Seahawks Clips
The Seahawks officially re-signed a member of their Super Bowl-winning roster on Monday.
They announced that safety Ty Okada signed his exclusive rights free agent tender. Seattle also tendered running back George Holani and he re-signed earlier in the offseason.
Okada appeared in every game for the Seahawks last year and made 11 starts in the regular season. He had 67 tackles, 1.5 sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery over all 20 games that Seattle played.
Coby Bryant left for the Bears in free agency, so Okada joins Nick Emmanwori and Julian Love at the top of the safety depth chart heading into the 2026 season.
The Seahawks currently hold the final pick in the first round of the draft on Thursday night, but they wouldn’t mind waiting until Friday to make their first selection.
After making other deals to help build a Super Bowl champion, General Manager John Schneider only has four picks in the arsenal heading into the draft. During a press conference on Monday, Schneider saw no reason to put up a smokescreen about his desire to add to that total.
“It’s no secret with us,” Schneider said. “We have four picks, so we’ll be looking to move back.”
Schneider expects the No. 32 pick to be an attractive one as he tries to make that happen. He called No. 32 “the pick everybody wants” because teams get a fifth-year option on a first-round pick, so it should not come as a surprise to anyone if the final pick of the first round is made by a team other than the reigning champs.
The World Cup is coming soon. And it’s quickly becoming a pain in the posterior for the 13 teams playing in stadiums that will be commandeered for intercontinental soccer.
Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal recently reviewed some of the practical impacts of FIFA bigfooting the various venues where fútbol will be played. This week, for example, the Jets and Giants will move their annual draft parties away from MetLife Stadium to Manhattan.
In all, 13 teams are impacted by the World Cup: the Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Falcons, Chiefs, Texans, 49ers, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks, Patriots, and Dolphins.
For the teams that have employees at the stadiums hosting World Cup games, many will be moved. Those who are staying put will be subject to FIFA credentialing to get into their workplaces. And the Giants will start training camp in West Virginia, since MetLife Stadium will be hosting the final match on July 19 on a grass field that will need to be removed and replaced with one of the worst artificial surfaces in the entire league.
That last part still has to be the most galling for NFL players. Owners with stadiums that don’t have grass have bent over backwards to do whatever had to be done to placate FIFA. Their regular employees, however, will still be stuck with a lesser (and far cheaper) playing surface.
The various sacrifices involuntarily made by the players and other team employees should prompt FIFA to give them all a phony, made-up award. Especially since FIFA has already done that, for far less.
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba played only three games in his final season at Ohio State due to hamstring issues. The Seahawks did foot scanning on Smith-Njigba when he arrived as a first-round pick in 2023 and discovered something that cleared up his tight hamstrings.
The Seahawks’ director of equipment, Erik Kennedy, explained the result on The John Schneider Show on Thursday.
“You’re always trying to find little edges that can help players,” Kennedy said, via Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports. “Let’s just say Jaxon Smith-Njigba, you were talking him about in college, he was wearing a size 12, had hamstring issues and things like that. Gets here, he’s a 10 1/2. . . . It’s helped him, right? He hasn’t missed time and done things like that. That helps build the trust for us with the players.”
Smith-Njigba has played all 51 possible games in his three NFL seasons, as well as all three playoff games in 2025.
Schneider said the Seahawks were the first team in the NFL to do foot scanning, thanks to Kennedy’s relationship with Nike. Kennedy said he and his team do more than just fit players in the correct shoes.
“What we get into is the helmet, to protect the players, everything should be custom, right?” Kennedy said. “We’ve gotten to the point we believe everything’s custom, and John and those guys and the ownership and everybody’s afforded us the opportunity to go out and chase and do those things where wearing the top helmets, wearing custom shoulder pads that are scanned to the body, scanning the feet, like getting to the point where you’re basically scanning everything to fit the person, and then having the crew to be able to do it. There’s five of us full-time guys that do it.”
The Seahawks are taking a look at a former first-round pick for their defense.
Dante Fowler visited with Seattle on Thursday, according to the league’s transaction wire.
Fowler, 31, spent last season with the Cowboys, appearing in all 17 games with 11 starts. He finished the year with 3.0 sacks, four tackles for loss, and 10 quarterback hits.
Fowler has been quite durable recently, playing all 17 games in each of the last four seasons.
In 159 career games with 58 starts for the Jaguars, Rams, Falcons, Cowboys, and Commanders, Fowler has registered 58.5 career sacks with 74 tackles for loss and 97 QB hits.
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
Cornerback Brandon Cisse is among the prospects making the rounds with the draft a little over two weeks away.
Jordan Reid of ESPN.com reports that Cisse recently visited with the Cowboys. He’s also set to meet with the Seahawks.
Cisse played two seasons at North Carolina State before transferring to South Carolina for the 2025 season. He had 27 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception while building a profile that has led many to project him as a second-day pick this year.
The Cowboys signed Cobie Durant to go with Shavon Revel, DaRon Bland and Caelen Carson at corner. The Seahawks parted ways with Riq Woolen this offseason, but the Super Bowl champs have Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe set to return.
In many ways, the all-access, all-the-time NFL has evolved past Hard Knocks. But the annual infomercial masquerading as a documentary persists.
This year, the league broke new ground by announcing not only this year’s team that will be the focal point of the series but next year’s, too.
