Sometimes, because of Mike Macdonald’s immediate success, we forget he is a young coach — just in his third year.
It was so easy to think he had figured it all out when he led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title in 2025. But the bumps are coming high and hard this season. And that’s on Macdonald. It’s also going to be on him to make the changes needed to get over the humps and avoid wasting this season.
Continue reading Will young coach be willing to make tough decisions to save season?
The Seahawks’ offense took a step back to take a step forward last Sunday vs. Kansas City, and then it took an even bigger step Tuesday when John Schneider added All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson.
It’s all very promising as the Hawks get ready to host the Bears in a very important NFC matchup on Monday night.
Yes, it will take a minute for Nelson to adjust to Seattle’s playbook – and for Grey Zabel to get used to playing on the right side. But Mike Macdonald, Brian Fleury and Sam Darnold are not concerned – they feel like they have fixed the biggest problems on offense.
Continue reading As line shuffles, have Fleury and Darnold already fixed offense?
A few days ago, John Schneider was being pilloried by many for a bad offseason/letting Ken Walker go.
Then, in a span of two days, the Seahawks dominated Walker and the erstwhile undefeated Chiefs and followed that up by adding All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson.
Just like that, Schneider’s a hero again.
To get Nelson, the Hawks sent the Colts a third-rounder in 2027 and a fifth in 2028. It is the fourth straight year that Schneider has made a major in-season trade. He acquired Leonard Williams in 2023, Ernest Jones IV (and Roy Robertson-Harris) in 2024, Rashid Shaheed in 2025, and now Nelson in 2026.
Continue reading Schneider strikes again, adding All-Pro Nelson to beef up line
(UPDATE: This post originally included thoughts on Joe Mixon signing, but the Seahawks decided not to sign him.)
A lot of fans seem to be pretty displeased with Seattle’s backfield, despite Emanuel Wilson’s excellent game in the 30-23 win over the Chargers.
It’s understandable, with Kenneth Walker III leading the NFL in rushing for Kansas City, Jadarian Price on injured reserve and Zach Charbonnet still a couple weeks away from his season debut. A backfield of Wilson, George Holani and Velus Jones Jr. is not that inspiring.
The Seahawks seem to agree. They had Joe Mixon in for a visit, but they reportedly changed their minds on signing him after his physical. They did add rookie UDFA Robert Henry Jr. to the 53 from Washington’s PS. And then they added Dontae McMillan to the PS instead of Mixon.
Continue reading Hawks decline to sign Mixon; Charbs’ return delayed another week
The Seahawks’ roster – the 40 or so guys who matter most anyway – has been set all summer. The biggest struggle in camp involved sorting out the back end of the defense – and even as the cut to 53 (plus 17 on the practice squad) was made, the secondary is still the most unsettled position group on the team.
The top four – Devon Witherspoon, Josh Jobe, Julian Love and Ty Okada – are ready to roll. But Nick Emmanwori, rookie Julian Neal, new trade acquisition Avery Smith and recent vet signee Trevon Diggs (on the practice squad) all are behind in their prep for the season.
Emmanwori and Neal are just now practicing after recovering from injuries (surgery in E-Man’s case). Smith just arrived via trade from the Chargers (where he was in a similar defense), and Diggs signed a couple of weeks ago and saw just a few plays in the final preseason game. It will be a race to see which of those guys is ready for the opener Sept. 9.
Continue reading Initial roster set, but secondary is still in progress
With Leonard Williams happily under contract for another three years, the Seahawks are now ready to make a run at becoming the next NFL dynasty.
Williams is the seventh mainstay extended or re-signed this year, joining Charles Cross, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed, Josh Jobe, Derick Hall and Devon Witherspoon. That doesn’t include lesser two-year deals given to Drake Thomas and Brady Russell.
This Super Bowl team is basically set for the next two years, with only three starting spots in question next offseason: edge rusher, center and right guard. If Jalen Sundell is tendered and Beau Stephens steps into Anthony Bradford’s spot, edge rusher will be the only hole.
Continue reading Williams extension completes lineup for potential dynasty
When Bud Clark was down on the field in Tennessee, being tended to after he had broken his ankle, he assured a questioning Mike Macdonald, “Hell yeah, coach, we gravy.”
We’re not hip to all the lingo, but sounds like he meant it will be OK.
It was apropos that he used that word because Clark was supposed to be the gravy on the Seattle defense this season — the extra sauce to give Macdonald’s unit another element of flexibility and confuse offenses even more. So losing him for the season is a really unfortunate blow to that plan.
Now the question becomes: How does Macdonald replace Clark? Where does he find some more gravy?
Continue reading How does Macdonald replace his ‘gravy’ safety?
The Seahawks played their first football game of the season Saturday, but the most exciting action came earlier that morning when Devon Witherspoon finally signed the contract that made him (for now) the highest-paid cornerback in the league.
Mike Macdonald made us laugh when he lamented that his “team” did not play very well in the 17-7 loss to Dallas – because it was mostly third-stringers. We all know his A-team could start playing and winning right now.
This preseason is all about getting Brian Fleury integrated as the new OC, ramping up some young guys (e.g., Bud Clark) and settling the six or seven undetermined roster spots (some of which will rotate throughout the season anyway). Beyond that, the Seahawks are ready to “run it forward” in 2026 right now.
Meanwhile, John Schneider and Joey Laine have been running it forward beyond 2026. With the big extension for Witherspoon finally done, they now have locked up seven starters through at least 2028, along with drafting four other key guys in the last two years.
In our three-year projection, there are just seven openings for 2028: C, RG, WR3, ER2, both ILBs, SS. And four of those guys — Ernest Jones IV, Drake Thomas, Julian Love, Jalen Sundell — could easily be re-signed. That’s a pretty good-looking future.
Let’s take a look at Spoon’s deal, a little more on Terrion Arnold and the few tidbits we learned from the game Saturday.
Continue reading Spoon’s deal beat anything on the field in preseason openerThe Seahawks’ reported pending addition of Terrion Arnold is a bet on a lot of things: (1) Arnold being available to play, (2) Arnold being worth it on the field, (3) Arnold not being a huge distraction to the team, (4) Arnold not ending up in prison and making John Schneider and Mike Macdonald look like complete fools.
You have to hope the bet is more like an insider trading investment than a pure roulette spin. In other words, hopefully Schneider and Macdonald have garnered information about the legal case that makes them think Arnold (a) did not commit the crime and (b) is going to be available to play for them for the majority of the season.
We should hear from the team leaders about this when they officially sign Arnold. They certainly owe an explanation to fans and the community about the decision to sign a guy accused of eight felonies.
There obviously are reasons they are optimistic about this move – reasons that go beyond thinking the cornerback can help them and thinking he is a good guy who got into a bad situation.
Continue reading Let’s hope the Hawks are making a well-informed bet on ArnoldJohn 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.
Continue reading Arnold would be lucky to land with Hawks
