SEATTLE — When it comes to the NFL draft, it's good to have options.

Six days away from one of pro football's signature weekends, the Seahawks have a few.

They can stand pat with the 25th overall pick and probably get themselves the tight end or big body in the middle of the defensive line that will compete for a starting job or at least be able to contribute right away.

They can trade up to get the player they have rated highest if they feel they absolutely need to have a certain individual and are worried that another team ahead of them will take that player.

Or they can do something that makes perhaps even more sense, given where they sit in the first round — trade their pick for multiple picks in the second round and stockpile picks, with only six for the entire seven rounds and both days of the draft.

The last time the Seahawks traded down in the first round and moved up with a second-round deal, they landed an undersized kid out of USC named Lofa Tatupu, who has since been to three Pro Bowls.

"It really was a story about a guy that plays with heart," said Seahawks president and general manager Tim Ruskell, who oversees Seattle's draft and who made the call to pick Tatupu in his first draft as the Seahawks' top football executive in 2005. "What those coaches said at USC was exactly what he was."

It will be tempting to keep what they have. Unlike last year, the Seahawks have a first-round pick. They traded their 2007 choice to New England for wide receiver Deion Branch. But this time around, they can be active in shopping that pick and already have been, as Ruskell said Friday.

"We would not mind picking up extra picks in this draft," Ruskell said. "We don't have our fifth (round choice), and the extra picks have been good to us. We look at them as gold. If we can drop down a couple spots in the first, second or third round, which is about the only time you really do it and pick up something, then we will look at that every round."

Note to NFL personnel executives this week and on draft day: Have your phones handy.

As always, positional needs — this year a pass-catching tight end, a gap-plugging defensive tackle, a solid rush end, offensive line, running back and wide receiver depth and a long snapper and kicker — will be examined, but best available player is what will be most considered.

"This is one of the few drafts we have gone into where we don't really feel hostage to a position," Ruskell said. "Everybody says tight end. We do like the group that's here. We go into the first round, second round, we can kind of go by our (prospect evaluation) scale.

"We can go any number of ways. We're not just, `We gotta have this one. Gotta have that one.' And that is refreshing."

Ruskell's philosophy has been to build the team through the draft and supplement with free agency. But at Pick No. 25, they aren't likely to get an immediate high-impact player.

Could it be tight ends Dustin Keller or Fred Davis? Former Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart from Lacey, or running backs Rashard Mendenhall or Felix Jones? A defensive tackle like Pat Sims from Auburn or Kentwan Balmer from North Carolina? Or an offensive tackle, with Walter Jones entering his 12th pro season?

Every one of those options makes sense.

"He's going to be a fit in terms of the kind of player that's going to come in here and challenge for a job right away," Ruskell said. "We won't bust from that profile. We're not gamblers. We don't tend to do that. So it won't be a `flash' guy. It will be a solid guy, (who) fits our team.

"Those guys have to play for you. You can't make a mistake," Ruskell added. "The guy has to be something for you. That's our philosophy."

But there are needs. Branch will likely miss training camp. Defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs has been injury-plagued. The ranks at linebacker and special teams are depleted from free agency. The offensive line continues to age and hasn't returned to Super Bowl XL season form.

Yet the front office is committed to going with players that best fit the team, regardless of position. And if they happen to fill needs, even better.

"Every round we are going to think about those positions as we go down the draft," Ruskell said, "but not to the point of going outside of our rating scale to reach and take a need."