It's bigger than football, The roster

Arnold would be lucky to land with Hawks

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John Schneider’s Seahawks are known for checking out every opportunity. So it’s not a big surprise that they brought in troubled former first-round cornerback Terrion Arnold for a chat and tryout.

What would be a surprise is if they signed him before they knew whether he might be headed to prison. That would be pretty pointless – and make Schneider and Mike Macdonald look like idiots, frankly.

It sounds like they are being smart about it though – waiting for the legal process to play out. And they seem to understand that Arnold needs them a lot more than they need him. This would be just a potential flyer on a talented kid, if he does not end up incarcerated.

In more ways than one, Arnold would be lucky to land in Seattle.

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The roster, Training camp

5 weeks before opener, where things stand

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We’re two weeks into camp, a week away from the first preseason game, and less than five weeks from the Wednesday night NFL opener between the Seahawks and their recent Super Bowl foil, New England.

As Mike Macdonald and the Hawks prepare to host their Football Fest at Lumen Field on Saturday, we have learned a few things and gotten a lot of quotes from the first couple of weeks of practices.

Here’s a look at where things seem to stand at each position (based on various camp reports).

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Contracts

Big Cat extension would keep defense elite for longer

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AI conversion of photo by Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images

The Seahawks have spent the first week of training camp improving the team that won the Super Bowl (and is being ignorantly underrated in many corners of the NFL universe this summer).

Training camp is the on-field business, with direct impact on the 2026 season. But there is off-field business being done as well, affecting the future of the franchise.

While Devon Witherspoon’s agency supposedly is still negotiating with the Seahawks, Leonard Williams revealed that his agent also has been talking to the team about a new deal – and then word came that the deal is expected to be done before the start of the season. That’s the news we wanted to hear.

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The roster, Training camp

As camp begins, a look at the roster of the Super Bowl champs

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In the wake of a quicker-than-expected Super Bowl victory, it’s easy to forget that Mike Macdonald has been coach of the Seahawks for only two years. And apparently it’s easy for a lot of people around the NFL to wave him and his team off as a “lightning in a bottle” champion — never mind that Macdonald has almost his entire roster back and is still building the best version of his team as he begins Year 3.

People like Bucky Brooks who cannot see that Macdonald has the foundation of a possible dynasty in his hands are just not very smart (a 7-10 season? Come on, dude). Macdonald’s team is still ascending.

As the players reported Friday, Ernest Jones IV confirmed that when he said, “I’m super excited … (about) how much better of a team we are now than we were at this time last year.”

The roster is already so set that we count, at most, seven open spots. Three probably will go to backup offensive linemen, one to a fourth cornerback. The last spots will be special-teams roles that could rotate as the season goes on.

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Contracts

NFL position surveys show value of Williams, Darnold ahead of possible extensions

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When the Khosla family takes over the Seahawks ahead of this season, the new owners figure to step into a flurry of big contract extensions.

Devon Witherspoon is expected to be the next one, coming in as one of the two highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL before the season begins (ideally even before the Khoslas take ownership). John Schneider also might be working on another big-money extension – for Leonard Williams. And next year it will be Sam Darnold’s turn.

ESPN’s ongoing series of positional top-10 rankings might be informative for the value of new deals for Williams and Darnold.

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It's bigger than football, State of the team

As expected, fans are being stupid about this franchise sale

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Sports fans are by nature an emotional lot — and the sale of the Seahawks has shown many fans to be very up in their feels, as the kids say.

As the Khosla family prepares to take over with a $9.6 billion purchase, some fans are illogically concerned the out-of-staters will look to move the franchise. Some doofuses even wonder why the Paul Allen Estate did not sell to a local buyer, apparently not understanding that high bid wins.

There are even morons who think the Khoslas – longtime 49ers fans — spent nearly $10 billion just to sabotage the Seahawks franchise, basically burning all of that money. That’s laughable.

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Contracts

NFL folks rank Spoon No. 4 among corners as he seeks top dollar

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A new ESPN survey of dozens of NFL coaches and execs puts Devon Witherspoon fourth among all current cornerbacks in the league.

Some oddly think this survey will make it tougher for the Seahawks to extend Witherspoon before the season, but let’s be clear: John Schneider and lead contract guy Joey Laine already are prepared to pay top dollar for Mike Macdonald’s favorite defender. They know he is a top-five corner, and there is no reason to think this survey changes anything in regard to contract talks.

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The roster, X's & O's

EPA splits reveal defense is no worse for departures

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Many NFL observers have made a big deal about the Seahawks losing two starters and two major backups this offseason. Some argue that those four losses – along with an offensive coordinator change — are enough to even make them questionable as contenders in 2026.

But Brian Nemhauser (HawkBlogger) recently performed a fun exercise that confirmed what we and other savvy observers already knew: The Seahawks certainly did not get any worse this offseason.

On the contrary, on defense anyway, the Hawks are likely to be even better off (as we have said).

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The roster

Talking tight ends: Barner’s value & Arroyo’s ‘opportunity’

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Tight ends are the talk of the town this week.

As many of the NFL’s “chess knights” – as Mike Macdonald calls them – attend the sixth annual Tight End University, a couple of the top guys also have received new contracts.

All of this activity — a month out from training camp – brings the focus in Seattle on the Seahawks’ two young tight ends, AJ Barner and Elijah Arroyo. Both are entering big seasons, for different reasons.

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