It’s been a hell of an offseason for the Seattle Seahawks in terms of activity.
The first major moves were to trade away quarterback Geno Smith and DK Metcalf prior to the start of free agency, as well as cut beloved receiver Tyler Lockett (among several others). Once free agency began, the Seahawks replenished the roster by notably signing Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and DeMarcus Lawrence.
In the viewpoint of ESPN NFL analyst Benjamin Solak, he thinks the Seahawks have gone backward with their moves.
Here’s his snippet from ESPN’s roundtable:
Ben Solak, NFL analyst: The Seattle Seahawks. They downgraded at quarterback and also shipped impactful receiver DK Metcalf. If Sam Darnold retains his level of play from Minnesota to Seattle, the dropoff from Geno Smith to him won’t be too damaging — but it’s likely that Darnold won’t match his 2024 output. The Seahawks have also not addressed their offensive line, electing to spend big money on aging edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence, who is coming off a foot injury. I don’t see the vision.
The Seahawks don’t get another mention from literally anyone else in the column, although the Metcalf and Smith trades are references in blurbs regarding the Steelers and Raiders, respectively.
Seattle has admittedly come away with minimal offensive line spending again, albeit not for a lack of trying. It is definitely worth acknowledging that two of their most significant FA signings are on the other side of 30 with legitimate injury concerns, but neither Kupp nor Lawrence’s contracts look to be heavily damaging in terms of cap space allocation.
Retaining Ernest Jones IV might be the top FA move thus far for John Schneider, particularly when looking at the contract details. The Seahawks are also in a comfortable position regarding salary cap room (and should still be in good 2025 shape once the Kupp, Lawrence, and Darnold details are revealed).
I’m a lot more lukewarm about this offseason than perhaps many Seahawks fans are; the Kupp signing can be anywhere from a home state fairy tale to John Schneider’s T.J. Houshmandzadeh moment, the offensive line has no choice but to be successfully developed through their draft picks, and I’m not really persuaded by a handful of good games from Marquez Valdes-Scantling in New Orleans. I’ve grown to be Sam Darnold neutral in the sense that I don’t think he’s demonstrably better (if at all) than Geno Smith right now, but believe that he’s a deserved starting QB in this league whom you can run a functional offense with. At the very least, he can be better than Geno off of age and more starting experience, but it doesn’t take much to go wrong for a regression.
Schneider isn’t blowing the team up and isn’t trying to punt the 2025 season to be better in 2026—an insanely risky proposition for someone with only two seasons left on his contract—so I won’t even acknowledge the idea of a “rebuild, reset” season. They’re trying to contend but in a different way than how they’ve done it. It could absolutely result in a step backward, but I’d like to not think that way. The draft hasn’t even happened yet!
Do you agree that the Seahawks have taken a step backward through the offseason? Scroll down to the comments and have some fun, but be civil!
