Because I was reared on Dean Silverstone's Super Star Championship Wrestling — best two out of three falls, or two a TV time limit! — here's the story I would write for our (ahem) heated rivalry with the Rams: They beat us for the NFC title this year, win the Super Bowl. We beat them in 2027, win the Super Bowl, become a true dynasty.
I don't actually think Stafford lasts that long. They are only rivals so long as his back holds up, and the man is 38 years old. The Seahawks, however, seem built to last a good long while.
The question I ask here is what injuries would be fatal - dropping us at least an inch below the Rams?
QB injury, for just about any team. We protect Sam pretty well, so not too worried. But, stuff happens, AB brain cramp, whatever.
JSN injury? Probably the biggest loss, on offense anyway, right? Not sure we get to a #1 seed without him. He’s the difference maker on offense.
Emmanwori or Witherspoon go down: we survived without DW for 5 games. We survived a bunch of injuries in the secondary - but we had all those guys back for the playoffs. And we may be starting the season with less overall talent/depth without Riq and Coby. After this year, I trust the “system” to compensate for injuries in the secondary, though we lose an edge if either of these guys goes down. But there’s upside: Emmanwori in year 2, settling in, imposing domination.
Murphy and Leo: Murph is the straw that stirs the drink. Our D is built on 4-man pressure, starting with Murph destroying the interior. Might be the one guy we can’t afford to lose on D. Leo next in line. We do have depth on the D-line, but it’s all about rotation for these guys, so a couple key injuries would be rough.
I see us devoting 1 draft pick per year to our DLine and our Oline to keep a progression going. Leo and JReed will be wearing out. Rookies like Murph get the full focus in their second year to custom-made stunts. It acts like relief to the older Vets and motivates Rookies, especially now as we see how well the design worked for Murph this last year. I suspect promises have been made to our Edge guys for this next year. Expectations are then set in stone. Meet those and they'll be secure in their position.
Losing Kubiak is the only change I'm really worried about. He proved himself to be good at his job as the season progressed. He did well to implement his offense, provided good game-day preparation, and was mostly successful calling plays and making adjustments in-game and week-to-week. As a Seahawk fan, I'm hopeful that Fleury will be even better, but we don't know anything yet. We probably won't know until sometime in the second half of the season either.
Fleury will have to adjust to what has been built this last year. Progression demands we eventually pull the next man up from in-house, fully familiar with what we've built. Kubiak did well to build (finally!) a Running Game, along to showing he could adjust Play-Calling during live action in real time. Fleury will prove himself better at Play calling than Kubiak. We can expect success at OC will see him gone the following year, so make that a Strength our coaching staff can understand.
What could go wrong? I think the most likely thing would be horrible injury luck.
I don't see a consequential defensive backslide, largely because Mike Macdonald, and the fact that the core of the defense is still in place, and certain youngsters are still coming into their own. They may not be the #1 overall defense, but they'll be in the mix. Macdonald will continue to evolve and adjust as offenses adjust to him. He does need to figure out what McVay is doing to him so it's not so hard to watch Rams games any more.
On offense, I don't really worry about Fleury. It's not Kubiak's offense anymore, or Fleury's. It's the Seahawks offense. Regardless of who is the OC, this will be the offense that Mike Macdonald wants it to be. Fleury may evolve it (I hope he does), but it will still be a version of the Seahawks offense. I think that was the biggest evolution from year 1 to year 2 for Coach Mike. He 'owned' the offense just like he owned the defense, and then he trusted Kubiak not to f it up.
We'll play a #1 seed schedule this year, so there's always a chance we lose a few more ball games, but it'll all come down to December and January. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Enjoy the journey. Last year was fun, and I learned not to overthink the team. Just have a little faith and see what happens.
I think one thing left out concerning the Defense is that Mike MacDonald is a unicorn. His defense won at Michigan, at Baltimore, and in Seattle. When he left Michigan and Baltimore, so did the dominating Defense.They learned from him, but couldn't replicate it without him. He's not static, he is ever changing and adjusting to counteract the opponents offensive schemes.
Our offense playing against that Defense improves our Offense.
He's a Defensive and coaching genius and has put new people around him this year that will compliment his program and make it even better. The difference between past dominant defenses faltering and this Defense is Mike MacDonald.
