Seattle’s top rivals are doing their best to close the gap in 2026.

As we flipped the calendar to June, the Rams made a mega blockbuster deal for NFL sack king Myles Garrett and the Patriots made the long-awaited trade for Eagles receiver A.J. Brown.

Let’s take a look at the possible impact of these big trades.

Rams are all in now

The Rams could not stop Sam Darnold in either of the last two games they played, including the NFC title game, so they are betting that Garrett is an upgrade over Jared Verse and that Trent McDuffie will help contain Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Those are both attention-getting moves that have all eyes on the Rams as Super Bowl favorites, even though the Seahawks return all but two starters from their championship team and seemingly have upgraded over the four key players who left.

After surprisingly using the No. 13 pick in the draft on a future QB prospect, the Rams reverted to win-now mode with the blockbuster trade for Garrett. In doing so, they also sacrificed youth – Pro Bowl pass rusher Verse and a 2027 first-rounder, plus Day 2 picks in 2028 and 2029.

It doesn’t change one simple fact: The Rams’ Super Bowl hopes still rely on 38-year-old Matthew Stafford – the 2025 NFL MVP — remaining healthy.

The Rams did not have to give up quite as much as people thought the Browns would get (i.e., three first-rounders).

According to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Jeremy Fowler, the Rams were the only team to persistently pursue Garrett, the 2025 NFL defensive player of the year after he set the NFL record with 23 sacks.

It’s no surprise the calculated Seahawks did not want to get into the weeds on a deal for a 30-something star. We said it back in April: “The Seahawks are not going to get Garrett.”

Based on what the Rams gave up, the Hawks would have had to surrender a young core player such as Byron Murphy II plus the picks.

John Schneider rarely trades stars, and he has never given up a young riser in a blockbuster trade for a veteran star. Frank Clark, Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf were established stars who were traded for picks (and a few role players in Wilson’s deal). Schneider also has dealt veteran starters who were not stars: Max Unger in a package for Jimmy Graham, Jermaine Kearse in a deal for Sheldon Richardson, Bradley McDougald in the blockbuster for Jamal Adams. But giving up a first-contract star like Murphy is not in his DNA.

So how does this affect the Rams-Hawks super rivalry?

The Rams are trying to fix a defense that could not contain Darnold & Co. in those last two meetings. They have added two top-tier players in an effort to stop the Seahawks.

This puts pressure on the Hawks to run the ball well against the Rams next season. They ran for 171 yards in the thrilling 38-37 overtime win on a Thursday last December, but they were held under 100 in Seattle’s 31-27 win in the NFC title game.

They also need to play much better defense against Stafford and Puka Nacua, who burned them in both of those shootouts (over 800 yards passing for Stafford, almost half of it to Nacua).

The one ace up Seattle’s sleeve is special teams. Rashid Shaheed returned a punt for a TD to spark a comeback from 16 points down in the December win, and Michael Dickson tricked the Rams’ Xavier Smith into two consecutive muffs in the NFC title game – the second one recovered by Dareke Young to set up a quick TD by the Hawks that put them up 11.

Seattle has focused on keeping Jay Harbaugh’s special teams at the top of the league. The Rams are trying to fix that part of their team, hiring Bubba Ventrone from the Browns to coach their teams. But the Hawks have the clear and obvious edge in that area, with Shaheed and the rest.

The whole Rams-Hawks series kind of rests on the ongoing health of Stafford. The teams do not play until Week 16 and 18 of the season – so let’s cross our fingers that the reigning MVP is still playing great and these games are as stellar as the ones last season.

Is Brown enough for Pats?

The Patriots drew the short straw in having to play the Seahawks in Seattle in the opener on Sept. 9.

They clearly have been focused on upgrading an offense that was totally overwhelmed by the NFL’s best defense in the Super Bowl.

They have made an effort to improve their offensive line. Will Campbell remains at left tackle though and will need to take a huge step in 2026.

Now they have added Brown via a 2028 first-rounder and another pick to hopefully upgrade their pedestrian receiving corps.

It is probably still not enough to beat the Seahawks in the opener – or any time. And if this is the best team in the AFC again, the NFC title game (Rams-Hawks?) might well be the de facto Super Bowl yet again, too.