Seahawks reload champion defense with TCU safety Bud Clark, round 2 NFL draft
Mike Macdonald is reloading his Super Bowl-champion defense.
With another rarity in football today amid NIL and transfers galore: A loyal fixture who stayed his entire college career at the same school. And who knows his Seahawks history.
Team legend Cliff Avril announced from the draft stage in Pittsburgh Friday night the Seahawks selected safety Bud Clark from Texas Christian with the 64th-overall choice to end round two of the NFL draft.
The 6-foot, 7/8-inch, 188-pound Clark, whose given name is Jadarius, was a three-time team captain and a second-team All-Big 12 selection last season for TCU. He will compete to replace departed safety Coby Bryant, who left Seattle last month on a free-agent contract with Chicago. Macdonald, the Seahawks’ defensive architect, says Clark will play nickel, slot cover man inside in addition to safety
Clark said when he got the call from Seahawks general manager John Schneider at about 8 p.m. his local time at home in Louisiana Friday night, “my heart dropped in my butt, honestly.”
“Man, it was a dream come true. Dream’s coming to reality,” he said during a notably energetic call about 20 minutes after the Seahawks changed his life.
You could feel the energy coming through the phone all the way from Louisiana.
“Being under Macdonald, you know, that’s the best defensive coach in the NFL,” Clark said.
“Why not?”
The choice of Clark followed Seattle selecting Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price with the final choice of Thursday’s first round. Price also spent his entire career at Notre Dame. Coach Macdonald and general manager John Schneider cited Price’s loyalty to his college program as a factor in the Seahawks selecting him, adding him to Macdonald’s championship locker-room culture.
Clark is known for “elite” skills defending passes in flight, and for flying to ball carriers with violent bursts. If he does what he did at TCU for Seattle, Macdonald will find a place in his multiple defense for Clark. Pronto.
He visited Seahawks headquarters in Renton this spring as a top-30 prospect visit.
“When I came out there, I got to see a couple bald eagles (nesting outside the team building along Lake Washington),” Clark said. “That was something different for me.”
It was his first time in the Pacific Northwest.
“I could used to it,” he deadpanned.
“It was absolutely beautiful there. I went home and I was telling everyone about it the whole time.”
Clark ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine this winter. He said he idolizes Seahawks legendary Legion of Boom charter member Kam Chancellor.
“Oh, yeah. Kam, of course. Because he always brought the pop,” Clark said Friday night by telephone from his mother’s home in Alexandria, Louisiana. “I feel like he was a hammer, not the nail. And that’s what I tried to do all the time I had to play.”
Clark had 214 tackles, 15 interceptions _— “Is that good?” Macdonald deadpan joked Friday night — with 35 pass breakups, four fumble recoveries, and two career defensive touchdowns in his TCU career. He had at least three interceptions in four different seasons. During his sixth and final season of 2025 played in all 13 games with 56 tackles, four interceptions, 11 passes defensed and one touchdown. He said he played some nickel cornerback in the slot and cornerback outside in addition to safety.
Tacoma-based NFL draft guru Rob Rang had this assessment of Clark before the draft for FoxSports.com: “Teams will have to weigh the pros (elite ball skills) versus the cons (spindly 6-foot-1, 188-pound frame) with Clark. His awareness, agility and soft hands he showcased at the Senior Bowl suggest he’ll soon be starting in the NFL.”
The Seahawks have had returning Ty Okada, who started games last season mostly filling in for injured safety Julian Love, poised to replace Bryant starting next to Love in the 2026 season. Macdonald also mentioned Friday night how high Seahawks coaches are on new veteran safety Rodney Thomas, signed last month in free agency from Indianapolis.
Drafting Clark in the second round in a draft Seattle has only five picks adds him to that competition for the job.
Clark turns 24 on May 3. He spent all six of his college years at TCU, finishing as a captain.
And as a dad. The Seahawks are getting a mature rookie who knows there’s more to life than football. So much more.
Clark and his fiance Nesha Cooper have a 3-year-old son, Kenzo. He was born in the middle of his father’s career in the back of TCU’s defense, while he was intercepting 10 passes his last three college seasons.
What’s being a father in his early 20s while a full-time college student playing big-time college football as a captain for a 105-player team taught him?
“Pretty much being patient, man,” Clark said.
He didn’t laugh.
“And there’s a lot more to life, you know? Like, I always wanted to go out, do different things. But I feel like being able to come out with my family is absolutely the best thing in the world, honestly.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Seahawks reload champion defense with TCU safety Bud Clark, round 2 NFL draft."