He's learned from the Rams success against us and has a plan to change that already. He creates schemes that defeat the best. He used the same defensive scheme that the Rams used to intercept Darnold at the goal line against them. He looked like we were rushing 9 and only rushed 2 on 4th down. Everybody else dropped back to defend the pass. Spoon knocked it down and almost had an Int.
Agree that Darnold was always good and the surrounding cast and coaches were the difference. He has improved obviously and has learned from mistakes. No turnovers in the playoffs through to the SB is a first time ever happening in NFL history.
Offense could be better this year with Horton back, more time to sync with Shaheed, and also more time with Kupp and Arroyo.
The run game improved greatly last year when Outten took over the run game and Benton got the O line in sync. Both coaches are back and will improve consistency, plus probably some improvement at RG.
On the defense, I do agree with you but I’d say the one team we most need to worry about (Rams) torched our defense worse than just about any defense in the league. We gave up 581 yds in that 38-37 OT game (literally the most yards given up by any team in a game last year) and then we doubled down giving up 479 against them in the playoffs. We won both of those games thanks to the offense but it’s sobering.
Did it in spite of the Riq Woolen effects. One minute he's a shut-down CB, the next he's giving up big yardage and TDs. Damn hard for MM to adjust his play calling.
I disagree a bit on Darnold always being as good is he is now. As talented? Sure, but the position seems hard enough to play that I can't believe players don't improve over time assuming the talent is there.
“I think he’s always been this good. No matter how good you think Darnold’s “good” is, he probably hasn’t changed as much as the stats imply. “
Completely agree with this and the whole section of the article. Will be very interesting to see what happens with the run game next year.
They still could draft a RB high. sounds like they like Holani also. So… we will see - should be interesting. I think K9 is cheap at $15M. I would’ve kept him.
There are always good players available after cut down day. This year will be no different. There are a couple of RBs in the draft I really like. Maybe JS can trade up for one. Repeating for the SB will depend on injuries. Who and for how long !
I’m sorry but I loved season 3 of True Detective. Season 1 was definitely exceptional and amazing but I certainly would not call Season 3 unwatchable. Season 2 was definitely unwatchable.
The Seahawks have been rather inactive in free agency so far. And as SSJ has already pointed out, we don’t need to invest much in rookies this year.
Could this scenario therefore be conceivable:
The Seahawks carry as much cap space as possible into the new season in order to offer JSN and Spoon high-value contracts, with the majority of the guaranteed money falling in the first year. By carrying over this year’s cap, this is easier to manage and places less of a burden on the overall cap over the duration of both players’ contracts.
Yeah, but I could see both things kinda happening. JS will keep some cap space at the ready for midseason replacements and whatever other opportunities crop up, but they could at least front-load one of those two big contracts this season to spread the hit out.
I fully expect JS to improve the RB situation. Next month, many teams will draft young RBs. Many of those teams have bad OLs. Many of those rookie RBs will look impressive in preseason. Coaches will talk them up. Media will gush. Fans will fall in love, and will believe that the new guy will change their fortunes. The older RB with modest stats will be pushed aside before there is any threat of a new, expensive contract.
JS will be looking for traits over results. He and his scouts will find RBs who are undervalued, due to playing behind bad lines. It might be a trade. It might be a waiver wire opportunity. It might be a practice squad smash and grab. Whatever the method, JS will acquire a new RB1A.
It could be a draft pick, depending on who falls into our lap, but I get the feeling that JS would prefer to draft for defense this in 2026. The 2025 draft tilted heavily toward offense, so he’s likely to look for a rebalance.
I don’t think JS knows where RB1A will come from. The decision depends too much on the moves of the other 31 teams. But I expect a move that delivers some seriously good value.
The move might not come until September or even October. Hopefully, patience will pay off.
I think our starting RB is in this draft. I also think that's what JS believes.
Tangential thought, if Damien Martinez had been who we hoped he was, picked in the 7th last season, this might be a whole different conversation. (But he wasn't, alas.)
The advantage of getting a true RB1 in the draft is that you own his rookie contract for a number of years. Also, he gets into a system of shared carries from day 1.
With luck, you find him late, but you can’t count on that. Let’s say you need to spend a 1st or move up in the second to get a likely star. JS has few picks this year, so that takes away opportunities at other positions, like edge.
It could be possible to trade for an undervalued RB without breaking the bank. Trading for a strong edge player could cost an arm and a leg.
