In the interest of Interesting

The Seahawks will look unlike any Seahawks team of recent memory

The Seattle Seahawks should not make decisions based on what would be the most surprising, most unusual, or most intriguing moves for next season, but as long as they are making these changes with the intention to improve…it doesn’t hurt that they are also more interesting.

Some fans have recoiled at the changes and couldn’t disagree more with that take, most of whom would still love for the Seahawks to prove them wrong:

QB - Geno Smith out, Sam Darnold in

WR - DK Metcalf out, Cooper Kupp in

OC - Ryan Grubb out, Klint Kubiak in

OLB - Dre’Mont Jones out, DeMarcus Lawrence in

The last two changes being more universally welcomed than the first two, Seahawks fans want the team to win playoff games regardless of whether they do it by John Schneider’s rules or their own.

But whether you wanted the team to trade Geno and DK or extend them, an offense with two of the biggest changes in franchise history (this is only Seattle’s second QB change since 2012…and you could almost say it is the third since Matt Hasselbeck’s arrival 24 years ago) is going to make all fans more curious about what will happen in 2025.

For a franchise that has only had a top-5 scoring offense TWICE in the last 40 YEARS, what other chances do you have to be curious as to whether or not these changes will be the ones that make a difference?

Do you know which seasons those were?

As opposed to a fourth year with Geno and DK — plus extensions that would have committed to a fifth and sixth year — the Seahawks are going to attempt a first year with Sam Darnold.

Maybe it will be a spectacular flop. And that too would be interesting.

Here is a snapshot of the Seattle Seahawks offense and defense (courtesy of OurLads) as we head into the second week of free agency. Seattle is bringing in offensive lineman Teven Jenkins (drafted as a tackle, had more success as a guard) on Monday.

Offense

Not pictured: WR John Rhys Plumlee, C Michael Novitsky, TE Brady Russell, QB Jaren Hall, RB Kenny McIntosh, RB George Holani

By meeting with Jenkins next week, the Seahawks are telling us that they don’t intend to enter training camp with only the guards you see above. It would not be surprising if one of those three players (Laumea, Bradford, Haynes) is a Week 1 starter, but it doesn’t feel like two of them will start unless something goes wrong.

The Seahawks haven’t intentionally drafted a guard or a center in the top-50 picks since Max Unger in 2009 and Chris Spencer in 2006.

There are different schools of thought on the Darnold signing, but I tend to agree with the people who think that Seattle wants to try and make it work with him long-term before drafting a quarterback early. The Seahawks could take a QB at 18 if they feel someone is too good to pass up, but the three-year free agent contracts they’ve handed out seem like an attempt to stick to a two-year plan over both 2025 and 2026.

Defense

Not pictured: DT Quinton Bohanna, LB Kenneth Odumegwu, OLB Tyreke Smith, LB Patrick O’Connell, LB Michael Dowell, OLB Jamie Sheriff, S J.T. Woods, S Ty Okada

The defense hasn’t ranked in the top-10 for either points allowed or yards allowed since 2016, but this unit is poised to do just that in 2025.

There are six returning starters who started Week 1 of Mike Macdonald’s first season:

• CB Devon Witherspoon

• DL Leonard Williams

• S Julian Love

• CB Tariq Woolen

• DT Byron Murphy (kinda starter)

• DT Jarran Reed

There are three-ish returning starters who became starters midseason:

• LB Ernest Jones

• S Coby Bryant

• LB Tyrice Knight

• CB Josh Jobe (if we include him, that’s four)

There are two potential upgrades at edge rusher:

• OLB DeMarcus Lawrence

• OLB Uchenna Nwosu (if he accepts a pay cut)

That’s not just continuity, which is important in itself when you have a second-year head coach/defensive coordinator trying to teach his players a system that is totally unique to Macdonald, it’s also the opportunity for improvement by players who are entering their second or third seasons:

Witherspoon and Murphy have the potential to be the two best players on the entire defense, and we don’t know if Knight, Bryant, and Jones have only scratched the surface of how good they could become.

This is before mentioning Boye Mafe, Derick Hall, Cameron Young, Mike Morris, Josh Ross, and others.

If the Seahawks then use their first pick on a cornerback or an edge rusher or a safety, that move has the potential to make a defense that ranked 11th in scoring and 14th in yards last season (compared to 25th and 30th in 2023) even better.

While fans are divided about whether the offensive changes are for the better or the worse, all should agree that anything less than a top-10 defense would be a disappointment…and top-5 looks well within reach.

There were no changes to kicker, punter, or longsnapper, as of yet. Returner jobs will be a competition, as usual.

The Seahawks are done making changes to the roster prior to the draft, but what they’ve already altered is more than enough to make everyone anxious for the end of the offseason.

Seaside Joe 2201