Seattle Seahawks

As expected, the Seahawks are for sale.

Despite recent denials, the inevitable is happening. Owner Paul Allen died in October 2018. He left an express directive that the team will be sold, with the proceeds going to charity. After more than seven years, the league leaned on his sister, Jody, to get it done.

The timing is no surprise. We’ve previously reported that the league held a $5 million fine in abeyance with the understanding that the team would promptly be put on the market after Super Bowl LX.

The goal will be to sell the team to the highest bidder, in order to maximize the charitable contribution. The price tag, despite valuations in the range of $6 billion to $7 billion, is expected to land in the range of $9 billion to $11 billion.

The Seahawks organization, along with the team’s fans, will be stuck with whoever the high bidder may be.

It’s currently not known who it will be, or what that person will choose to do once they acquire full control over the franchise. It will be the next owner’s prerogative to make changes, or not. To meddle, or not. To screw up a good thing, or not.

And the fans will be stuck. Owners can’t be fired. The fans can only hope the team lands in the hands of someone who will allow G.M. John Schneider to keep doing what he’s been doing.

But no one other than the next owner will have any control over the situation. The next owner could be closer to Dan Snyder than any of the various good owners. (If we name one as an example, the ones not named won’t be happy.)

The only thing that will matter is the money. As often is the case.

Either way, the Seahawks will soon be meeting a new boss. They can only hope it’s roughly the same as the old boss.

The Seahawks are officially for sale.

A statement from the team released today said that the estate of the late former owner Paul Allen will sell the team and donate the proceeds to charity, as had been his wish.

“The Estate of Paul G. Allen today announced it has commenced a formal sale process for the Seattle Seahawks NFL franchise, consistent with Allen’s directive to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all Estate proceeds to philanthropy,” the team said in its statement. “The Estate has selected investment bank Allen & Company and law firm Latham & Watkins to lead the sale process, which is estimated to continue through the 2026 off-season. NFL owners must then ratify a final purchase agreement.”

Allen bought the team in 1997, and when he died in 2018 his sister Jody Allen took control of the franchise. Now the Seahawks will have a new owner, one who is expected to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion.

The Seahawks, if you haven’t heard, won Super Bowl LX. One of the questions to be resolved in the coming weeks is whether they’ll make the annual visit to the White House to commemorate the achievement.

There’s speculation they won’t. Per the team, nothing has been offered or decided yet.

In situations like this, anything other than “yes” can fairly be interpreted as “maybe not.”

It used to be a no-brainer for the Super Bowl champion to make the trip. In recent years, that has changed. (At a time when Americans disagree on many things, that’s an undeniable fact.)

Last year, the Eagles made the visit to the White House. Whether the Seahawks do the same thing remains to be seen.

And while an invitation is a prerequisite to acceptance, it’s possible an invitation will not be extended if the White House believes it won’t be embraced.

Thomas Hammock is leaving his post as the head coach at Northern Illinois to join the Seahawks.

Pete Thamel of ESPN.com reports that Hammock will be the running backs coach under Mike Macdonald in 2026. Hammock will also have a senior offensive assistant title.

Hammock has spent the last seven seasons at Northern Illinois. He has a 35-47 record that includes a win over Notre Dame in 2024 and a 2-1 record in bowl games.

Hammock spent five seasons as the Ravens’ running backs coach before moving to the school. Macdonald was also on Baltimore’s staff at that time, so the Seattle partnership will be a reunion for the two men.

Seahawks assistant Rick Dennison is following Klint Kubiak to the Raiders, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports.

Dennison served as Seattle’s run game coordinator and senior offensive advisor in 2025.

He has a long history with the Kubiak family.

Dennison played with Gary Kubiak, Klint’s father, in Denver, coached with him with the Broncos, Ravens, Texans and Vikings and worked with Klint Kubiak in Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans and Seattle.

Dennison, who began his coaching career in 1995, was an offensive coordinator with the Bills, Broncos and Texans.

Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe was the only player fined for on-field infractions during Super Bowl LX and Jobe picked up a pair of them for unnecessary roughness on one play in the fourth quarter of the game.

Jobe decked Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs out of bounds at the end of a play with 13:24 left in the game and received a fine for that late hit. The other fine came for his response when Diggs came back at him in the wake of that shot.

Diggs and Jobe squared off briefly with Diggs grabbing Jobe’s facemask and the cornerback throwing a punch at the wideout’s head. Jobe was fined for that as well.