Maybe the most likely scenario is a late round pick at RB with fingers crossed. Maybe the player is from a small school or dropped due to injury. If he shines, it’s job done. If not, the trade scenario emerges. That gives a couple of opportunities, and we’d still have the first three picks for other positions.
Then again, if the dream RB falls into the team’s lap, we spend the 1, 2, and/or 3 pick.
Problem for me in the draft is where the players fall, either above or below where we pick, or in rounds for which we have no picks. I'd love to drop out of 32 into the top of the second round, where we should still be able to pick either Edge or CB or possibly WR, depending on how it all falls. Or Safety, I suppose. (In that order, I guess, since that's how i typed it.) The players who most intrigue start showing up in the fourth round, and below. I have a weakness for long-shots (I once bet every horse in the tenth race at a harness track, and would have come out ahead had the favorites not all come in; a cheap lesson.)
Anyway, with RB, New Guy from Green Bay sorta throws my preliminary thoughts into disarray. I was looking for power, not speed. Most of the speed comes with smaller hands, which I don't favor. Speed guys on my list (Washington isn't on my list because of ball control issues) include Claiborne (151), J'maki Taylor (166), Adam Randall (275, and a glorious project of a player, converted last season from WR). Price, who some argue we should take at 32, was 51, last time I looked, and ran a 4.49, which isn't all that. Coleman, who I should maybe let go of, is at 59 on that list (probably outdated), and is credited somehow -- he didn't run at the combine -- with a 4.5. I dunno.
I think it’s a good thing that they have changed the OC. All teams become predictable. They look at the plays the OC favors and plan the defense to combat it.
Remember the game( I forget who said it ) than one of the Seahawks said they knew the plays because of the way they setup ? Change can be a good thing.
That was said about the last play of the Seahawks-Patriots SB, where Butler intercepted Wilson at the goal line. They had seen that play, were looking for the play and jumped it. Game over!
Because I was reared on Dean Silverstone's Super Star Championship Wrestling — best two out of three falls, or two a TV time limit! — here's the story I would write for our (ahem) heated rivalry with the Rams: They beat us for the NFC title this year, win the Super Bowl. We beat them in 2027, win the Super Bowl, become a true dynasty.
I don't actually think Stafford lasts that long. They are only rivals so long as his back holds up, and the man is 38 years old. The Seahawks, however, seem built to last a good long while.
The question I ask here is what injuries would be fatal - dropping us at least an inch below the Rams?
QB injury, for just about any team. We protect Sam pretty well, so not too worried. But, stuff happens, AB brain cramp, whatever.
JSN injury? Probably the biggest loss, on offense anyway, right? Not sure we get to a #1 seed without him. He’s the difference maker on offense.
Emmanwori or Witherspoon go down: we survived without DW for 5 games. We survived a bunch of injuries in the secondary - but we had all those guys back for the playoffs. And we may be starting the season with less overall talent/depth without Riq and Coby. After this year, I trust the “system” to compensate for injuries in the secondary, though we lose an edge if either of these guys goes down. But there’s upside: Emmanwori in year 2, settling in, imposing domination.
Murphy and Leo: Murph is the straw that stirs the drink. Our D is built on 4-man pressure, starting with Murph destroying the interior. Might be the one guy we can’t afford to lose on D. Leo next in line. We do have depth on the D-line, but it’s all about rotation for these guys, so a couple key injuries would be rough.
I'm wondering, after the superbowl, do teams plan against Witherspoon blitzes? It's a new weapon for us...
I see us devoting 1 draft pick per year to our DLine and our Oline to keep a progression going. Leo and JReed will be wearing out. Rookies like Murph get the full focus in their second year to custom-made stunts. It acts like relief to the older Vets and motivates Rookies, especially now as we see how well the design worked for Murph this last year. I suspect promises have been made to our Edge guys for this next year. Expectations are then set in stone. Meet those and they'll be secure in their position.
Losing Kubiak is the only change I'm really worried about. He proved himself to be good at his job as the season progressed. He did well to implement his offense, provided good game-day preparation, and was mostly successful calling plays and making adjustments in-game and week-to-week. As a Seahawk fan, I'm hopeful that Fleury will be even better, but we don't know anything yet. We probably won't know until sometime in the second half of the season either.
