Seattle Seahawks

In the never ending modern news cycle, the things that don’t happen often don’t get noticed. Case in point — the Seahawks haven’t, and apparently won’t be, visiting the White House in recognition of their win in Super Bowl LX.

There has been no announcement, by the team or by the White House. But with the offseason program over and the players scattered until training camp opens, the natural window has closed on the team from Seattle, Washington to go to Washington, D.C..

In the days after the Super Bowl, a question emerged as to whether the Seahawks would go. At the time, the team said nothing had been offered or decided. At the Scouting Combine, coach Mike Macdonald said that the team has yet to get an invitation and that, if one comes, they’ll address it.

“We’re going to get an invite, right?” Macdonald said at the time. “That’s how it works? Not really sure how it works.”

Since then, there has been no indication that an invitation was extended, or that it was rejected. The non-war war in Iran likely was a factor, but the White House has generally continued to take care of its usual public business (including a visit by the NCAA football champions, the Indiana Hoosiers).

When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl to cap the 2013 season, they visited the White House on May 21.

It’s possible that, this time around, backchannel discussions regarding, for instance, the number of players who would attend the event, resulted in no invitation being extended. It’s also possible that the White House wanted to avoid the indignity of having an invitation rejected (or sparsely attended) and the Seahawks didn’t want to be the subject of a 3:00 a.m. social-media barrage, which also would have included a longwinded complaint about the kickoff formation.

But there’s still time. The Seahawks play the Commanders at FedEx Field on Sunday, September 27. So they’ll be in the area. Whether they’ll want to take a look in the rearview mirror after playing two games in the 2026 regular season remains to be seen.

If they get invited. And if they accept.

The new Patrick Mahomes contract covers eight seasons and averages, from signing, a payout of $63.093 million per year. That pushes the market to unprecedented heights. And it brings into focus the next wave of quarterback deals.

So let’s take a look at the quarterbacks who’ll use the Mahomes contract as a key data point for ongoing or upcoming negotiations.

Lamar Jackson, Ravens.

Jackson has wanted a new deal for more than a year. His current contract averaged $52.5 million per year from signing. At the time it was finalized, he was the highest paid player in the league. He has now slid down to the bottom of the top 10. Mahomes getting to $63.09 million, especially while still recovering from a torn ACL, will only strengthen Lamar’s resolve.

Jackson currently has $104 million remaining on his current contract, over the next two years. With a no-tag clause, he can kick the can through the next two seasons and become an unrestricted free agent. It gives him significant leverage, and Mahomes’s contract likely nudges Lamar’s reasonable expectations from at least $60.1 million per year (based on Dak Prescott’s latest deal) to at least $63.1 million annually.

Joe Burrow, Bengals.

In 2023, after his first three NFL seasons, Burrow agreed to a seven-year deal with an average from signing of $44.28 million per year and a new-money average of $55 million. He has four years left with a total payout of $163.539 million, an average of $40.88 million.

His recent restructuring was a cap-creation device, with no new money. The Bengals, who are extremely careful with money, may not be inclined to tear up the current deal and replace it with a new contract.

For his part, Burrow may not be inclined to extend his commitment to the team. His discontent after three straight non-playoff seasons has become more obvious. As he enters his seventh season in Cincinnati, Burrow could be thinking about reaching the same conclusion Carson Palmer did after his eighth.

Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers.

He has said talks on a deal that would extend his $33.3 million per year contract are nowhere close to where he thought they’d be. The Buccaneers could tag him in 2027, or they could let him hit the open market.

Some think the Bucs wouldn’t use the franchise tag; with a 2026 cap number of $39.975 million, Mayfield’s 2027 franchise tender would be at least $47.97 million. There’s a sense in some circles that the Bucs believe they’ll ultimately offer him more than anyone would in free agency, if a new deal isn’t done before Mayfield’s self-imposed deadline of the start of training camp.

C.J. Stroud.

The Texans repeatedly have proclaimed that he’s their guy. But they have yet to do for him what they’d done for cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and defensive end Will Anderson — sign the first-round pick to a new deal before his fourth season.