The NFL announced that both fines were for $9,222.

Kenneth Walker III could be the next player in the tradition of Larry Brown, Desmond Howard, and Dexter Jackson.

Each won the Super Bowl MVP and then became free agents. Each left for a larger offer from another team.

Brown, the MVP of Super Bowl XXX after catching two passes that Steelers quarterback Neil O’Donnell threw right to him, signed with the Raiders. Howard, who had 244 return yards in the game and scored on a 99-yard kickoff return to essentially ice Super Bowl XXXI, also signed with the Raiders. Jackson, the Super Bowl XXXVII MVP in a Buccaneers win over the Raiders, signed with the Cardinals.

Walker may now be free to do the same thing. Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the Seahawks are “unlikely” to apply the franchise tag to Walker.

Tweets Schefter: “The Seahawks have multiple free agents they want to retain and sign. They also will try to extend WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There are enough Super-Bowl tax costs that now make using a franchise tag this offseason unlikely.”

The franchise tag would result in a one-year, $14.1 million contract for Walker. In four total seasons, he has made $8.44 million.

The fact that the Seahawks have leaked this nugget upon the opening of the two-week tag window likely wasn’t accidental. They want their fans to understand what’s going on, and in turn to short-circuit any speculation/anticipation that Walker may be tagged.

The implicit message is that the Seahawks believe Walker wants more on a long-term deal than the Seahawks can justify. The Seahawks may also believe that Walker won’t get what he’s looking for on the open market, either.

His agents likely will find out the answer next week at Tampering Central a/k/a the Scouting Combine.

Still, the best offer Walker gets may end up being better than whatever the Seahawks will pay. And the Seahawks are making their assessment not on three 2025 postseason games but four full seasons of working directly with Walker.

That’s always the most important thing to remember when free agency rolls around. In most cases, the team that has employed the player for four or five years has placed a lower value on him than a stranger will. There’s a chance Seattle has gotten it wrong (like the Giants did with Saquon Barkley), but it’s an assessment that needs to be made in light of the other areas of the roster that require the cash and the cap space.

Then there’s the basic supply/demand reality of the running back position. The Seahawks can draft Walker’s replacement, pay him a lot less than Walker wants, and plug him into the offense right away. Or they can sign a veteran who won’t be looking for an eight-figure average.

Receiver Cooper Kupp has gone from centerpiece of the Rams’ offense to slightly more than a role player in Seattle. But he did enough in 2025 to get the Seahawks to keep him around on his current deal for 2026.

Kupp’s three-year, $45 million contract has a provision that made $9 million in 2026 salary fully-guaranteed as of Friday, February 13. By not releasing him before the money vested, it means the Seahawks will be keeping Kupp for at least another year. (It’s also possible the two sides agreed to delay the vesting date. First, there’s been no reporting to that effect. Second, there’s no reason for Kupp to agree to giving the team more time to make a decision. His representation did not respond to an email regarding that point.)

Kupp made $17.5 million last year. He caught 47 passes for 593 yards and two touchdowns in the regular season. Kupp had several key plays in the playoff run that led to a Super Bowl win.

His cap number increases from $9.35 million last year to $17.47 million in 2026. The Seahawks could still restructure Kupp’s deal to kick the can and reduce his 2026 cap number.

Regardless, by not releasing him before the $9 million for 2026 vested, Kupp will be back for a second season. He’s due to make $12.9 million in base pay with another $510,000 available in per-game roster bonuses.

Which means he’ll continue to be the No. 2 receiver in an offense that features 2025 NFL offensive player of the year Jaxon Smith-Njigba. JSN is currently eligible for a second contract and, frankly, shouldn’t set foot on a practice field until he gets his second contract given; he’s due to make a paltry $2.7 million in 2026.

The Seahawks also have to figure out what to do with in-season acquisition Rashid Shaheed. The X factor in Seattle’s Super Bowl-winning season is due to become a free agent, and another team may be willing to pay Shaheed more than the Seahawks will be able to budget, given Kupp’s return and the potential for Smith-Njigba insisting on a market level deal without delay.

The Dolphins are in a full blown Two Days After St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The latest to go is receiver Tyreek Hill. And it’s the least surprising.

Even without the significant knee injury he suffered on September 29, this was coming. Even without the firing of G.M. Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel, this was coming.

