Seahawks 2025 preseason schedule
Seahawks will have joint practices with Packers
The Seattle Seahawks will play their first preseason game of the 2025 season 77 days from now, a home date reunion against Pete Carroll’s Las Vegas Raiders. It is not set in stone that the Seahawks will or won’t hold joint practices with the Raiders before the game, which would setup a fascinating week of storylines, but there’s a little bit of evidence that they won’t.
For one, the Raiders have announced that they will hold joint practices against the San Francisco 49ers ahead of their second preseason game. Since they have come to an agreement with the 49ers already, it is logical to assume that Carroll would have also made an arrangement with Seattle by now.
Number two, the Seahawks have also had a joint practice arrangement announcement: Seattle will hold joint practices against the Green Bay Packers ahead of their third preseason game.
Carroll declined joint practice opportunities while he was head coach of the Seahawks, but Mike Macdonald pivoted the team into the modern era when Seattle practiced against the Tennessee Titans in 2024. What the Seahawks learned from that experience is anyone’s guess — who knew at the time that the Titans would be the worst team in the NFL — but Macdonald said that the practice environment is easier to control for important reps than a preseason game.
"Really it's an opportunity to put it in a setting where you can control the tempos, control the drills, get some high intensity for the guys so they're ready to roll come the opener time. And it's just easier to control them than true game reps. Still working through who is going to play in the preseason and for how much, but a great opportunity if you do it the right way to get some really good competition in and sharpen each other and try to get ready for the regular season."
And this is really the crux of the argument for joint practices:
The value of the preseason has CRATERED over the past couple of decades, while the value of training camp and joint practices has SKYROCKETED.
These days, preseason games are an opportunity to set the backend of a team’s roster and the practice squad. Of course that has value too, but how does the value in that compare to how coaches used preseason games in the 80s, 90s, and 00s?
This chart made by the NFL in 2019 shows a massive decline in starter reps in the preseason over the previous decade:
And this was made six years ago! The reps for starters in the preseason has only gone down more since then, a reality that I believe was popularized by Rams head coach Sean McVay.
Snaps for starters in the first preseason game were halved: 24% to 12%
Snaps in preseason week 2 were nearly halved: 33% to 18%
And in week 3, previously known as “the warm-up game” for starters: 43.5% to 23.6%
Think of it like Bizarro Allen Iverson: In the preseason, “PRACTICE” is actually more important than “THE GAME”.
McVay is the first coach I’m aware of who decided after his first season as a head coach that starters would not play a single snap in the preseason. The Rams went to the Super Bowl that year and have continued to have success (and avoid unnecessary injuries to starters) since then.
It was not long before McVay would also keep his key backups from playing in preseason games too. Aside from letting “less important” rookies get their feet wet, McVay essentially only puts practice squad/offseason roster guys play in the preseason. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford highlighted why the shift from games to practices is so important in this 2023 interview:
“I think as a competitor you always want to play, but at the same time, I totally understand the choice not to,” Stafford said. “Especially with the amount of experiences I’ve had in this league, I feel like I can get myself ready to play without doing that. And with the addition of all the joint practices that teams are doing, you really get some great work in there while being able to keep in somewhat of a safe environment.”
Most of the rest of the NFL has followed suit, instead favoring joint practices over preseason games in order to warm-up starters for the regular season.
Despite this undeniable change within the league in the purpose and value of preseason games, ticket prices have gone up and can still cost $150-$250 each. When in reality, fans would get to see the better players and learn more about the immediate future of the teams by attending training camp and joint practices.
“I think the joint practices are really going to be a good evaluation tool,” Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “What a lot of teams have done throughout the league, sometimes your most competitive snaps and most competitive reps occur during the course of the week. Maybe you handle the game a little bit differently.”
The next evolution of joint practices seems to be reducing the number of days from 2 to 1, which helps avoids second day fights, but generally we can safely assume that one day of practicing against the Packers will teach us more about the 2025 Seattle Seahawks than all three preseason games combined.
We might see Seattle’s starters get one or two drives in the preseason — if 2025 is the same as 2024 — but the bulk of the snaps (over 95%) will be handed out to players who are on the fringes of the 53-man roster. One small exception to that is that I would expect Drew Lock to play most of the snaps at quarterback and Lock will be on the 53-man roster, but only as a backup.
Yes, Jalen Milroe will get a fair share of chances too and those will be the most exciting moments of the Seahawks entire preseason. However, we should also expect that Seattle will see more value in having a quarterback who they know can run the offense and less about developing one player at the cost of all the other offensive players who are fighting to make the roster.
Milroe has already made the roster. Ricky White III and Dareke Young are just hoping that the few passes that come in their direction are accurate.
Especially because the players who are playing in the preseason games, will not get nearly as many snaps or chances to prove themselves in practice.
Seahawks 2025 preseason schedule:
August 7: Raiders at Seahawks, 7 PM PT
August 15: Chiefs at Seahawks, 7 PM PT
August 23: Seahawks at Packers, 1 PM PT
What are your thoughts on the preseason and Seattle’s 2025 schedule and joint practices?
Seaside Joe 2270
What's the first "Seahwks preseason game" memory that comes to mind?
The Raiders doing joint practices with the 9'ers I find very odd. For starters, he NEVER did them in Seattle, and when he was on Brock & Salk a week ago he reiterated he wasn't a fan. And now he's doing them. I find that odd. Maybe Tom Brady talked to him.
I've rarely watched preseason games to watch the starters anyway. I want to see the new guys and the rookies. We'll learn very little about our offense in preseason, other than perhaps a few tidbits about offensive line play and who's holding up. Kubiak will play not a single card with the 9'ers first up in the regular season. Two scoops of vanilla and that's it. No sprinkles, no nuts. Definitely no chocolate topping. No waffle cone. Just call nothing but tush-push plays.
It will be fun to watch Milroe just do the basic stuff. Under center work, footwork, ball out on time, etc. Just the basic easy stuff. Basic play action. See how he's coming along in a near zero pressure situation.