Seahawks 2026 Draft Predictions: Is Emmanuel Henderson Jr The New Special Teams Ace?

After breaking the seal on trades with the move into the fifth round for Beau Stephens, John Schneider continued his trading ways by sending No. 188 to the New York Jets for No. 199 and No. 242. With that pick at No. 199, the Seattle Seahawks selected wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr from Kansas. Henderson was a special teams stud at Kansas and will need to excel in that role to make the Seahawks roster in 2026.

Athletic Profile/Comps

Relative Athletic Score (RAS)

Mockdraftable

Henderson’s overall “Okay” RAS is buoyed by his speed testing, as that’s the only green in the chart. The Mockdraftable graph backs that up with the 73rd percentile 40-yard dash time with all other metrics under the 50th percentile. Henderson’s “Poor” agility times are a concern especially when you consider that he’s not a big-bodied WR at 185 lb. The good thing is that Henderson will be mostly running in a straight line as a gunner on the punt team, a role that he excelled at in college going back to his days at Alabama. 

Another former Crimson Tide wide receiver is Jerry Jeudy and it turns out that’s not the only similarity between Jeudy and Henderson as they’re close athletic comps in damn near every RAS category. 

Jeudy is a little taller and heavier, but just 0.01 seconds slower than Henderson in the 40-yard dash. They have identical 20 and 10 splits, verticals, and broad jumps. Jeudy also turned in an even worse shuttle time than Henderson. All-in-all, that’s about as close of an athletic comp as we’re going to see. 

This next one is for all you NFL historians out there. 

Y’all remember Don Beebe?

Outside of Buffalo or Green Bay (where he became somewhat of a local legend), you might not! Beebe was known for his speed and special teams ability, something that Henderson will look to replicate. As you can see, Henderson is taller and heavier than Beebe, while a touch slower. Beebe’s shuttle blows Henderson’s away, but again, we have another very close comp in terms of athleticism. 

Want another deep cut that popped into my mind for some reason?

I was thinking about how Henderson’s build looks on the field and remembered FredEx. Looks like my hunch was right since we’ve got close size and speed comps once again – Henderson also wearing No. 84 is another fun coincidence! Mitchell’s agility and vertical is better creating the disparity in overall RAS. I really thought that Mitchell did more in the NFL, but I guess it was just the one really famous play that stood out…

Of course Field Gulls would remember FredEx!

It takes a special (pun-intended) player to make his living on special teams. How does Henderson compare to one of the all-time greats?

Hey, not too shabby! 

Henderson is taller and lighter than Slater with an identical 40-yard dash time. They also have close agility and explosion scores. I would be naive if I said that these factors alone qualify Henderson as a potential special teams lifer similar to Slater, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. 

Here’s the place in the article where we look specifically at former Seahawks, this time with a focus on special teams prowess. 

The first two, Bannister and Obomanu, are much more in line athletically with Henderson, but both were bigger WRs. They pale in comparison to Lockette and Young, who not only dwarf Henderson in size, they also boast a much more impressive athletic profile. We’ve seen that being a great athlete isn’t always the most important factor for success, but it sure doesn’t hurt. 

We’ll finish the comps with some other previous Seahawks WRs that I was curious about. 

Butler and Richardson aren’t bad since they’re in the same realm as deep threats with slight builds. We have no testing numbers for Taco Wallace, but I really just wanted to bring him up, and he’s within the size range!

Henderson has enough long speed to be a deep threat as a WR and an effective gunner on punt team. 

Gut reaction to the pick

Seattle has a pretty stacked WR room, so they must have really seen something in Henderson to spend another pick at the position – likely it’s his special teams ability. This comes one season after drafting Ricky White III for a similar reason. Special teams is often called a “hidden” part of the game, but that’s hardly the case in Seattle. They know how important that third phase of the game is, and if they’re willing to spend more draft capital to improve that aspect, I’m here for it. 

Rookie season prediction

Henderson’s spot on the roster isn’t etched in stone, particularly with the depth at the WR position. He’s already behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Rashid Shaheed, Tory Horton, and Jake Bobo. That’s five WRs who are basically “locks” for the final roster. If Seattle chooses to keep six WR on the final 53, Henderson will need to beat out guys like the White’s (Cody and Ricky) and recently acquired Irv Charles. Ricky was a college special teams phenom just like Henderson, and Charles might be the best of the bunch having already proven himself at the NFL level.

The fact that the Seahawks traded for Charles even with all these other options for a roster spot that’s not even guaranteed means that the competition will be fierce. Because of that, Henderson won’t make the 53-man roster in 2026. Just like Ricky White last season, Henderson will be kept around on the practice squad all year with the chance to make the squad in 2027.