One of the great things about the Seahawks is that they are just discovering what they can do under Mike Macdonald, who is in just his third season running the team and is referring to the process toward winning another Super Bowl as “running it forward” – trying to get better (in all ways) than the 2025 team that won it all.

As the Seahawks prepare to finish their offseason work with a minicamp this week, we’ve learned quite a bit about their progress so far.

Among the major learnings over the past month:

• Brian Fleury seems very similar to Klint Kubiak, which pleases Sam Darnold
• Rashid Shaheed and Darnold are building a better connection
• Macdonald loves the versatility of his defense
• Cooper Kupp and DeMarcus Lawrence are both having too much fun to consider retirement.

Let’s take a look at what the Seahawks have said about their offseason work.

Fleury’s fit

Darnold said Fleury, the new OC hired away from the 49ers, “has been great. His command, his presence, the way that he installs it with the run game, pass game, his command over the entire system has been incredible.

“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. “So it’s been good that way to be able to get some of that same verbiage but just a couple different wrinkles.”

“Thankfully it hasn’t been too much of a transition.”

Shaheed connection

Shaheed had an incredible impact as a return guy (three touchdowns) after the deadline trade that brought him over from New Orleans last season. But he did not have much impact as a receiver (15 catches for 188 yards in nine games).

The Hawks really needed to keep Shaheed and fortunately were willing to pay him $17 million a year. With that investment, getting him more in sync with Darnold is one of the most important offensive needs for 2026.

Per Corbin Smith, it seems like they are off to a great start: “Darnold and Shaheed look to be much closer to being on the same page.”

Darnold recently talked about Shaheed on Chris Long’s podcast.

“He’s a way better receiver than I think people realize,” Darnold said. “Everyone gives him credit for how fast he is and his return game … he’s so good that way. When people see him run routes, it’s fun to watch. … He’s one of the more smooth catch-and-tuck guys. He just catches it and goes. … That’s a quality that can be overlooked sometimes when evaluating players. I think Sheed’s got that in spades. Obviously he can take the top off a defense as well, which helps. That’s a crazy added bonus to a play caller when you’ve got a guy with that speed that can take the top off.”

That is one reason the Seahawks’ running game opened up late last season. Defenses had to account for both Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Shaheed.

If Darnold and Shaheed continue to build their chemistry, Seattle’s offense will have all kinds of ways to beat people.

The next evolution of Emmanwori

Nick Emmanwori is perhaps the biggest X factor on a defense full of them.

“We have players that can do extraordinary things,” Macdonald told 710 Seattle Sports last week. “Nick is one of those people. We’re going to do everything we can to make that come to life.”

The coach pointed out Devon Witherspoon, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II and others.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are really good football players that we want to let them do the things they can do,” he said. “Schematically, yeah, it’s cool. But you’re not doing it because you think it’s cool; you’re doing it because you think it’s putting us and him in an advantageous situation.”

As for Emmanwori, Macdonald said, “There’s more things Nick can do on the field. I think you’re looking at a balance of sharpening the things that he did last year. … Let’s go attack a lot of the fundamentals of what he was doing last year to make it more potent, but then there’s also some opportunities that aren’t big stretches in terms of … where we can play him.

“Once we get to camp, I think we’ll let the team and his skillset, where he is preparation-wise, dictate where we can take it,” Macdonald said. “Right now we haven’t seen anything that he hasn’t been able to do on the football field, which is really cool.”

He also talked about second-round pick Bud Clark’s versatility: “That’s something that we have to manage as a coaching staff of exposing him to things he can do – similar to Nick’s situation. But also make sure he is coached up and ready to roll at safety as well.”

No retirement talk yet

Three 30-something veterans – Lawrence (34), Kupp (33 on June 15) and Jarran Reed (33) — might be in their final season with the Seahawks, but all are ready to win it again.

Lawrence recently made his debut with the team for offseason workouts, and he said retirement was not on his mind this offseason.

“I had the most fun I’ve ever had playing football last year,” Lawrence said. “Knowing what I’d be leaving behind, the chances (of retirement) were very slim.”

Kupp said basically the same thing: “I’m loving playing this game too much.”

Reed said he hopes to finish his career with the Seahawks. “I’m where I wanted to win at, where I started at and, God willing, hopefully where I’ll finish at down the road.”

All three are under contract for 2027, but they might all be gone for different reasons. All the more reason to be focused on winning another Super Bowl and creating a rare NFL legacy – there have been just nine repeat winners (the 1970s Steelers did it twice).

All about AJ

AJ Barner, Seattle’s do-everything tight end, played through a lot of injuries in 2025 and ended up having two surgeries after the Super Bowl. He said he will be ready for training camp.

“You go from winning the Super Bowl, doing the parade (to) getting two surgeries the next week,” Barner told reporters. “People don’t really get to see that. It was awesome to reach that pinnacle, but it was like, ‘All right, I’ve got to go back to the woods, like going to the dark, and go get right.’

“I’m going to feel much better, and I’m already feeling much better, and I think that’s where I’ll see strides,” he added. “I’m feeling good, and I’m chomping at the bit trying to get back out there.”

Next offseason, Barner should be in line for an extension that pays $12 million or so per year. That would put him among the top 10 tight ends in the league.

John Schneider has never been afraid to pay his tight ends, sometimes overpaying them (see Will Dissly). So you can bet he will pay Barner, who is certainly worth keeping.

Rumors: What’s next?

Dan Viens of the “Seahawks Forever” podcast has a few rumors off a source he trusts, so we will pass those along (with the caveat that this source may or may not be legitimate).

The Hawks and Leonard Williams are expected to do a new deal before the season. We hope this one is true. A two-year deal at $25 million a year would be perfect to keep Williams as one of the core defenders.

The Hawks still want to add another edge rusher. They supposedly talked to the Giants again about Kayvon Thibodeaux recently, but New York apparently still wants a Day 2 pick. The Hawks had talked to the Giants about Thibodeaux back in April as well, according to Viens.

The Seahawks are very aware that the Giants are overloaded at pass rusher. If Macdonald feels like ’Deaux would fit with the Hawks, Schneider might keep talking with the Giants until the price comes down.