Fleury will have to adjust to what has been built this last year. Progression demands we eventually pull the next man up from in-house, fully familiar with what we've built. Kubiak did well to build (finally!) a Running Game, along to showing he could adjust Play-Calling during live action in real time. Fleury will prove himself better at Play calling than Kubiak. We can expect success at OC will see him gone the following year, so make that a Strength our coaching staff can understand.
What could go wrong? I think the most likely thing would be horrible injury luck.
I don't see a consequential defensive backslide, largely because Mike Macdonald, and the fact that the core of the defense is still in place, and certain youngsters are still coming into their own. They may not be the #1 overall defense, but they'll be in the mix. Macdonald will continue to evolve and adjust as offenses adjust to him. He does need to figure out what McVay is doing to him so it's not so hard to watch Rams games any more.
On offense, I don't really worry about Fleury. It's not Kubiak's offense anymore, or Fleury's. It's the Seahawks offense. Regardless of who is the OC, this will be the offense that Mike Macdonald wants it to be. Fleury may evolve it (I hope he does), but it will still be a version of the Seahawks offense. I think that was the biggest evolution from year 1 to year 2 for Coach Mike. He 'owned' the offense just like he owned the defense, and then he trusted Kubiak not to f it up.
We'll play a #1 seed schedule this year, so there's always a chance we lose a few more ball games, but it'll all come down to December and January. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Enjoy the journey. Last year was fun, and I learned not to overthink the team. Just have a little faith and see what happens.
I think one thing left out concerning the Defense is that Mike MacDonald is a unicorn. His defense won at Michigan, at Baltimore, and in Seattle. When he left Michigan and Baltimore, so did the dominating Defense.They learned from him, but couldn't replicate it without him. He's not static, he is ever changing and adjusting to counteract the opponents offensive schemes.
Our offense playing against that Defense improves our Offense.
He's a Defensive and coaching genius and has put new people around him this year that will compliment his program and make it even better. The difference between past dominant defenses faltering and this Defense is Mike MacDonald.
He's learned from the Rams success against us and has a plan to change that already. He creates schemes that defeat the best. He used the same defensive scheme that the Rams used to intercept Darnold at the goal line against them. He looked like we were rushing 9 and only rushed 2 on 4th down. Everybody else dropped back to defend the pass. Spoon knocked it down and almost had an Int.
Agree that Darnold was always good and the surrounding cast and coaches were the difference. He has improved obviously and has learned from mistakes. No turnovers in the playoffs through to the SB is a first time ever happening in NFL history.
Offense could be better this year with Horton back, more time to sync with Shaheed, and also more time with Kupp and Arroyo.
The run game improved greatly last year when Outten took over the run game and Benton got the O line in sync. Both coaches are back and will improve consistency, plus probably some improvement at RG.
On the defense, I do agree with you but I’d say the one team we most need to worry about (Rams) torched our defense worse than just about any defense in the league. We gave up 581 yds in that 38-37 OT game (literally the most yards given up by any team in a game last year) and then we doubled down giving up 479 against them in the playoffs. We won both of those games thanks to the offense but it’s sobering.
Did it in spite of the Riq Woolen effects. One minute he's a shut-down CB, the next he's giving up big yardage and TDs. Damn hard for MM to adjust his play calling.
I disagree a bit on Darnold always being as good is he is now. As talented? Sure, but the position seems hard enough to play that I can't believe players don't improve over time assuming the talent is there.
Yes, let's please avoid the "pumpkinification" of Sam Darnold!! SSJ that's awesome!! :-D
“I think he’s always been this good. No matter how good you think Darnold’s “good” is, he probably hasn’t changed as much as the stats imply. “
Completely agree with this and the whole section of the article. Will be very interesting to see what happens with the run game next year.
They still could draft a RB high. sounds like they like Holani also. So… we will see - should be interesting. I think K9 is cheap at $15M. I would’ve kept him.
Good stuff
There are always good players available after cut down day. This year will be no different. There are a couple of RBs in the draft I really like. Maybe JS can trade up for one. Repeating for the SB will depend on injuries. Who and for how long !
I’m sorry but I loved season 3 of True Detective. Season 1 was definitely exceptional and amazing but I certainly would not call Season 3 unwatchable. Season 2 was definitely unwatchable.
The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The alcoholic says “Are you going to finish that?”
But what does the optometrist say?
"It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-shiny season..."
The glass is refillable!!!
