PALO ALTO, CA - NOVEMBER 29: Jadarian Price #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish stiff arms Matt Rose #35 of the Stanford Cardinal during a game on November 29, 2025 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, CA. (Matthew Huang / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. - After the loss of Ken Walker III in free agency this offseason, the Seattle Seahawks used their first-round pick in the NFL Draft to help bolster their running back group.
The Seahawks selected Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price with the final selection of the first-round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night.
"He kind of stood alone," general manager John Schneider said. "Great player. The person's outstanding, the competitor, he's a Seahawk. It's really cool. We were kind of concerned people were going to go ahead of us because we felt like he was so out there in terms of mock drafts and what have you."
Only two running backs were selected in the first round of the draft and both played at Notre Dame. Price was the backup to Jeremiyah Love for the Fighting Irish, who went No. 3 overall to the Arizona Cardinals.
Price had 674 yards on 113 carries with 11 touchdowns last season at Notre Dame in a tandem backfield with Love. He has not been a signficant threat out of the backfield in college, catching just 15 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns in the entirety of his four years at Notre Dame.
However, Price was a kickoff return threat, becoming the first player in Notre Dame history with multiple 100-yard kickoff return touchdowns in the same season.
"One of his super talents is basically just his ability to cutback and crease it," Schneider said. "He has home run speed. He has a lot of explosive runs. He'd returned three kickoffs for touchdowns in his career; Two this year. That's such a unique feel. The USC game was ridiculous. Yeah, just like that. That instant acceleration."
Price has only been a part-time player during his time at Notre Dame, reaching 15 touches in a game just once in 41 college games. However, he would have been a starter at many other schools across college football.
Price said he'd heard from other schools about wanting him to transfer, but he wanted to remain at Notre Dame and compete for another national championship after reaching the title game during his junior season.
"What we had done the year before going to the National Championship, that’s what I wanted to do and that’s why I wanted to stay there," Price said. "But also I made a challenge to myself to split reps with the best player in college football and I did that, and I showed that I can do it at the highest level. Sitting here now, it’s the greatest decision I could have made."
Dane Brugler of TheAthletic.com provided the following scouting report on Price from his annual draft guirde.
Overall, Price isn’t a proven workhorse, but he has NFL starting-caliber talent, with his natural instincts and contact balance. Ball-security issues and a lack of pass-catching production will be areas he needs to address during the draft process.
Schneider didn't seem too concerned about any ball security issues for Price.
"I think it's three times in the last two seasons," he said. "And it's something that – (running backs coach) Thomas Hammock's awesome. He's already talking to him about some of these things in these
Zoom calls. So, yeah. I'm sure it will improve."
Zach Charbonnet and Kenny McIntosh are both recovering from torn ACLs sustained last season. Emanuel Wilson was added in free agency, and George Holani, Cam Akers, Velus Jones Jr. and Jacardia Wright return as running back options for Seattle.
Schneider said it was a priority for the team to add a running back at some point during draft weekend.
"It was important," he said. "We weren't going to completely force it, but it was important. There's still some darn good running backs left. Yeah. We just lost a really good runner in Ken Walker."
Price said Seattle's zone running scheme is a really good fit for him and fits his skill-set well.
"The Seahawks love to run the ball," Price said. "You see what they did in the Super Bowl and what really got them that far and winning it all. You have to run the ball. And what I can do in the backfield and also protecting the quarterback and catching out of the backfield is phenomenal, but also the stretch game. Outside zone, that’s my bread and butter. Just being able to make one, decisive move and get vertical."
Schneider had said they were looking to trade out of the first round to add more picks. However, there were five trades in the picks right before Seattle was on the clock, which might have fully dried up the trade market.
Schneider confirmed that they believed they would be able to move down earlier in the night, but then those opportunities evaporated.
"We thought he had some opportunities for a minute. Fell apart. A lot of trading going on right ahead of us," Schneider said. "It was weird. I thought we were going back for sure."
It leaves Seattle with only three picks left for the remainder of the draft weekend – a second- and third-round pick scheduled for Friday, and one pick in the sixth round on Saturday.
"I did honestly think we were going to be able to move there for a minute around still maybe have a shot at him, but sometimes these things just don't work out," Schneider said.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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