The challenge at this point comes from putting a number on his second contract. There’s a broad range when it comes to veteran quarterback pay. Where would Stroud fit?

Currently, the number would be lower than it could be for Stroud, if he has a strong fourth season. Since the Texans realize that, at this point, they’d be only bidding against themselves, there’s no reason to rush the process.

Caleb Williams, Bears.

The first overall pick in the 2024 draft becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. And Williams has been very focused on the business realities of the NFL, from even before he was drafted.

When the time comes for Williams to get a new deal, the Mahomes number will drive the discussion. Especially if Williams continues to be on a trajectory that could put him among the top four or five quarterbacks in football.

We’ve already heard talk of Williams having expectations that would be more than eye-popping. And we also expect that Williams will make it known that he wants his contract not after the 2026 postseason ends, but promptly upon the opening of the window for a new deal after the Bears face the Vikings in Week 18.

Why carry the injury risk into the 2026 postseason? No quarterback on his rookie deal has tried to do that, even though the CBA wrinkle has been hiding in plain sight since 2011.

Jayden Daniels, Commanders.

Like Williams, Daniels becomes eligible for a new deal after the 2026 regular season. His main goal should be to reestablish himself after a disappointing and injury-plagued second season, during which he played only seven of 17 games.

If Daniels returns to his rookie form, he’ll be joining Williams as a quarterback looking for a second contract.

Drake Maye, Patriots.

The player who finished second in the MVP voting to cap his second season also has his window open after the 2026 regular season. And the Patriots will be hoping that, like Tom Brady before him, Maye will be less inclined to break the bank and more inclined to ensure that there will be cap space to have a quality team around him.

Brady, who entered the league as the 199th overall pick, had naturally lower expectations early in his career. Maye, the third overall pick who was denied the commensurate reward due to the rookie wage scale, may not be as charitable as Brady was.

Bo Nix, Broncos.

Nix’s window likewise opens after the 2026 regular season. He’ll need to show he has fully recovered from the foot injury suffered late in the AFC playoff win over the Bills. And he’ll need to do even more in Sean Payton’s offense to unlock a major deal.

Regardless, there’s a new high bar — and his contemporaries from the 2024 draft could add more data points.

That raises another question, as to Williams, Daniels, Maye, and Nix. Who goes first? There will be a competition among the agents to emerge with the best deal. This could prompt some of them to wait until the others jump in the pool first.

Sam Darnold, Seahawks.

Darnold’s three-year, $100.5 million contract from 2025 was structured to give the Seahawks an escape hatch after one year. It wasn’t structured to force the team back to the table if Darnold leads the team to a Super Bowl win.

With $27.5 million in base pay and up to $5 million in available incentives, Darnold would be justified to seek a new deal. The Seahawks may want to wait until 2027.

Regardless, Mahomes’s new contract will be a factor, whenever it’s time to sit down and work out a new contract.

The reality of “voluntary” offseason workouts in the NFL is that they’re only voluntary for the established players. The majority of the players on the 90-man offseason roster are just trying to impress the team enough to make the 53-man regular-season roster, and they attend all the offseason workouts because they know they’re going to get cut if they don’t do everything in their power to make a good impression.

But when those veteran, established players with guaranteed contracts who know they won’t get cut choose to participate in voluntary offseason work, that can be a good sign for the culture the team is building. And that’s what Seahawks defensive tackle Leonard Williams says is happening in Seattle’s offseason program.

Williams said that there’s no sign of complacency on the defending Super Bowl champions, and the players who have already proven they belong are the ones showing the young guys what hard work in the offseason is all about.

“I feel like it’s been great,” Williams said, via ESPN. “It’s been great attendance from the leaders, from the older guys. Young guys have been working hard, trying to be sponges of the game and learn as much as possible. To me, I really just see our culture elevate to another level. I feel like last year we started putting the mix together, all the ingredients and all that type of stuff. This year, you really see it boiling and becoming more just of a foundation. To me, the culture is the biggest thing that we need here. Guys are going to come and go . . . I feel like if we have a culture and foundation like that, we’ll always be a winning team.”

That’s the kind of commitment needed in Seattle, where Williams has said there’s a little extra motivation for the defending champions, knowing the division rival Rams are considered the favorites this season. The Seahawks are eager to put in the work it takes to repeat.

