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# ‘Whatever It Takes’: Andre Fuller Looking to Soar for Seahawks’ Defense, Special Teams
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/whatever-it-takes-seattle-seahawks-andre-fuller-seattle-seahawks-defense-special-teams/
- Published: 2026-04-28T19:02:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:14:57.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Features, Seahawks, Andre Fuller, 2026 NFL Draft

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1080"\]

![  Toledo Rockets cornerback Andre Fuller prepares for a play during snowy conditions in a regular season game. Credit: Andre Fuller/Instagram  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/590411229_18177510475371009_7417018770268723285_n-format-original.jpg)

Toledo Rockets cornerback Andre Fuller prepares for a play during snowy conditions in a regular season game. Credit: Andre Fuller/Instagram \[/caption\]

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Since he played his last snap at Seminole Ridge High School, Andre Fuller’s football journey has been a unique one, taking him to multiple locations while playing multiple positions along the way.

Tabbed as a zero-star recruit, Fuller started his college chapter at Arkansas Pine Bluff, enrolling with the FCS level Golden Lions in 2020\. The COVID pandemic pushed the scheduled season to the spring in 2021, and after appearing in 16 games over two seasons with the program, he entered the transfer portal, signing up for a little “MAC-tion” with the Toledo Rockets, where he emerged as a late-blooming starter and garnered All-Mac First-Team recognition as a senior.

While his path was by no means easy and featured plenty of detours on and off the field, Fuller’s unexpected ascent from zero stars to the pros became more than a dream on April 25 when, after recouping three selections with trade downs, the Seattle Seahawks selected him with the 236th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

“You’re getting a hard worker, somebody that is willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Fuller told reporters via conference call after being selected by Seattle. “Whatever I need to do for the team to win. Great teammate. Great brother.”

To fulfill his NFL aspirations, Fuller knew he needed to up his game, and while Toledo doesn’t play in a Power 4 conference, the Rockets have earned a reputation as one of the best Group of 5 programs at developing pro-caliber talent. They have been particularly successful at developing defensive backs for the past half decade, including 2023 first round pick Quinyon Mitchell, who earned All-Pro honors with the Eagles last season.

Spending four seasons on campus after leaving Arkansas Pine Bluff, including missing the 2024 campaign due to a core injury that required surgery, Fuller began his time with the Rockets as a nickel cornerback, playing more than 50% of his snaps in the slot in 2022\. He shifted briefly to safety as a rotational reserve in 2023 before eventually settling in as a boundary cornerback for a breakout senior year, allowing under a 43% completion rate and just one touchdown while producing an interception and nine pass breakups in coverage and adding 49 tackles as a willing run defender on the outside.

Per Pro Football Focus charting, among qualified corners with at least 200 coverage snaps at the FBS level in 2025, Fuller ranked eighth in completion rate allowed (42.3%), 26th in passer rating (56.5), and 11th in pass breakups (nine). He also earned the seventh-best run defense grade (89.5) and generated a quarterback hit on five blitz attempts.

After being named an All-MAC selection for the first time thanks to a stuffed stat sheet, Fuller received an East-West Shrine Bowl invite and participated in the NFL Scouting Combine, running a better-than-anticipated 4.49 40-yard dash as part of a strong workout in Indianapolis. Not on NFL radars only a year earlier, that exposure set him up nicely to be drafted, and throughout the pre-draft process, the Seahawks showed as much interest as anyone in him.

This included a pre-draft official 30 visit in late March, making Fuller one of four Seattle draft picks who visited the VMAC and the Emerald City before being selected.

“They liked my physicality and my size, the type of ball player I am,” Fuller said. “Going into the defense, I just love the scheme that they run. Talking to coach \[Karl Scott\], him giving me the installs, teaching me plays, I feel like it will be a great fit for me.”

Selecting four defensive backs over the weekend, the Seahawks added four players, including Fuller, who have prior backgrounds playing multiple positions in the secondary. As coach Mike Macdonald made sure to reiterate after the draft wrapped up on Saturday, versatility can be challenging when it comes to finding the right role for a player defensively, as the team doesn’t want to throw too much on their plate or send them onto the field as a jack of all trades but master of none.

In the case of Fuller, the player himself wasn’t told where he would line up in Seattle at his official visit, and Macdonald and general manager John Schneider didn’t give a direct response on that front either. But the team only had five cornerbacks on the roster prior to the draft and after excelling on the boundary, offering plus size at 6-1, 200 pounds, that would seem to be the best role to maximize his skill set and best position him to compete for a roster spot in the summer.

“I think you're looking at an overall really good football player,” Macdonald commented. “Again, going through the process, meeting with our coaches, it's tricky with the multiple position thing, but the ability to be able to do those things is exciting. Really smart. Just a great football player.”

As Schneider noted, like any late round rookie, Fuller will be expected to cut his teeth on special teams in Seattle, and his performance in that regard may hold the key to whether or not he sticks in August. Fortunately, he received plenty of exposure on the third phase of the ball at Toledo, including 168 snaps on kick coverage, which should help his cause vying for a spot in a highly competitive position group.

But in the aftermath of Riq Woolen leaving for Philadelphia in free agency, there will be a real opportunity for Fuller to show off his chops in coverage as the Seahawks try to figure out the pecking order at cornerback behind starters Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe. With Macdonald loving to play nickel and dime packages with three corners on the field as much as any coach in the league, there will be a wide open battle for that third spot against the likes of Nehemiah Pritchett and free agent signee Noah Igbinoghene that begins in earnest once players return to the field for OTAs in mid-May.

It remains to be seen where Fuller fits into that equation. However, given the journey he took to reach the league, the young defender isn’t lacking in the confidence department, believing his work ethic and talent will allow for him to be a real factor in the competition and match up with the lofty standards that have been set by Macdonald and his coaching staff building a Super Bowl champion.

“You don’t make the Super Bowl just by accident. It takes a lot of hard work and preparation. I feel like the team I’m going to, I’m willing to make that happen again. I’m trying to go back this year, again.”