Hill was due to make $35 million in 2026, the final year of his contract. He had a $5 million roster bonus that was due on the third day of the new league year.

He was always going to be released. He was always going to be available on the open market.

Now, for the first time, he’ll be free and clear to sign with anyone.

The question is whether Hill will be signed before he’s fully and completely healthy and, if so, whether his contract will include protections based on Hill eventually passing a physical. Sometimes, a player has enough leverage (like receiver Chris Godwin a year ago) to avoid such limitations on his pay.

Hill turns 32 on March 1. The best of his best days are likely behind him. If healthy, however, he’s still pretty damn good.

The most obvious potential destination is Kansas City. Last year at the Super Bowl, Hill expressed some regret for leaving in the first place. With Eric Bieniemy back as the offensive coordinator, the Chiefs could decide to bring Hill back, too. Which may have the added benefit of getting tight end Travis Kelce to return for another season.

The Chargers could become a potential destination, given McDaniel’s arrival there as offensive coordinator. They desperately need effective weapons for quarterback Justin Herbert — and a 32-year-old Hill would instantly be better than anything else they currently have.

Other teams with needs at the position should give Hill a look, including (to name a few) the Bills, Ravens, Steelers, Packers, Jets (who tried to trade for him four years ago), Patriots, and Seahawks (who need a strong, consistent complement to Jaxon Smith-Njigba).

The 2025 season ended eight days ago. In one day, the first significant moment toward the refinement of rosters for 2026 arrives.

The annual two-week window for applying the franchise tag opens on Tuesday, February 17.

As some have suggested in the past, the only day that really matters is the last day for applying the tag (March 3). But with the Scouting Combine (a/k/a Tampering Central) coming next week, some teams may be inclined to apply the tag before all of them convene in Indianapolis, in order to make it clear that an impending free agent won’t be free.

That’s the most important thing to remember about the franchise tag. It gives each team the ability to block one player per year from earning on the open market a long-term contract from the cash-and-cap-rich teams.

Last year, only two tags were applied — by the Bengals to receiver Tee Higgins and by the Chiefs to guard Trey Smith. It was the fewest total tags since 2006.

This year, there are several intriguing candidates for the franchise tag (or, in theory, the little-used transition tag).

The list starts with Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III. He finished his 2022 second-round contract with a flourish, gaining 376 rushing yards in three playoff games and winning the Super Bowl MVP award. It would cost the Seahawks $14.1 million to extend Walker’s stay by a fifth year and/or to extend until July 15 the ability to sign him to a long-term deal.

The question for the Seahawks becomes projecting whether another team will break the bank for a running back, and whether Walker (with his name and accomplishments removed from the equation) justifies a major investment moving forward, given the supply-demand realities of the running back position. (In 2006, the Seahawks gave running back Shaun Alexander a market-level deal after his MVP season, and they quickly regretted it.)

Cowboys receiver George Pickens could be headed for the tag, even if he may not be thrilled about it. One year and $28 million falls far short of the market-level, multi-year deal ($40 million per year or more) he may desire.

Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. will be hitting the market, barring the tag. He had a career high in catches (88) and touchdowns (five), but Pitts has still yet to live up to the potential that made him the fourth overall pick in 2021, one spot above receiver Ja’Marr Chase. It remains to be seen whether the new regime in Atlanta (led by the quarterback who threw passes to Pitts as a rookie) will choose to apply the $16 million tag.

The Eagles sent a third-round pick during the 2025 season to the Dolphins for linebacker Jaelan Phillips. He performed well in Philly, and the Eagles have to decide whether to try to keep him or to let him go, and to collect a potential compensatory draft pick in 2027.

The Bengals may decide to use the tag to keep defensive end Trey Hendrickson around for another year. The price tag ($30.1992 million, based on his 2025 cap number) is high. And there’s lingering acrimony between player and team.

Whatever the final number, the number will likely be far closer to last year’s two than the 2012 record high of 21. That year, the shift in calculation from the 2011 CBA combined with a small bump in the cap due to the lockout made it cheaper to use the tag.

Cheap continues to be the operative word. Teams want to keep their best players without having to pay market rates. And while, in theory, that only impacts the players who don’t get to become free agents, it also holds down the rest of the market by not letting the best free agents get every penny they deserve.

So, yes, the franchise tag stinks for players. But it’s never going away, given that it gives teams the annual ability to keep a highly-talented player around without giving him the contract he has otherwise earned.