The Seahawks got their latest Super Bowl rings on Thursday night. By the time the next season starts, the franchise should have a new owner in place.

A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that a new owner is expected to be in place by September.

If that happens, the next owner will formally debut as the Seahawks host the Patriots to begin the 2026 season, on Wednesday, September 9. There’s currently no clarity as to who it will be.

The basic reality of the situation is that the team will go to the highest bidder. It’s required by the terms of the late Paul Allen’s estate. Also, the owners who will be called upon to approve the sale have a strong interest in having the price tag come in as high as possible.

Each sale becomes the floor for the next. The greater the value of one team, the greater the value of all teams.

But that approach comes with a very real risk, for the franchise and for its fans. There’s no guarantee that the person who makes the biggest offer will be the best owner.

No NFL owner is required to know anything about football. Or, more accurately, to know what they don’t know and to rely on others who do.

Folks who have made their fortunes in other businesses often believe the skills are transferable to running a football team. There’s a temptation to meddle.

From the owner’s perspective, it’s not really meddling. The team belongs to the owner. The owner can do whatever the owner wants.

The last team that was sold — the Commanders in 2023 — was broken. Josh Harris and his partners had plenty of work to do to undo the damage of the Daniel Snyder years.

The Seahawks are anything but broken. They have one of the best overall operations in all of the NFL.

Still, that doesn’t mean the new owner will sit back and trust the in-house experts. It’s impossible to even begin to predict what the new owner will do until the identity of the new owner is known. Even then, how the new owner will run the team won’t become obvious until the new owner gets the keys to the car and takes it out for a spin.

Hopefully for the Seahawks, the new owner will take a look around Lumen Field on the night they hang their second banner and see the proverbial light. It ain’t broke. Don’t try to fix it.

That will likely be easier said than done. Paying $10 billion or more for the team will give the new owner the right to make any and all changes the new owner sees fit.

Time will tell whether the new owner opts to stick with the status quo, or whether the new owner will believe their presence and active involvement will only make things better.

Ownership matters. Bad teams stay bad because of bad owners. Good teams stay good because of good owners.

The Seahawks have been a good team for most of this century because they had a good owner. Currently, every Seahawks fan should hope that the person who shows up with the biggest bag of cash will be a good owner, too.

On Thursday night, the Seahawks got their Super Bowl rings. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III wasn’t there to get his.

In a post-draft appearance on #PFTPM, Walker said he intended to attend the ring ceremony. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, he’s the only member of the 2025 Seahawks who did not attend.

It’s unclear why Walker didn’t make the trip. The most obvious explanation is that the Chiefs’ mandatory minicamp concluded on Thursday. And his current priority is his new employer.

As it should be. Yes, it would be nice if the MVP of the Super Bowl had been present to receive the piece of jewelry commemorating the achievement. But Walker has moved on. As he said during the #PFTPM interview, he knew during the 2025 season that his future didn’t include playing for the Seahawks.

It was time to turn the page. To focus on the task at hand. Which consists of pursuing his second ring, while also helping quarterback Patrick Mahomes get his fourth.

The Seahawks wrapped up their offseason program by taking some time for one more celebration of their Super Bowl LX win.

After their final minicamp practice on Thursday, the team handed out Super Bowl rings at an event on Thursday night. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams shared his excitement about receiving the ring ahead of the ceremony.

“I was talking about how last night felt like Christmas Eve for me,” Williams said, via the team’s website. “It was hard for me to go to sleep. It was hard for me to stay asleep. I was waking up at, like 3 or 5 a.m. just excited for today. I’m excited for my teammates and it’s just going to feel like a reunion and, kind of make us relive that moment of grinding all last season and this is our reward.”

With the rings in hand, the Seahawks can fully turn the page to trying for another title in 2026. Head coach Mike Macdonald has been stressing the need to “run it forward” rather than run it back, so he’ll likely be pleased to hear guard Grey Zabel’s plans for the bauble. Zabel said he will “probably wear it tonight, then throw it in the safe and move on to next year and go try and get that second one.”

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.

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.