortly after the selection was made. "Assistant head coach (Leslie Frazier) told me 'you're most likely going to be picked by the Seahawks, Julian Neal.' He told me that to my face and I believe in 'em and they believed in me. They believed in me. We going back-to-back, c'mon."

Neal displayed a similar bravado to the above statement - one obviously not uncommon to Seahawks cornerbacks in the history of the franchise - throughout his conference call.

Asked what kind of player he is, Neal said "I'm the most physical corner in this draft class and noted he has never been hurt and never missed a game in college due to injury.

Neal, a native of San Francisco, played from 2021-24 at Fresno State but decided to enter the portal after what he called a breakout season his final year with the Bulldogs.

That led to spending the 2025 season at Arkansas where he had 55 tackles and two interceptions while starting all 12 games.

The Steelers used the Seahawks original pick to select guard Gennings Dunker of Iowa.

The pick of Neal was the second of the day for the Seahawks, who picked safety Bud Clark of TCU at 64.

The pick of Clark helps fill out a safety spot after Seattle lost starter Coby Bryant in free agency.

So far all three Seahawks picks in the draft have filled perceived needs. They took running back Jadarian Price of Notre Dame in the first round on Thursday to replace the departed Kenneth Walker III.

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