The Seahawks have been rather inactive in free agency so far. And as SSJ has already pointed out, we don’t need to invest much in rookies this year.
Could this scenario therefore be conceivable:
The Seahawks carry as much cap space as possible into the new season in order to offer JSN and Spoon high-value contracts, with the majority of the guaranteed money falling in the first year. By carrying over this year’s cap, this is easier to manage and places less of a burden on the overall cap over the duration of both players’ contracts.
Aren’t we required to spend a lot this year? As I recall there was an article about the amount of cash spending the Seahawks had to make this year.
Yeah, but I could see both things kinda happening. JS will keep some cap space at the ready for midseason replacements and whatever other opportunities crop up, but they could at least front-load one of those two big contracts this season to spread the hit out.
You left out good luck, bad luck.
I fully expect JS to improve the RB situation. Next month, many teams will draft young RBs. Many of those teams have bad OLs. Many of those rookie RBs will look impressive in preseason. Coaches will talk them up. Media will gush. Fans will fall in love, and will believe that the new guy will change their fortunes. The older RB with modest stats will be pushed aside before there is any threat of a new, expensive contract.
JS will be looking for traits over results. He and his scouts will find RBs who are undervalued, due to playing behind bad lines. It might be a trade. It might be a waiver wire opportunity. It might be a practice squad smash and grab. Whatever the method, JS will acquire a new RB1A.
It could be a draft pick, depending on who falls into our lap, but I get the feeling that JS would prefer to draft for defense this in 2026. The 2025 draft tilted heavily toward offense, so he’s likely to look for a rebalance.
I don’t think JS knows where RB1A will come from. The decision depends too much on the moves of the other 31 teams. But I expect a move that delivers some seriously good value.
The move might not come until September or even October. Hopefully, patience will pay off.
I think our starting RB is in this draft. I also think that's what JS believes.
Tangential thought, if Damien Martinez had been who we hoped he was, picked in the 7th last season, this might be a whole different conversation. (But he wasn't, alas.)
Could be. All depends on how things fall.
The advantage of getting a true RB1 in the draft is that you own his rookie contract for a number of years. Also, he gets into a system of shared carries from day 1.
With luck, you find him late, but you can’t count on that. Let’s say you need to spend a 1st or move up in the second to get a likely star. JS has few picks this year, so that takes away opportunities at other positions, like edge.
It could be possible to trade for an undervalued RB without breaking the bank. Trading for a strong edge player could cost an arm and a leg.
Maybe the most likely scenario is a late round pick at RB with fingers crossed. Maybe the player is from a small school or dropped due to injury. If he shines, it’s job done. If not, the trade scenario emerges. That gives a couple of opportunities, and we’d still have the first three picks for other positions.
Then again, if the dream RB falls into the team’s lap, we spend the 1, 2, and/or 3 pick.
We’ll see!
Problem for me in the draft is where the players fall, either above or below where we pick, or in rounds for which we have no picks. I'd love to drop out of 32 into the top of the second round, where we should still be able to pick either Edge or CB or possibly WR, depending on how it all falls. Or Safety, I suppose. (In that order, I guess, since that's how i typed it.) The players who most intrigue start showing up in the fourth round, and below. I have a weakness for long-shots (I once bet every horse in the tenth race at a harness track, and would have come out ahead had the favorites not all come in; a cheap lesson.)
Anyway, with RB, New Guy from Green Bay sorta throws my preliminary thoughts into disarray. I was looking for power, not speed. Most of the speed comes with smaller hands, which I don't favor. Speed guys on my list (Washington isn't on my list because of ball control issues) include Claiborne (151), J'maki Taylor (166), Adam Randall (275, and a glorious project of a player, converted last season from WR). Price, who some argue we should take at 32, was 51, last time I looked, and ran a 4.49, which isn't all that. Coleman, who I should maybe let go of, is at 59 on that list (probably outdated), and is credited somehow -- he didn't run at the combine -- with a 4.5. I dunno.
Agree totally!
I think it’s a good thing that they have changed the OC. All teams become predictable. They look at the plays the OC favors and plan the defense to combat it.
Remember the game( I forget who said it ) than one of the Seahawks said they knew the plays because of the way they setup ? Change can be a good thing.
That was said about the last play of the Seahawks-Patriots SB, where Butler intercepted Wilson at the goal line. They had seen that play, were looking for the play and jumped it. Game over!