The defending Super Bowl champions aren’t the betting favorites to repeat — either as NFL champions or as division winners. That distinction has gone to the Rams.
“I think I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little extra motivation from hearing that type of stuff,” Seahawks defensive lineman Leonard Williams told reporters on Thursday. “There’s extra chips on our shoulder. We just came off of a Super Bowl winning season. People are still giving other people favorites over us. But at the same time, like I said, it’s always about us, it’s about our process. I think that is still adding fuel to the fire for guys. At the same time we’re going to stick to our process regardless of what other people outside may think.”
Currently, the Rams are +100 favorites to win the NFC West. The Seahawks’ odds are +205.
The Rams are also favored to win the Super Bowl, at +550. The Bills and Ravens have +1000 odds, with the Seahawks at +1100.
That’s a good development for the Seahawks. It avoids complacency, and it gives the Seahawks a useful kick in the butt as they try to climb the mountain for a second straight season.
Seahawks Clips
The Seahawks’ Super Bowl run was fueled in part by the in-season trade that brought receiver Rashid Shaheed from New Orleans. While Shaheed’s contributions to the offense were modest, his punt return for a touchdown sparked a 16-point comeback in a Thursday night win over the Rams that became critical to securing the No. 1 seed.
For his first full season in Seattle, Shaheed has had the benefit of participating in the offseason program. He has fully embraced it.
“Rashid, he deserves a lot of credit,” coach Mike Macdonald told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s been here the whole time. He’s had a great attitude. He’s had a lot of personal records in our offseason training program. The timing of our plays look like it should, given the amount of reps that are invested into it. I know I’m as excited as heck to see where it goes.”
In nine regular-season games with the Seahawks, Shaheed was targeted only 26 times. He caught 15 passes for 188 yards and no touchdowns. He added 64 rushing yards on seven carries, 14 kick returns for 418 yards and a touchdown (29.86 yards per return), and 13 punt returns for 210 yards and a touchdown (16.15 yards per return).
In three playoff games, he had three catches for 78 yards, four carries for 22 yards, four kickoff returns for 167 yards and a touchdown (41.8 yards per return), and two punt returns for 16 yards (8.0 yards per return).
During the offseason, the Seahawks signed him to a three-year, $51 million deal, paying him $17 million per year.
As receivers go, it’s less than half of the top of the current market, set by teammate Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($42.15 million). As potential impact goes, Shaheed can do many things for the Seahawks.
Even when he’s not the target of a throw, his speed stretches a defense, making it easier for the other receivers to get open (and opening running lanes for the tailbacks). His ability to run past everyone must be respected. And he can dramatically change field position in the return game, along with providing the constant threat to turn a routine play into a long touchdown.
Last year, he had to find a way to make an impact while changing teams midstream. That’s never easy for a receiver. This year, he’s fully ensconced in everything the team does.
Bottom line? That $17 million annual investment could quickly look like a bargain for the Seahawks — and other teams could be kicking themselves for not being more aggressive about trying to pry him free from Seattle when they had the chance.
Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL during the playoffs. He had surgery on February 20.
Coach Mike Macdonald is nevertheless not ruling him out for Week 1.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday if Charbonnet could be back for the start of the season, Macdonald said, “Everything’s possible, yeah.”
As to whether Charbonnet is ahead of schedule or simply on schedule, Macdonald sounded cautiously optimistic.
“If you’re going to guess what type of schedule Zach Charbonnet would be on, that’s the type of schedule he’s on,” Macdonald said. “Doing a great job. I know he has high expectations for himself. Look forward to see where it ends up.”
With Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III gone via free agency to the Chiefs, having Charbonnet would be significant for the Seahawks. The other options at tailback currently include rookie first-rounder Jadarian Price and Emmanuel Wilson.
Offseason programs are coming to an end around the league and teams have started to reveal their plans for training camp this summer.
The Seahawks announced their schedule of open practice sessions on Wednesday. The team is planning to welcome visitors to 10 of their practices in July and August.
Nine of those practices will be at the team’s facility and the other one will be held at Lumen Field on August 8.
The other open practice sessions will be on July 25-26, July 28, July 31, August 1, August 4-5, August 7 and August 13. The practices on July 28 and August 7 will be exclusively for the team’s season ticket holders.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was Offensive Player of the Year.