Via Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing, Adam Schefter of ESPN recently explained that the decision to lock in the next two seasons of preseason Hard Knocks resulted from the fact that teams often say “next year” when asked to serve as the subject of the show.
This year, the NFL reacted to the Patriots saying “next year” by saying, “Sold!”
That’s obviously not the best way to program the series. If the league wanted to revive the box-checking project that (if nothing else) keeps HBO in line as to any content the NFL may not like (a new-age Playmakers would be awesome), it would decide that no one can ever say “no” — and that the assignment would be determined based primarily if not exclusively on the question of which team will create the most interest in any given August.
Of course, this assumes (ass, you, me) that the NFL and its teams have genuine interest in giving the fans truly interesting content. The best Hard Knocks run in years came from the Giants in the 2024 offseason. But the reality show was a little too real for Big Blue, making it impossible for any other team to volunteer to have its building invaded by cameras and microphones for offseason strategizing that could become more than a little embarrassing.
It all comes down to what the NFL wants Hard Knocks to be. For now, it’s a perfunctory “wish you were here” postcard from camp, with far more style than substance.
Take 2026, for example. The Seahawks have just won the Super Bowl. There’s no drama. No tension. No awkward camp battles or contract issues or hot seats or anything that will make Hard Knocks must-see TV. Ernest Jones IV saying “fuck you” to the doubters will eventually stop packing much of a punch, especially as the list of doubters shrinks.
For the Seahawks, the biggest question is whether they can become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the 2022-23 Chiefs. That’s hardly compelling content.
(That said, if the Seahawks have a brash and dynamic new owner by August who is intent on fixing what isn’t broken, that would be worth the price of subscription. Assuming that angle would even be covered by Hard Knocks.)
Other than hardcore Seahawks fans who crave anything Seahawks-related they can find, will anyone be interested in an inside look at the Super Bowl LX champs?
Give us the Eagles, who seem to be at a six-way intersection of crossroads and who have plenty of compelling personalities (starting with Big Dom). Give us the 49ers, who are openly salty about being tapped for the Week 1 game against the Rams in Australia — and who’ll train in the shadow of an electrical substation that has prompted many players to wonder whether it contributes to injuries.
Give us the Jets, where Geno Smith is back and the pressure is on head coach Aaron Glenn. Give us the Bills, where the clock is ticking on Josh Allen’s prime and a new coach is trying to pick up where Sean McDermott left off. Give us the Ravens, where Lamar Jackson has a new head coach and offensive coordinator and (for now) no new contract.
Give us the Giants, where John Harbaugh is coaching a new team for the first time since 2008. Give us the Chargers, where Jim Harbaugh has hired Mike McDaniel to get the most out of Justin Herbert.
Give us the Dolphins, where Jeff Hafley is trying to turn the page on a team that can’t perform in the cold. Give us the Steelers, where Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers may be together again.
Give us the Browns, where Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson apparently will be battling for the starting job. Give us the Vikings, where Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy absolutely will be.
Give us the Lions, who are trying both to rediscover their edge and to show that Dan Campbell’s message after the 2023 NFC Championship (“this may have been our only shot”) was less Nostradamus than Knute Rockne. Give us the Bengals, where Joe Burrow seems to be thinking seriously about whether he’ll ever get the most out of his skills and abilities. Give us the Packers, where Matt LaFleur has resolved to improve communications with his players. Give us the Bears, where Ben Johnson will be constantly having something to say about Matt LaFleur, and where George Gervin may decide to stop by.
Give us the Raiders, where Kirk Cousins is the veteran and Fernando Mendoza will be learning the ropes and Tom Brady possibly will make a cameo appearance, if he can fit it into his schedule. Give us the Cowboys, where Jerry Jones inevitably will repeat his obsession with “gloryhole,” possibly while receiver George Pickens is holding out.
Basically, give us something good. Something compelling. Something that will make Hard Knocks appointment viewing. Something that sets the bar higher than George Costanza did when pitching to Russell Dalrymple a show about nothing.
In its current form, Hard Knocks has essentially become a show about nothing. Whatever the benefits to the NFL for continuing to do the show, the real question is whether the NFL should continue to produce something that falls short of the standard the league has seemingly set for everything else it touches.
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
The Seahawks have never appeared on Hard Knocks since the show debuted in 2001 on HBO. They will this season.
In his first public comments since the NFL’s announcement, General Manager John Schneider admitted Thursday that his first reaction wasn’t positive.
“We’re just very protective of like how we do things and what our culture looks like,” Schneider said during an appearance on Seattle Sports 710, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “We’re going to make it as positive as we possibly can without sharing as much information as we possibly can.”
Schneider has come around, though, about NFL Films following the team through training camp and the preseason. He said he understands it from a “PR standpoint, a marketing standpoint.”
“It’s going to be great. . . . We’re going to work with the National Football League and the teams that have been through it before to help us just make it a positive for the organization and have it not be as much of a distraction,” Schneider said. “I talked to [Bears GM] Ryan Poles about it down there and a couple other people just about what it looks like, and we’ll have plenty of advice by the time we get there. But I think it’s going to be — it’s a great deal. When the commissioner called me about it, it made sense.
“Sam Darnold, [Devon Witherspoon], [Jaxon Smith-Njigba], [Leonard Williams], [Byron Murphy II], we got some cool characters on this team that are great stories.”