But the NFL initially gave the Seahawks wide receiver an award that called him the “Oefensive Player of the Year.” Smith-Njigba said Tuesday that the league fixed the typo on a new award they shipped him.
“We checked it,” Smith-Njigba said, via video from the team. “Everybody cleared it. I had the whole team read it, make sure it was right, and it’s good, solid.”
What can’t be fixed is Druski mispronouncing Smith-Njigba’s name at NFL Honors.
Smith-Njigba initially called the typo and mispronouncing his name “disrespectful,” but said Tuesday he is no longer bothered.
“The Super Bowl, it’s a lot, a lot of things are thrown at you, and I tried my best to stay focused . . . on the game, but now I have no [negative] feelings, ways towards the NFL, Roger [Goodell] or Druski,” Smith-Njigba said. “So, I’ll just take my trophy and accolades and all that stuff and chill at home.”
The Seahawks added some experienced depth to their offensive line on Monday.
The team announced the signing of tackle Bobby Hart to their 90-man roster. Wide receiver Levi Wentz was waived in a corresponding move.
Hart spent the 2025 season with the Chargers and started in eight of his 10 appearances. Hart previously started 45 games for the Bengals and 21 games for the Giants during a career that has also featured stops in Tennessee and Buffalo.
The Seahawks also have Josh Jones and Amari Kight behind starting tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas.
Wentz signed with Seattle after going undrafted out of Kansas in April.
The Seahawks took a look at a possible veteran addition to their secondary on Monday.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that they had safety Ifeatu Melifonwu in for a workout.
Melifonwu spent the 2025 season with the Dolphins and started in eight of his 16 appearances. He had 53 tackles, a sack, and an interception with Miami.
The veteran safety spent his first four seasons with the Lions. He had 72 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries during his time in Detroit.
Per Garafolo, no signing is imminent but the Seahawks could revisit adding Melifonwu in the coming weeks.
Seahawks tight end AJ Barner went from celebrating a Super Bowl win to the operating room to kick off his offseason.
Barner did not miss a game in 2025 and caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl, but was listed with hip, elbow, shoulder, knee, ankle and calf injuries at various points during Seattle’s run to the title. He didn’t specify which injuries led to the two surgeries he had earlier this year and said last week that he thinks all should be well in time for the start of training camp this summer.
“I’m going to feel much better, and I’m already feeling much better, and I think that’s where I’ll see strides,” Barner said, via the team’s website. “I’m feeling good, and I’m chomping at the bit trying to get back out there.”
Barner caught 52 passes during the regular season after posting 30 catches as a rookie and said that he expects “to be one of the best tight ends in the league” in his third NFL campaign. Full health will help that bid and it will help the Seahawks’ chances at another memorable season.
The Seahawks will be defending their second Super Bowl championship in 2026. Before that can happen, the most recent win needs to be made official.
It will be on Thursday, June 11. That’s when, we’re told, the Seahawks will be getting their Super Bowl rings.
In a recent interview with #PFTPM, Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III said he’ll be back in Seattle for the ceremony — even though he left in free agency for the Chiefs.
He should be. It’s the crowning achievement of his NFL career to date, and the Seahawks should roll out the red carpet for the guy who stepped in and stepped up when running back Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL in the divisional-round win over the 49ers.
The next goal for the Seahawks will be to win another one. Coach Mike Macdonald has rejected the “run it back” slogan for a twist on the phrase: Run it forward.
That task got a little more difficult this week, when Myles Garrett landed with the Rams.
The Seahawks have a new offensive coordinator this season, but it might be hard to notice any major changes once they hit the field this fall.
Brian Fleury was the 49ers’ tight ends coach before being tabbed to succeed Klint Kubiak in Seattle and both coaches were on Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers staff during the 2023 season. Kubiak’s offense was built off similar principles to the ones Shanahan has run throughout his career and quarterback Sam Darnold said on Wednesday that it has been “more of the same” under Fleury.
“Thankfully it hasn’t been too much of a transition. . . . It’s a lot of the same stuff [with] Fleury obviously coming from San Francisco, but a couple different wrinkles here and there,” Darnold said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “So it’s been good that way to be able to get some of that same verbiage but just a couple different wrinkles.”
Darnold said that Fleury’s “command over the entire system has been incredible” and the hope in Seattle will be that the minor tweaks will lead to the same kind of results come the regular season.
